Education and Freedom

The following essay is written for the educator entrusted the development of a curriculum for school age children grades one through eight. Their task is admirable and encouraged for its own good. Whatever self-doubt or defficiency overshadows it, no personal flaw may tarnish the work more than outright abandonment. There are many critics and unlikely adversaries. Whatever doubt or disbelief that is held by others will be shaken by the Truth, when it comes to be known, by the educator and his students, as the soul object of their pursuit.

The task must be transformed with the coming of a new generation to face new resources and new obstacles. The educator must first determine what aspects of the curriculum from their mentors ought to be left unchanged (imitated), and in what ways they may innovate and experiment freely, without risk of reinvention.

Aims to show in what way the educator must approach the development of a curriculum. The author uses the term in the imperative not to impose a strict method onto the reader, but to emphasize the underlying necessity that is, as are these pages, entirely in the hands of the reader.

For the sake of application, the curricular materials of the Steiner Waldorf schools will be considered. The method of Waldorf schools must be considered taking into account their achievements. students performed higher on creativity metrics (~/library/wf-study.pdf)

The development of a curriculum for grades one through eight is carried out by either 1.) the parents/caregivers of the child, or 2.) whoever the parents/caregivers allow vested authority over their education. For the educator who meets this criteria, two considerations for curriculum come to mind. 1.) what academic subjects are most essential for understanding the world, country of origin, and national heritage, and 2.) at what developmental stages are these different subjects relevant. The development of such a curriculum has no exact recipe or formula, therefore must come out of the parent/caregiver's own freedom, or else from someone who has both time and resources, and is reliable, to dedicate their utmost to the execution of this task.

The freedom of the educator is a matter of principle rather than privilege. In such jurisdictions as this is not permitted, this liberty must be fought for and cultivated in whatever areas of the curriculum that one can. The freedom here described is an essential part of reading the following essay with profit. It is not the kind of freedom that says, "I can teach however much or little I wish, of whichever subjects I prefer." Here is place for a biblically defined freedom, when Jesus says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (J831-32). The educator therefore must follow the curriculum which God has entrusted to him, through the light of the Truth, in obedience to His Law, that governs all heavenly and earthly things. Although this essay cannot reasonably declare how the reader harkens to the word of God, the author nevertheless speaks plainly in saying all curricular plans of the teacher, field-trips, community events, and holiday celebrations, must be worked out in the total freedom which obedience to the Word of God provides.

As a result, the educator must be at liberty to take stock of the general wisdom and intelligence accessable to him within the community. the author has met with several teachers that did this with great success. One teacher, on taking his class into the mountains to pan for gold for a geology lesson, asked after some locals where they were best suited to find some, who promptly invited the teacher and students onto their property of some private acreage with woods and river, whereat they panned for several hours that afternoon, and were permitted to keep what was collected, some $7-8 worth. The author observed during his 2nd practicum, a teacher give a special lesson for a 7th grade History block on the Reformation, on the the setting and operation of a moveable type printing press, then fecilitated students' operation of it; his expertise stemming from a family member who had herself a printing press studio. The author participated in a field trip with the same 7th grade class to a woodshop of a local craftsman who shared techniques, advice, products, and hand-made tools, and even asked students' help solving a design problem.

The advantage of such real world experience is not solely to lessen the burden of the primary educator, nor is it to promote commercial interests of private enterprise beyond the walls of the classroom (although the woodcraftsman positively encouraged them to come work for him when they were older). Rather it promotes the activity of the community, among families, in the town, in the regional industry, or merely interests and hobbies of adults, that are worthy to promote for health and wellbeing. It would follow that the educator must not presume they are the source from which the student acquires their values and beliefs. They are, nonetheless, the point of connection between the school or home and the greater community, and therefore they claim a responsibility to the channels and measures by which values and beliefs enter in.

Freedom in the Law, and the social nature of wisdom and intelligence within the comunity are the foundation for determining relevancy of academics to the student. However, developmental aptness is another consideration entirely, one that may decieve appearances. A student's readiness is largely invisible to the educator, in the same way as an illness or allergy is. Be hesitant to promote too much too early. The author recalls a teacher who, meeting with parents concerned their precocious child was not recieving due advancement in mathematics, she responded wondering whether they hadn't yet found success with their child using the balance beam.

Therefore a knowledge of human development is necessary.

Losing the milk teeth is an event that heralds all over the globe the age at which a child is ready for school. Other physiological signs appear such as more distinguished features, growth out of reflexes, and a certain levity in gate. A student at this age may begin planning a play-date a day in advance. The author knew a Kindergarten teacher whom was asked by a six year old, what she was knitting a pouch for, and when she was satisfied with her answer, responded with her own plan of improvement. Wonder for the future and adjusting for it is an instance of first grade readiness.

After two years, a child has a moment of self-awareness. The author recalls his own "I" experience, standing on the back porch of his house with a set of propositions: "I can go inside, I can go to the cedar grove, I can go down to the gate… I can… I…?" Existential questions about God, life, death, and immortality tend to arise at this age.

After three years, not only is there now self-awareness, but self-consciousness; nobody spends much time alone without discovering they like some things about themselves and dislike others. The author recalls 7th graders referring to themselves in declarative statements, "I look like…" "I'm such a (blank) person…" Fashion and music are very important.

The stage at which students most become sexually mature, and are as a result "young men/women" moreso than children. More capable of cognitive activities than hitherto.

This table is insufficient for formulating a complete curriculum, nevertheless it points to a few key features, namely, that subjects gradually transition out of legend and myth, and further into history. This point will be elaborated further on. The ages for introduction are not perfectly absolute. For instance, there is nothing innappropriate about introducing certain of the Greek myths before 5th grade, however there is more meaning, character, and depth to events such as the Trojan war at that age.

One heuristic needed to perform this well is called, "whole to parts." For instance, let us consider animal study in 3rd grade. If the student is familiar with animal play, then they will naturally begin, when the teacher describes a "rabbit," to imagine an animal covered with fur, big ears, hops, and nibbles grass. Then, when they have the image in their mind, they describe the animal in their writing, drawings, or oral presentations, in other words, in their "work." The "academics" comes down-stream from the 'image of a rabbit', which is influenced for one part by the teacher, and the other by the play derived from their Kindergarten days. Now, if the child did not engage in animal play in Kindergarten, will they be unable to form clear thoughts about animals? Not necessarily, however this heuristic is one that reveals what teaching method is: the techer incites the child's imagination about an animal in its habitat, and the child describes the image in their own words or drawing.

A first grade curriculum may be developed entirely from "whole to parts." In music, by the teacher singing each line, the students repeat those, until eventually the student can sing by heart. A student who learns several nursery rhymes in this way, once they have learned their alphabet, can write out the words from them directly. The author recalls a first grade teacher who had students practice their spelling in this way.

Whenever the teacher can warm the material with enthusiasm, any amount of textbook material can become vivid, and clearer to the imagination. Students will be more receptive, and their own work will become more lively. When the student feels that their educator is teaching them these things out of love for them, then the students will develop a more committed attitude toward acedemics and classroom life itself. The author cannot encourage enough, the fact that a genuine loe for each individual student in the classroom, and the shared unity of the group as a whole, will illumine certain pedagogical uncertainties, mazes, or conflicts, if they should arise.

Certain lessons from school are more memorable than others. The author encourages the reader to recall their own. The author delightfully recalls from his own school days a 9th grade science lesson, where the class had gone out to the football field to launch bottle rockets made out of cardboard and soda bottles, using an air compressor, and measuring determining factors such as weight, size, and distance. The author cannot affirm with certainty that his classmates recall this event vividly, nonetheless it proves that lessons can be worth remembering. Some factors of this lesson may contribute to it being memorable. 1.) It broke up the monotony of ordinary classroom lectures and book-work. 2.) it was done outside, in an environment we weren't used to doing anything science related. 3.) we gathered data using an instrument we had built ourselves. 4.) (by some synthesis of other factors) the activity was meaningful.

The example provided cannot be used to deduce a rule for designing memorable lessons, however let it suggest 1.) it is not all that involved to prepare such lessons, and 2.) even two to three within a unit will make the whole subject more memorable, not only years after, but in the following weeks too, when the students are asked to think back to when they (shot rockets on the football field, what were they measuring?).

Visualize what the lesson will look like, how it will go over with the students, and reflect on this. Think; will it be memorable or inspiring to many of them?

Besides unmistakably memorable lessons such as the one described above, the author has observed teachers who have attempted other methods of creating memorable lessons, such and introducing a mental pictture to students that will support their memory of the subject when it is recollected afterward. Learning a subject through mental pictures is like learning a language through idiom.

Looking at the curriculum in the Waldorf school, it is customary for the teacher beginning in first grade to create a chalkboard drawing that remains at the front of the room for several weeks. This will indicate the unit of study. For his first practicum in 2nd grade, the author drew a scene from the life of St. Martin, wherein the saint, a Roman centurian, drew his sword to cut his cloak in two, and gave one half to a man who is dying from the cold, then wrapped the other around himself, to the awe and amazement of the townsfolk. Not only does this remind the students of the story after they have heard it (in fact, it reminds them everytime they look towards the center of the room), but percieving the moment directly, it increases the story's effect. However a mere direct perception does not indicate a meaningful lesson. If this were the case, then schools would be nothing but movie/video watching centers where every part of the curriculum was dramatically represented to the senses, and students would remember everything with ease (the author is not convinced this won't become the more 'common' and 'expedient' method of education with the future of A.I.). That is because there is a difference between remembering something and knowing something. The author refrains from definitions, but will instead use examples. Recalling the author's memory of shooting rockets on the football field, the memory may be recalled without 'remembering' the relationship between mass, velocity, and distance. Then mental pictures, which are the idiom of learning, insomuch as idiom is the mental picture of language, set the stage for thinking, and specific knowledge.

The author will demonstrate using arithmetic, seeing as it is the most pure form of the kind of knowledge described here. Practicing 'mental math' is necessary for developing number sense. The author observed mental math practice at the beginning of every main school lesson in grades 2 and up, as a form of mental gymnastics, or an overall warm-up for academic participation. The emphasis on math is not just a rote discipline of paper and pencil, but overall mental acuity and alertness. For instance, first graders are solving problems such as 4 x ? = 8 , 4 x 2 = ?, only they are phrased, "there are four tulips, each with the same number of bees among them, and eight bees in all. How many bees are by each tulip? The former question requires knowledge of multiplication and division in order to decypher their signs. The latter only require number sense. Students will use drawings, and other visual aids to gain experience with the numbers, in order to become fluent with the number facts, such as multiplication tables. For summary, the author emphasizes that this is the way any curriculum must be built up; the pupil will not progress any farther in math if he cannot separate 4 x 2 from 4 tulips with 2 bees by each.

How this progression appears in the language arts curriculum can be even mentioned in connection with mental math, with the example of a fifth grade math puzzle. "Paul has 3 fewer pets than Quinn. Rachel has as many pets as Paul and Quinn combined. If Quinn has twice as many pets as Paul, how many pets does Rachel have?" The problem is nearly as much logic as it is arithmetic; in order to express the sense of the number relationship, the puzzle uses comparative, conditional, and interrogative, clauses. This sould be enough to offer the reader a sense for how a grammar curriculum should be introduced. In other words, if the student has enough experience with these statements, then we can discover how the structures of language can be adapted and used in an active sense.

All that has so far been sketched of a curriculum will affect a general and dynamic perspective on the environment and community of the student, yet there is room in it for depth and consequence that would arouse wonder and excitement, and for this there is perhaps no better study than myth. Fantasy in our culture is all too casually promoted as entertainment and ease from toil. But it is far from this for the young child sees in myth beyond appearances, to where lies true toil, and everpresent virtue. The author encourages that the educator may teach myths with the same seriousness as he teaches arithmetic. Even the fairy tales. Why? Because Briar Rose, Cindarella, Tristan and Isolt, Cupid and Psyche, are as real and true as 4 + 7 = 11. The author requests the reader not take this in a metaphysical or supernatural sense, but purely from a pedagogical one, and all pedagogy is serious, for a child sits at her desk, she does her math, sthen she sits and listens to a story in circle. It is all one to her, it is all "truth." The author recalls a teacher who customarily taught "The King of Ireland's Son" in order to teach mathematics. Likewise, Norse myth in Language Arts, the Trojan War in History, and so on.

Although myths are satisfying to some students, and may be to others tedious or boring, the author cautions against the avoidance of myth until the educator is certain that the child has a mature imagination for them. While the mythology curriculum has a different emphasis than History, all the study habits the student develops from the former, carry over and become relevant for the latter, to begin to understand the final inquiry of history, which is, "why are things the way they are, now?" The discussions surrounding this question are distinguished between history and myth by the proofs that either recquires. In other words, the proof that the thunder is caused by Thor, vs the proof that the Greco-Persian War was initiated by Persia. The clear, deliberate, and causal thinking recquired to understand the latter statement is the very same that lead Herodotus to write his account of the war.

Ancient Greece is an especially interesting civilization to start with, as the Greeks viewed their history and poetic tradition as indestinguishable. The author recalls a 5th grade biography given of a German archeologist who discovered the historical city of Troy. Here you can see directly where myth and science begin to diverge.