Peter Slattery

There is an ongoing debate about just what is good education, about how young people use the internet, and about what some describe as the ’slipping standards in education’. And there are cries at times for a return to more ‘traditional’ ways. Mind you sometimes ‘traditional’ ways seemed to include public floggings and other educational practices which now qualify as ‘extreme entertainment.’ But without embracing the extremeites of this argument, there do seem to be things to think about. And because I got carried away and now have kids, I now find these debates annoyingly personal.

Marc Prensky (speaker, writer, educational designer) is famous for coining the terms ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’; …those who have been born into the digital age and those who have arrived here from another time. And yes, while geography and finances do make a difference, basically he is referring to younger and older people. Marc Prensky has, I think, a point. What older person ever found out how to work out the time delay on a VCR? (Really young people at this point are asking: what’s a VCR?). My three year old son has no fear of remotes or anything buttony…he just presses away furiously until something happens. He actually also knows how to use the remote for a TV, put on and play DVD’s, AND how to play a DVD via a Playstation. He knows how to use a computer mouse and how to click and drag. And before I get reported to the Department for the Preservation of the Purity of Children, let me say that I let him have no more than 10.5 hours screen time a day…okay, occasionally a little more. He actually watches pretty much no TV but does watch videos, and because we travel a lot and end up in motel rooms with the inevitable screen he has learned about some of these things simply from having it around him. The mouse-clicking I actually taught him.

It has come to my attention that the world is not going to go away. More than once I have tried to ignore it and when I turn around, it’s still there. And so my partner and I agree that giving our boy ZERO skills on a computer is not a great edge to have in this world. Okay. Decided. But then what?

Mark Bauerlein Professor of English Emory University of Atlanta tells a story of asking students to memorise 20 lines of poetry, and a student’s response to him was: ‘Why? It’s always there, a click away.’ Now I know I am ancient but the student’s response does seem a little disappointing. Professor Bauerlein goes on to argue that the value of actually doing this memorizing is that it is good for the muscle of memory, it also increases vocabulary and importantly the person ‘assumes another voice’, with the all the learning and insight that such a possibility offers. A reasonable argument.

Going in the other direction, if you want big advocates of E learning, look at the sites of Wesley Fryer and of Alvin Trusty. Both constantly have interesting, and at times not-so-interesting, to me, things to say. (I told you I was ancient. And really I am just saying I don’t sometimes understand the TEkniKAL stuff) and always they advocate for the newer paths.

As I write you can go to Alvin’s site and see what I think is a pretty ordinary picture with this next to it:

‘I should add one thing about that last picture. A bird had left a nasty white mark over three lines of text. The new version of Picasa easily removed the blemish. If you haven’t looked at Picasa in a while, you should take another look. I haven’t found another free picture manager that has nearly as many features.’

So for me, the fact that I think the photo of a sign is not very interesting is really unimportant. The very cool thing here is ‘Picassa.’ I might just have a look.

In addition, at the top of Alvin’s post is this:

‘My students are working on a PowerPoint file in class. I give them all the text. They come up with the pictures. All the pictures must be licensed with a Creative Commons license and several of the pictures must actually be taken by the student. The subjects of the photos are ordinary objects like pencils, pens and calculators.’

He continues to be an advocate of E education and in this simple sentence is also an advocate for the respect of the work and property of others. This gotta be not a bad thing. This very simple sentence below also really speaks a wealth.

‘That’s about it. The PowerPoint file is below shared on SlideShare. If you would like to see the work of my students, search for the tag. I wrote it in chalk on the second slide.’

In this one simple paragraph, we get to hear about SlideShare, and he includes the work of his students on his site, which just seems respectful too.

Wes Fryer’s blog of 21st July, and he is the world’s BIGGEST blogger, includes, amongst heaps of other things, this simple question and statement.

‘If you were going to start an after-school club at an elementary school focusing on exploratory and collaborative learning with Scratch software, what clever name would you give the club so it appeals to both boys and girls in 4th and 5th grades?

Bob Sprankle’s Bit by Bit podcast 84 inspired this question today.The book I tried to cite on this 6 minute audio comment is Coloring Outside the Line by Dr. Roger Shank.’

Okay, no big deal. But it represents E education. Wes assumes things still happen and need to happen in the classroom. He refers to software (yes, he is an advocate) and he, I think, generously and fairly, makes references to others. And because this is E learning, he gives the links.

There may be subliminal messages in all this that I am missing, and maybe Wes and Alvin have shares in various companies…I dunno…but none of this seems bad to me.

So where to from here? How much is too much? What is good clicking and what isn’t? When does the computer get turned off? All this is important. And of course you are not reading this via a piece of paper are you? So I guess you have taken some sort of stand, and like me, you will work it out. Or like me also, continue to be confused. Click……..?

We are just about to head back to Australia after 9 weeks away…the last part being some work in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the visiting of whanau. This song below which some of you may know already, ‘Stand by me’ is just a lovely lovely thing. And as we have been visiting dear friends and family, it seems apt. So if you haven’t got access to YouTube on your computer right now, find it somewhere else.

We are now in Greece…and with this little guy…

…we (that is…him) are receiving a lot of attention.

And after a month or more on the road, our son is being remarkable. And I think constantly of the things which I am always commenting on: for example, the need humans have for connection and belonging. And I am told repeatedly that 3 year olds need continuity, regularity…routine. And what do I know? Sounds reasonable. And occasionally our boy melts down, and he will sometimes say…let’s get food and go home and eat it. ‘Home’ being wherever we are staying at that time. And possibly because almost all of our travels have involved staying with loving, playful families, all friends, then maybe he feels part of many places. Maybe he feels part of ‘us’…his family…maybe he feels safe and secure with us his parents, (we have travelled with him since he was born…he usually sleeping between us wherever we are) so that his sense of belonging and connection is something that travels with him. This seems to make sense too. And he seems to be flourishing.

So in our work of community, health, education, and all those related fields, our ideas of ‘connection, security and belonging’ can possibly stretch to mean more than traditional senses of place, community and country. And as important as these ideas are, and they really are, in a modern world of movement I am coming to think that we can create sense of connection and belonging in many ways.

Travellers can feel connections with each other, people who have had similar life experiences, those who have shared a sense of exclusion in life, being gay or lesbian in Sydney during Mardi Gras (or even looking like you might be gay or lesbian) creates a link.

In our travels and now in Athens and in between places and on our way to our next family connection, I came down to breakfast on my own today as my family slept, and over coffee had a delightful conversation with a woman from California working on family connections here. A brief encounter. Yet worthwhile and meaningful. And we found what we shared.

Towns and schools, restaurants or whole communities, can feel welcoming or ominous. So maybe that sense of belonging and being connected and part of something which is so important to each of us, can be a feeling, a spirit and a sense that we carry with us. A travelling sense of connection and being part of something.

I have no idea why this post appears to be oddly arranged on some computers and less so on others…I will ask Jacob about it when we return. In the meantime, you might have to match my comments to the appropriate pictures as you read. Oh..and we are continuing to have a most wonderful, inspiring and oh dear…’educational’ time. Travel really does give you a view of not only other places and people…but if you care to look…a view of yourself. Occasionally disturbing…but always useful.

Here we are staying with friends in Maulden Woods Bedfordshire England.
It really is very pretty.

And the word ‘bucolic’ springs to mind. And despite what a friend of mine thinks, this does not mean ‘blustery and red in the face.’

Adrian and his family live here. And as we stay we notice the decisions that have been made about a way of living; about what matters and what doesn’t.

Adi makes extraordinary pieces of (furniture? art?)…
And…the dishes have to be washed in a plastic bowl thing and emptied onto the garden because the drain doesn’t work. But the garden itself, and the view from the kitchen into the garden…

.

.. just gorgeous.

The bathroom floor is made of lovely tiles…heated…

…and yet the wall doesn’t go quite all the way up to the ceiling.

And then again there are the things that are made…created…

This one with the dark wood being 5,500 year old (yep that’s right) bog oak. Lifted from a swamp and dragged across a half mile of bush to be loaded onto a truck. Doing things not the easy way. For exquisite results.

And the room we are staying in has no power and its cold and dark at night and so we run a power cord down and in through the window of our totally lovely bedroom which is a caravan…located and brought in just for us…friends arriving who need a bed.

So what matters? What do you care about? What is at the top of your list of things to do? To have? To experience? To be exposed to? To spend your time on? To have around you? To have in your life on a daily basis? Yeah, what’s important and what really matters?

Each year Mission Australia does a survey of young Australians (aged 11 – 24) and what seems to be concerning them. It’s always interesting to have a look at and usually it’s pretty encouraging too.

Toby Hall, chief executive officer of Mission Australia, makes some comments on their website about this report. Here is some of what stood out for me in what he had to say:

‘More than 45,000 young people, aged between 11 and 24, took part in the poll this year. The results show that while young Australians are facing a range of serious issues, when it comes to their priorities and values, they are also incredibly well-balanced.

They’re not just “generation Y with iPods”. Their close connection with family and friends, the people they admire (entertainers with consciences such as Angelina Jolie) and their high level of volunteering, flies in the face of media stereotypes of young people as shallow and materialistic.’

Pete’s comment: I love hearing this. And I’ve gota say I’m not surprised. Over and over again this is what young people tell me.

‘While body image, drugs and family conflict are the biggest worries for 11- to 24-year-olds – with one-in-four regarding each as of major concern – it’s drugs that are increasingly weighing on their minds. Concern about drugs was not a top-three issue in 2007.’

Pete’s comment: I find it Interesting that ‘drugs’ are a worry. Drugs aren’t like climate change where it is happening to us, (and yes we can change it but it take time), …drugs require our active participation at any given moment, drug use is an action on our part. Sometimes a choice, always a response; a person’s response to their own needs and desires intersecting with the pressures and influences of the world.

‘The other standout result from the survey this year is the degree to which young people are worried about their personal safety…

…If you’re afraid of your community, how do you get involved in local activities?’

Pete’s comment: This, I think, is important stuff. And for me, a reason why we need to continue to look at ways of helping people feel part of something…family, community, neighbourhood…ESPECIALLY the guys doing some of the more annoying (at times destructive) stuff. People are either inside WITH us or outside AGAINST us. Inside always seems like a better option to me.

‘The final take-out of the survey is that overall young Australians are well placed to tackle the issues affecting their transition from youth to adulthood.’

Pete’s comment: Good to hear. Onward and upward.

Big oops …big sorry! The Animoto vid that I posted before christmas turned out to be the ad for the Animoto site. Sorry bout that! As much as I like A’moto…I had intended to post something a bit more personal and meaningful about the camp…so here is the whole post again….

THE CAMP….around 50 people of all ages…doing amazing things…I learnt that I am no longer 18 years old…still limping…but kinda worth it. Young men bouncing off a mini trampoline about 3 metres plus into the air…raising issues they wanted to discuss and doing so with skills and integrity that would sort out most conflicts across the world…paint ball…oh dear…people being splattered…great short films being made…good discussions…some tension here and there…normal stuff…and generosity of spirit, braveness of endeavour, laughing good humour and a totally wonderful thing to be part of. Let’s do it again some time…

Clive Hamilton (2008. P4) in “The freedom paradox. Towards a post-secular ethics.” asks:

“If the barriers to flourishing of our potential have been removed but we fail to flourish, depression would seem a natural response. Moreover, the liberation movements have ceded to us unprecedented moral confusion. The ‘ethic of consent’ that replaced the strictures of conservative morality has led to forms of behaviour raising deeper questions about personal responsibility that we have scarcely begun to understand.”

And he speaks of three ways in which we might live our lives. Put rather simply by me here, they are the pleasant life (doing that which brings joy, happiness, pleasure), the good life (achieving, developing our talents), the meaningful life (a life committed to something larger than oneself). I’m not sure I quite agree with all the positions Clive adopts in his book, but that doesn’t matter, his question about what sort of life we might lead is a good one.

And (P 247) he says:

‘Consumer culture has subsumed the individual in the grand, unifying vision of the market and has succeeded where all the despots failed; instead of forcing submission it gilded the cage and persuaded us to enter and lock the door behind us.’

Despite this Clive seems to remain optimistic, and the final words of his book are these:

‘Within each day lies dormant the possibility of attaining inner freedom, of finding our purpose.’

Lately there have been daily photos in newspapers of the nightmare produced by the ongoing Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Hard-to-imagine tragedy. And I count myself more than lucky to have had a wonderful Christmas with my family and friends. So as the new year kicks off, let me wish you a good one, and at the risk of being cute, here is a picture of my son. He and I engaged in what I would like to think of as something meaningful. (It probably happened to be pleasant and good as well.) Between chrissie and new year’s, my son and I finally found a purpose for the couple of hundred telephone books that have been sitting in the foyer of our building.

Go well. I look forward to our new year.

Pete