GOOD OLD GOLDEN RULE DAYS

"When they came back to us, they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, neither fit for hunters, warriors nor counselors, they were totally good for nothing!"

Indians of the Six Nations declining an offer to send some of their young men to William and Mary College because of previous experiences.

Totally good for nothing seems a bit strong. I'll bet when those Native American young men returned from absorbing the white man's teachings they were good at differentiating between their equals and those less equal. They had perfected deviating from their roots in the permanent earth and could enthusiastically lust after material, temporary goods like the best of the white students. The little learners could skillfully prefabricate stories to make life easier for themselves, distrust others with the best of them and fully understand that religion was in a building on a certain day of the week rather than in all of creation at all times.

I'm sure they could also speak English, spell, diagram a sentence, recognize Roman Numerals, add, subtract, multiply and divide--they just couldn't run, live in the woods, hunt, make war or counsel--Indian stuff.

What is the role of formal education? While the role changes over time, schools, hopefully, have basic marching orders to teach what the students need to know to prosper (however defined by the community). This may sound easier than it is. Readin', Ritin. and Rithmatic' or Runnin', Huntin' and Counselin'?

Let's look at the traits that differentiate us from the animals; some examples are: imagination, ability to change, capacity to experience emotions thereby generating tears and laughter, potential to make choices, lack of fear of the vacuum cleaner, and directed by a purpose higher than instinct and/or tradition. On the downside, we humans have the potential to lie, cheat, steal and kill things for no particular reason.

These traits, good or bad, are traditionally not covered in formal education. Should they be or should formal education limit itself to the hard, quantifiable skills, and leave the running, hunting and counseling to life? I think so.

Some core life skill learning (i.e. coping with disappointment, learning from failure, exuding confidence, taking responsibility, being trustworthy--the modern day equivalents to running and hunting), will occur as a byproduct of sitting in a schoolroom all day with a bunch of people. Life skill learning in a classroom is not to be underestimated, but teaching a student to cope with life's disappointments shouldn't be formal education's primary objective. Teachers have a full enough day teaching the three R's

None of the input I have needed to cope with life's sucker punches was covered in formal education, but I had the life skills when I needed them. Keep your radar up and for gosh sakes STAY AWAKE. Some days I have learned as much from my dogs as I have from the "experts" on the TV. Selectively place your learning eggs in the education basket, (render unto education what is education's), or you'll find yourself stumbling through life with a wall full of diplomas but be "totally good for nothing."



Lesson: Learning is not always where we expect to find it, but it can always be found.