What would I do?

Recently I visited with a relative who has been a professor at UCLA for many years. She has researched intelligence and has several letters after her name. She asked me how I would teach reading.

My response was simple. No one taught us to talk. No one taught us to walk.

Learning is a natural and intrinsic part of begin a human being. The way I would teach reading is to have a rich environment for young people to be in. A rich environment that includes lots of stimulus, multi-aged people, and of course, in this context, people reading. In other words, I would start by taking advantage of the natural inherent desire that exists in all young people to want to learn and to be curious about the world around them. With this natural curiosity ignited there would be plenty of opportunities to read with lots of tools around to keep the curiosity at a high level AND at the same time to give young people an opportunity to experiment, to make mistakes and to experience of success.

The environment we now call school are not learning environments. They are designed to limit the natural curiosity and desire to learn in a person (of all ages).

In a recent article in the NY Times we see the extreme of where this current system has come – 180 degrees from what I suggest above.

Less play for kindergartners
Pressure to teach reading and math to youngsters as soon as possible is forcing many kindergartners to forego play, to the dismay of teachers and parents who say the unstructured time allows children to learn social and other skills. At one academically demanding Brooklyn charter school, kindergartners no longer have time for naps, recess or show-and-tell.

——

The absurdity of this is beyond comment and yet well meaning and well intentioned people make these rules.

What's a Mayor to Do?