All children can learn Slogan or reality Presented

All children can learn: Slogan or reality? Presented August 12, 2008 International Democratic Education Conference Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada © 2007 johnharrisloflin@yahoo. com

Is it: All children can learn n “All children can learn” was a statement that arose in the late 80 s n Intended to convince adults to see all children as capable of learning, it really never caught on to the extent that everyone had these expectations n Learning disabilities and other labels continue to be a rationale for the failure of adults to engage children and allow learning to happen

Or: Some children can’t learn? n Are some children too dumb, too deprived, or too disadvantaged to learn? n Out of the constant historical discussions about why some children do well at school and others do not seems to arise the rationale that some just children can’t learn

n All men by nature desire to learn. -- Aristotle n Children are the most learninghungry beings in the world. -- Ashley Montagu

Indianapolis Public Schools Strategic Plan 1991 Action Team 12: Joy and Passion for Learning n We will develop innovative learning experiences designed to create passion and joy for learning n We can develop innovative learning experiences, but “…create passion and joy for learning……………. ”? n

Birds fly, fish swim; man thinks and learns. -- John Holt n John Holt’s advice: Provide a stimulating environment, be ready to answer any questions, then get out of the way n In an effort to substantiate my contention, I researched the factors that foster or inhibit what I argued was our innate joy and passion for learning

A search for our nature as learners n Etymology of curiosity n Mythos of care n Existentialism n Brain research

An Etymology of Curiosity n The term originated from the Latin cura (koo-rah): “care” and other meanings listed below: 1. anxiety (about anything), worry, care, distress 2. serious attention, carefulness, taking pains, care, (a person's) attention 3. devotion of care or attention (to a thing) 4. the treatment of the sick or ill, rearing or tending (of plants/animals) 5. solicitude, concern, anxiety (especially about a lover) 6. eagerness, anxiety, zeal (for a thing) 7. administrative charge (of things, persons, supervision 8. a person or thing that is the object of care 9. a task, responsibility, post

Curious n Curious, as in eager to know, be inquisitive, is borrowed from the Latin curiosus—full of care, taking pains. This adjective can also describe something that excites curiosity as a curious fact or something made well as a curious work.

Curiosity: A quality of both object and the person n Curiosity first indicated to make something with care and then it will be well-wrought or worth taking note of, thus a noun meaning the condition of carefulness and describing the traits of an object ¨ n A curiosity is feature of the thing at which you wonder because of its novelty, quality, being well made/taking pains to make, grandeur, oddity, or mystery. Thus, it arrests our attention. Only later did it describe an attribute of a person's nature --a characteristic in us such as the desire to see/learn something that is new/strange/unknown, a questioning ¨ ¨ ¨ If you take pains your work is likely to be accurate A curator is one who is entrusted with care To cure/heal is a result of care

Care: The ideas of Rollo May People are named homo/humus because we are made of earth, but we are still constituted in our human attributes by care. n n Care is the source of eros Care is the source of human tenderness Care is born in the same act as an infant to which mothering concern is needed for survival Care is given power by nature's sense of pain ¨ n If we do not care for ourselves, we are injured Care is the root of love and will ¨ While caring, we love and nurture. n n n We could not will or wish if we did not first of all care If we care we cannot help but will—we must act Willing is caring made free and active Feeling is care pointed toward love Conscience is the call of care and manifests itself in care

Why are we curious? We are curious so we can survive n We are curious so we can understand ourselves, and our world n Although we care so we can live at a higher level, care must portray a conscious psychological fact: n ¨ Life comes from physical survival; the good life comes from what we care about

What creates care, the source of curiosity? If curiosity and our attention/intention are rooted in care, what creates care? ¨ Does temporality, the fact that we are finite, make care possible and necessary? n Within its many connotations (cura), is anxiety. ¨ Does the fact of death make worry inevitable? And would there be love without death? ¨ If we could live forever would we love as passionately? ¨ n What part does anxiety play in our curious nature? ¨ Would we be the same eagerly inquisitive human beings if we never died?

Mythos of care This is the mythos of care and why it is the basis of curiosity: n if we do not care, we cannot know. n If we do not care there is ¨ no will to be, ¨ no will to know, ¨ or no will to love. “But since ‘Care’ first shaped this creature, she shall possess it as long as it lives” Dr. Rollo May Love and Will 1969

Heidegger: What it means to be human n n Martin Heidegger (1889 -1976) sought universal structures of what it means to be, as humans, in the world, through time This (our) existence is informed and shaped by 2 fundamental characteristics of the “self” or selfhood: 1. Care or concern (the German “Sorge”) Past: Care helps us realize we are a product of a place, a time, and a culture. ¨ Present: Care reveals us as trying to be at home in the world, trying to find a satisfying place and view of ourselves and our world ¨ Future: Care gives of a sense of what we want to happen, projecting ourselves forward, thus plans and projects ¨ 2. Mood ¨ Anxiety from our awareness that we will someday die is the most fundamental human mood. It is the end of our concerns and goals. It bespeaks our fear of a “nothingness” death may bring.

What does brain research say? n n n The brain is essentially curious, it must be to survive The brain doesn’t need to be taught how to learn The search for meaning is innate ¨ the search for meaning occurs through patterning n the brain seeks connections to what it already knows n Emotions are critical to patterning ¨ it is biologically impossible to learn anything you are not paying attention to: But what drives attention? n emotion drives attention…which drives learning and memory ¨ consequently, emotions contribute to learning—we are involved in and remember more when we learn about things that matter to us

We do not have to “…develop learning experiences designed to create joy and passion for learning. ” We are born curious and motivated to learn n There is a innate passion and joy, due to our caring and anxiety, in learning n We must simply find ways to affirm and sustain what is natural n

How to affirm and sustain our nature as learners? n Homo curaos n A Learner’s Bill of Rights

Homo curaos

"Let me sum up what I have been trying to say about the natural learning abilities of children. The child is curious. He wants to make sense out of things/ find out how things work, gain competence and control over himself and his environment, do what he can see other people doing. He is open, receptive, and perceptive. He does not shut himself off from the strange, confused, complicated world around him. He observes it closely and sharply, tries to take it all in. He is experimental. He does not merely observe the world around him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. To find out how reality works, he works on it. He is bold. He is not afraid of making mistakes. And he is patient. He can tolerate an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance, and suspense. He does not have to have instant meaning in any new situation. He is willing and able to wait for meaning to come. Therefore, we do not need to motivate' children into learning, by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. They are inquisitive. What I am saying about education rests on the belief that birds fly, fish swim; man thinks and learns. I cannot prove it. Call it faith. This faith is that man is by nature a learning animal. " --John Holt How Children Learn

A Learner’s Bill of Rights Back in early 1992, I soon realized that the adults members of Action Team 12 were not getting my assertion that you one does not create joy and passion for learning, as though it were never there in the 1 st place n What could I do so they’d have no choice but to treat students as natural, curios, passionate learners? n We need a learner’s bill of rights! n

What happened? I summarized all the positive and negative factors influencing our innate joy and passion for learning, put them in a form and added a “preamble” n I surveyed community members, parents, teachers, and students for a response n

What A Learner’s Bill of Rights is and is not n Objective: To preserve the child's integrity, self-worth, and innate curiosity. n Statement: Virtually all children are born with the motivation to learn. This is a characteristic of our species. n Problem: The problem is defined as the inability of the child to retain and maintain the qualities of curiosity and motivation. n Solution: To provide a form to address the needs of the child by enabling the child to develop the assertiveness necessary to desire the best and to require the best from those involved in the education process.

What is a Learner's Bill of Rights? n n n Deals with learning and the processes involved with acquiring knowledge in a way so as to reduce debilitating anxiety and promote the joy and passion for learning Tries to investigate the issues/factors involved motivation, joy, and passion Attempts to address the student's relationship with learning, "self", the teacher: ¨ how the student views learning ¨ "self-talk” (positive and negative) ¨ how the learner is viewed by the teacher

What a Learner's Bill of Rights is not: n Since the LBR concerns the learning process, it: Does not deal with student's responsibilities directly such as is done in a discipline code. n Does not concern locker searches, arm bands, property rights, management and control by school staff, or general/ordinary rights of a student. n

Korczak's Declaration of Children's Rights (1920 s) n The child has the right to love. The child has the right to respect. The child has the right to optimal conditions in which to grow and develop. The child has the right to live in the present. The child has the right to be himself or herself. The child has the right to make mistakes. The child has the right to fail. The child has the right to be taken seriously. The child has the right to be appreciated for what he is. The child has the right to desire, to claim, to ask. The child has the right to have secrets.

The child has the right to "a lie, a deception, a theft". The child has the right to respect for his possessions and budget. The child has the right to education. The child has the right to resist educational influence that conflicts with his or her own beliefs. The child has the right to protest an injustice. The child has the right to a Children's Court where he can judge and be judged by his peers. The child has the right to be defended in the juvenile-justice court system. The child has the right to respect for his grief. The child has the right to commune with God. The child has the right to die prematurely. *Janusz Korczak (1879 -1942) Polish educator and children’s advocate

Rathbone’s LBR (2005) n n n The right to choose The right to follow through The right to take action The right to remain engaged The right to wallow The right to err The right to concentrate The right to take learning personally The right to collaboration The right to respect The right to centrality Charles Rathbone Wheaton College Norton, MA ceorathbone@comcast. com

A Learner’s Bill of Rights I am a human being. I have an innate ability to learn. I was born full of wonder, curiosity, and motivated to learn. I view myself and I expect others to view me as capable of learning. 1. I have a right to a safe learning environment. 2. I have a right to accept myself as I am and to be accepted as I am. 3. I have a right to be respected and to define success in my own terms. 4. I have a right to learn at my own speed and in my own way. 5. I have a right to ask whatever questions I have, to say I don't understand, and I have a right not to understand. 6. I have a right to be different, to have my own culture, opinions, and values. 7. I have a right to think for myself, question authority and challenge facts. 8. I have a right to express my own views without ridicule.

9. I have a right to need extra help and to ask for it. 10. I have a right to be treated fairly and to understand the grading process. 11. I have a right to evaluate my teachers and how they teach. 12. I have a right not to base my self-worth solely on my academic performance. 13. I have a right to my own expectations and limitations, to change my mind, to give up, to succeed, to fail. 14. I have a right to make mistakes, to risk, guess, to have more than one way and one chance to show what I have learned. 15. I have a right to be a part of the decision making process that concerns my education, classroom, and school—with my involvement determined progressively by my age and grade.

Homo curaos