Re: The school game

Darlene Sybert (c557506@SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU)
Tue, 13 Aug 1996 23:57:52 -0500


On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Eric Crump wrote:
> But if students were freed from that junk *and* were given both the freedom
> to follow their own interests *and* supportive guidance to help them pursue
> those interests productively, then motivation would cease to be a problem.

As Charlie said so well, true for some people. What about the others?
Are we just going to assume because they signed up for the course and
showed up in class a few times that they have learned something...or
are we going to stop giving degrees or any certification that a person
has mastered a particular area of study?

> Students who are driven by their own passion rather than coerced by an
> Authority are unstoppable. The big problem for teachers of those students
> is managing to keep up with them!

And those students don't even need an instructor, but what percentage
of students would this ever include? Wouldn't there always be a majority
that would rather do something else than write three drafts of an essay?
That is hard work...no matter how interested you are. What would motivate
a student to do that instead of playing with his new college friends?

Darlene Sybert
http://www.missouri.edu/~c557506/index.htl
University of Missouri at Columbia (English)
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A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
It's loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
-John Keats "Endymion"
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