This topic might have been the one which interested me the most. I look back on my notes and realize I went absolutely crazy with notes when doing the readings. The part that got me the most was within Carol Anne Wein & Curt Dudley- Marling’s article “Limited Vision: The Ontario Curriculum and Outcomes-Based Learning” when it stated “outcomes based learning direction sets up a quintessentially narrow and controlling vision of teachers and teaching, of learners and learnings, and both diversity and ecology” (402). This enraged me a little bit… because it adds the acquistion of freedom and educations desire to tear down all structure and practically let little ones run free and figure out life for themselves. We desire freedom of speech and action; therefore wanting to raise kids in the same manner, but how must one successfully progress in their education if there are no guidelines for what children should be learning or capable of doing before moving up a grade. If a child is incapable of performing the expectations of grade 4 algebra and reading how will they do in grade 5? They will have to extra work, which means extra struggling and will lead to a potentially traumatizing experience. If we allow complete freedom in education, in the form of allowing the child to choose what s/he prefers to learn, we give them a false understanding of reality. Children should be challenged to learn what they may not be fond of and in ways that do not appeal to them… because in my mind that is learning.
We learn more from what we do not want to do, than what we want to do, so why are we not realizing the importance of these lessons? We should absolutely be giving an alternate to children if they simply cannot grasp the concept, but we jump in too quickly to give an alternate. Babying kids who need to be challenged is not progress, it hinders their learning and brings us back to when mother’s would keep her children home to help her and what she needed. Is it really children who desire to be confined and treated as glass? Or is it a parental desire to ensure they do not look back traumatized on their childhood?
Reality is, life kicks you sometimes and if we begin to raise flower picking “I do what I want” children then they will not realize that life is not completely individualistic and you will not always be the boss of yourself. If we allow children to learn as they please then collaboration will diminish because nobody will be exposed to working in that way. This scares me because I do not think I could be a teacher if this was they way the education system was to go. We should not be changing education to appeal to children, we should be changing it to ensure their learning.
