Bird Droppings July 11, 2026

Can I teach myself, or am I even allowed?

“There is then, nothing final about a logical rendering of experience. Its value is not contained in itself; its significance is that of standpoint, outlook, and method. It intervenes between the more casual, tentative, and roundabout experiences of the past, and more controlled and orderly experiences of the future.” John Dewey, The Child and Curriculum

            As I have been reading the past few days, Gatto, Eisner, and Dewey, one thing seems to pop up continually, and that is the experience a child brings with them. All the days before coming to school, family stuff, community stuff, cultural stuff, and kids’ stuff that accumulate as a child grows. Far too often we expert teachers forget that it is even there just in front of us. There is an entire world of experiences that each student has been through and could build upon and expand.

“Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.” John W. Gardner

A variation on the ancient Chinese proverb: “You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for life.” John W. Gardner was the founder of Common Cause and instrumental in establishing Medicare and many educational and social reforms, including the Civil Rights Act. Interesting how today the political rhetoric is almost the opposite.

“The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.” John W. Gardner

Working in the field of education that I do, I have seen what trying to legislate education can do; often I find myself saying that the term “No child left behind” should read “how many can we leave behind?” We do this because we systematically push students into certain categories and then out the door to meet and exceed standards that are artificially imposed across the board. We should continuously strive to “teach them to grow their own plants,” as Gardner states, rather than measuring cut flowers. But testing of such issues as to how well a student can grow a flower- well, it takes a growing season and is not done in a two-hour session. One of the most effective methods for measuring a child’s educational growth is a portfolio in which bits and pieces are gathered over time, showing where we started and where we are. Amazingly enough, there are a few schools using portfolios of students’ work to assess their students, a whole growing season of work.

“Considerable research has demonstrated the importance of making sure students are actively involved in designing their own learning, invited to play a role in formulating questions, creating projects, and so on.” Alfie Kohn

I was thinking how interesting it is as we move into a new world of education, or is it an old world? During the semester’s daily reflection time, as my students did their journaling, I asked them to write about what they would do differently in educating themselves, and “no school” was the number one answer. I asked for clarification since no school would put me out of a job. “How am I to learn how to work on Honda motors if I never see one?” or “I want to work on my parents’ farm and raise cattle; I do not need to know that 3X+3 = 9”. I was somewhat set back when we designed curriculum based on what we, as educators and as legislators, decided students needed to know. Seldom do we ever ask students.

“From the beginning, learner choice, design, and revision infuse the work teachers and learners do together.” Foxfire Core Practice number one, 2009

I was discussing equations the other day, back during school, with a student who was having a hard time in math: 10X – 3X = 20 + 1. I easily offered 7X = 21 and/or X = 3. I was wrong; I was told X = 1.9, and I was shown rules for this process and why and how. I actually talked to this student’s teacher later in the day to verify my own meager math skills. It seems that this student has learned some simple algebraic rules but cannot always apply them correctly. It was about cutting flowers rather than growing them. (10X +3X)  (-3x + 3X) = (20 – 1) (+1– 1) and/or to the effect that 13X = 19, and the confusion goes on. In effect, the student had been taught to balance equations and knew the rules but could not distinguish which equations needed balancing. It was sort of like growing flowers, continually pulling them out, and letting the weeds grow because, you know, flowers have leaves and weeds have stems. How do we reach students? How do we move from “no school” to truly getting input from students, faculty, and parents about the needs of the community, state, and nation regarding educating that student?

“Students need to be engaged in the process of learning in ways that connect with their experience. Students learn better when they know the teacher cares about them.” Robert Fried

Over the past couple of years, I have had the privilege of working with a young lady who graduated or nearly graduated eight years ago, two credits shy of graduation. She has been working since to take the two courses she had failed twice each in high school, Algebra I and Physical Science. I had been proctoring her tests and helping set up computer learning for her. She owns an Ice cream franchise and really doesn’t need to graduate from high school, but she did.  

Nearly 100 years ago, John Dewey offered that students need to build from experience. Numerous scholars and researchers have shown the effectiveness of constructivism in education. When students know that their teachers care and/or are passionate about what they do, it is not just a job with a paycheck.

“Schools were places where the students did what they were told to do. They answered questions — they did not ask them; their special (or not so special) interests and curiosities were to be kept private; they were not to take time away from the predetermined curriculum. In short, the classroom culture lacked almost all the hallmarks of productive learning. And each level of the educational hierarchy viewed the level below it as teachers viewed students.” Dr. Seymour Sarason

The possibility of teaching growing flowers exists if we decide to do so. It is the change from cutting flowers to growing them that has to occur within communities and schools for it to succeed. Today, let us all, as parents and teachers, try to begin teaching students how to grow flowers. Please keep all in harm’s way on your minds and in your hearts and always give thanks.

Namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

docbird