Third Blog Post: REFLECT
To introduce his book, Warren Berger explains a very comical yet consequential situation to the reader: an overly curious child pestering a frustrated parent. In the end, the parent snaps at the child, reprimanding them for their curiosity and silencing their questions. We later come to find out that this excessive questioning could be due to an explosion of synapses between neurons in young children's brains which is three times the number found in an adult brain. These synapses, or connections, are responsible for the rapid brain growth we see in young children and as the connections continue the majority of questions shift from seeking facts to seeking explanations. This is especially interesting to me as someone who works around young children daily as a dance instructor. I am very aware of the quantity of questions which they ask on a daily basis, but I was unaware of not only the process their developing brains go through to produce such questions but how my response to their questions could impact their ability to inquire later in life. If I were to hastily cut off their question in an attempt to keep moving forward with the class, they may learn to believe that questions are problematic and that asking them could negatively impact their reputation among their classmates and their teacher. As a result, this could reduce the number of questions they ask as they grow up and limit their creativity and curiosity. This decrease in questioning is most commonly seen as children reach preschool age and continues to worsen as children enter middle and high school. As a result of this gradual disengagement, children's creativity simultaneously plummets. Many factors contribute to this halt in questioning and almost all of which can be accredited to the structure of modern school systems and their tendency to prioritize higher test scores over more creativity. To remedy this problem educators like Deborah Meier propose a more radical model for the school system, one which is heavily influenced by student questioning and less focused on reaching teacher quotas. Although this Meier's school system sounds progressive, I worry that, if class curriculum were to be solely based on student-lead inquiry, the teacher would be unable to teach the necessary information and the students would fall behind in the curriculum. If this new school system were to succeed it would be crucial, in my opinion, to find a balance between student-led inquiry and state-provided curriculum. Additionally, I fear that this free-form schooling would enhance the education of the majority of students but leave a minority lost and confused. For example, my older brother was unable to succeed at Galloway, a progressive question-based school, despite his high intelligence and devotion to his education. The absence of structure left him confused and caused him to fall behind in his studies, but when he left Galloway for a more classically structured school he was very successful. Another issue that I find with progressive schooling is the price tag. The students that are most negatively impacted by the structure of classical schooling are lower class minorities, but the only people who can afford to send their children to progressive schools are upper class majorities. This monetary restriction is counterintuitive to solving the crisis as it excludes those in need but assists those who are not as severely affected by the problem. However, I believe that promoting inquiry, teaching students to demand evidence rather than simply accepting the information given to them, showing students how to understand a situation from multiple viewpoints, prompting students to make connections from their education to the world around them and to find the relevant information to solve a problem are all crucial life skills that are not taught in classically structured schooling.
THIRD BLOG POST: INCORPORATE
THIRD BLOG POST: SYNTHESIZE
Warren Berger explains that as children grow up and progress through the school system their curiosity declines and they begin to ask exponentially less questions. I wonder how this severe drop off in creativity impacts the productivity and innovation of our society not only from a technological standpoint but also on the basis of health. Additionally, I am curious if this lack of inquiry is related to the worsening mental and physical health in the modern world. Berger explains the quandary of the 'certainty epidemic' and how this predicament can prevent innovation because it blinds us from new ideas that we deem unnecessary. I decided to represent this informational blockade with a man attempting to make new discoveries only to be stopped by a wall of arrogance [page 2]. Modesty is the key to discovery, and by clearing his mind and allowing for all possibilities of thought, this man would be able to set aside his arrogance and expertise to achieve his goals.
THIRD BLOG POST: EXPLAIN
Throughout this upcoming year in AP Literature I am expecting to delve into complicated material and attempt to learn how to decipher the message that it conveys. Based on the material we have read so far, I am expecting what we read in the future to challenge my prior knowledge and to cause me to question the information which I had previously considered to be standard such as the education system, the definition of art and the meaning of self-fashioning.