Kid Tested, Socrates Approved

"[Socrates once said,] `I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.'
My fear is that... we will know everything except the fact of our own ignorance. Google has given us the world at our fingertips, but speed and ubiquity are not the same as actually knowing something"
**From an article in Educational Leadership (Sept 2009)**
(emphasis my own)

The author goes on to support what I believe to be the way many homeschoolers are already operating: "Learning would take place both in and out of school. Teachers ... would learn alongside their students, creatively adapting curriculum to their students' needs. Like any creative effort, this collective journey would include errors, lack of good information, and false starts—a process of which Socrates would approve. Because teachers are knowledgeable about the learning process, they could serve as capable guides for their students, all the while promoting the requisite 21st century thinking skills of critical reflection, empirical reasoning, collective intelligence, and metacognition."

I especially like the positive recognition of learning with your students and the granting of creative license to adapt the curriculum. These things are very present in my own homeschooling style but can sometimes be a source of stress when I view them as indicators of my shortcomings as a teacher (both in not being a certified expert at everything and not having been trained to implement the curriculum in the prescribed way). The author proposes that these things are actually strengths ~ and that Socrates would approve (Hooray for Me!)

The author concludes by encouraging us all to "embrace the new learning era of today to move beyond the false dichotomies and empty arguments of our tired education disagreements and to joyously engage with the future." Amen, Brutha.
And thanks to my mom, The Elementary School Principal, for noting this article for me.