Two pieces of writing were assigned to be read, Montaigne's "Of the Education of Children" and Dewey's "Thinking in Education". They feature completely different styles of writing while discussing similar subject matter. While they both concern education, Montaigne's approach is inviting and humorous. Dewey's style of writing in this instance is more technical, more akin to a scientific study.
Dewey emphasizes experiences and the application of ideas to real life problems and situations for the pupil. He also says that "...the first stage of contact with any new material, at whatever age of maturity, must inevitably be of the trial and error sort. An individual must actually try, in play or work, to do something with material in carrying out his own impulsive activity...". I have run into this in my own experiences. Two of my hobbies include watching anime and playing video games, both of which have ties to the Japanese language. I began to watch scenes in Japanese and try to listen and pick out words and phrases that I heard often or could recognize. Later, when I began taking Japanese language classes, as I learned the material, I kept thinking back to scenes or situations that I had seen and to connect new pieces of information with things I had already pieced together on my own. When I formally learned of something that I intuitively understood but couldn't place into words, my understanding of it became much clearer. Eventually, I hope to put this knowledge to use with a trip or homestay in Japan.
posted by Rich @ 7:01 PM
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