Courageous Joy

*The Book of Learning and Forgetting* by Frank Smith

This book is part of a Round Robin that members of SHS are enjoying. It is NOT written solely for homeschoolers. In this thought-provoking book Frank Smith discusses how our educational practices actually obstruct the inherent learning abilities of children and create handicaps that often persist through life.

Mr. Smith examines WHY we educate the way we do. It is quite interesting to contemplate how our educational model moved from one room classrooms with advanced students helping younger students to a military model, then a psychological model and finally to a technological model.

Throughout the book, Mr. Smith illustrates the difference between the “official theory” that learning is work (used to justify the external control of classes through excessive regulation and massive toasting) and the “classic view” that learning is a social process that can occur naturally and continually through collaborative activities.

Reading this book has given me more confidence to continue to explore a lifestyle of learning and funschooling. I see clearly the “classic view” (not to be confused with classical education) effectively working in our home. The saga of our three would-be writers is a prime example of children learning as they interact with others who love a skill. Learning becomes a joy and not a job.

As I began to think the concepts in this book through I cringed. How many times have we heard, “school is a child’s job” or “just try a little harder”? Mr. Smith maintains that we handicap a child’s natural desire and joy of learning when we convince him that learning is HARD WORK and he must WORK HARDER if he doesn’t understand something. I think there is a balance to find here that would incorporate a bit of the work-ethic inherent in the “official theory” of education. {g}

The author explores the age-old wisdom that “we become who we keep company with”. He maintains that learning is natural when we don’t artificially segregate students, when we let them watch and participate in learning. He maintains that we don’t need tests and quizzes to see if a student is learning. We can watch their faces and tell if they are learning or confused. I loved his example that, for instance, we teach phonics rules and say we are teaching reading, whereas a child who is READING is learning to read. In other words we are learning all the time. Our interest must be engaged in order for real learning to occur. In our family we had a child who hated phonics…but one day he picked up Calvin and Hobbes and taught himself to read. {G}

Mr. Smith points out the obvious in this book. The “official theory” uses graphs and charts to show us that if we use their method we will learn on a certain curve at a prescribed pace. They don’t show us the complete curve. The same studies show how fast we will forget the skills we learn with this method. It really is alarming. It also explains why we can LEARN something and for the life of us cannot recall that fact six months later.

I found this book very helpful. This is NOT a “beat up the teachers” or “blame the teachers” at all cost type book. Mr. Smith gives suggestions for teachers who would like to teach with the “classic view”. He offers tips for dealing with administrators and parents.

I highly recommend this book for any parent and/or teacher.