In Columbia, SA, the children teach the teachers. La Escuela Nueva is the name for schools in Columbia that house children of all ages, each of whom works on projects appropriate to his age group, and each of whom instructs new teachers in the educational system that the Escuela Nueva utilizes in its democratic education system.
Mama says it’s like the book she’s reading about elephants who helped win the war against the Japanese in Burma—kindness, patient teaching, stimulation for the imagination and encouragement to think for oneself develop skills in students that other forms of teaching, memorization, for example, do not.
But mama has always been an advocate for learning by doing, and the results of this kind of teaching can be seen all over Columbia and other countries that are adopting the methods.
I think it’s great that five-year-kids and 15-year-old kids can work together, each on his own project, and share information with one another about what he/she is learning.
When mama and papa visited Cuba in 2002, they found extradordinary kids who could talk about many subjects, who spoke English and Spanish, who had been educated in this same system, and the article states that in addition to Cuba, Columbia leads in the success of Escuela Nueva.
Mama wishes so much we could use these methods in teaching in America. I noticed she was doing some research about this and I think it’s beginning to catch on because the results are so obviously superior to those from traditional schooling systems.
Escuela Nueva turns the schoolhouse into a laboratory for democracy. Rather than being run as a mini-dictatorship, with the principal as its unquestioned leader, the school operates as a self-governing community, where teachers, parents and students have a real say in how it is run. When teachers unfamiliar with this approach are assigned to these schools, it’s often the students themselves who teach them how to apply the method (from David Kirp’s wonderful article in The New York Times today).
I’m a democratic kitty, too. I try to learn from others and share my myows with other kitties and see if we can’t build a better world for all.
Especially with more kibble in it…
I’m looking up Escuela Nueva Para Gattos and if there isn’t one, I’m startin’ one!
When you start your Escuela Nueva para Gattos…sign us up, too!
Well, I certainly will, but now you can just learn by doing–see that accidently left-out-of-fridge chicken leg over there?
Yes, Jan always says she learns best by doing too. We guess she’s going for a doctorate in klutz. 🙂
If you ingrates do not behave and show respect for your beloved Jan, I’m coming over there and giving you what for!!