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School Reform
Frequently Asked Questions 2
Shaun Kerry,
M.D.
Diplomate, American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology
Q. How are we able
to change the amount of control over the
student without giving them too much control over their education?
A. The question is, what is too much
control? There will always be a few people who will
mess up their lives, no matter what we do. There are probably some
biological determinants of sociopathy. I propose giving the
student complete control of his education. That does not mean that
we neglect the student. On the contrary, I feel that we should
listen more. The student as a unique individual has an intrinsic
sense of what he needs, and when we as adults respond to that, the child
cannot help but be positively motivated.
I realize that giving up control is frightening
to many people. A lot of men thought that our country
would go to pot when we gave women the right to vote in 1919.
Consider that at Oxford University in England, the only requirement is
that the student see his mentor (called a don) once a week, eat in the
student union, and attend chapel on Sunday. There are no required
courses and no assignments. The student designs his own program.
Q. Isn’t
mindfulness already present in the school system?
A. A little, in bits and pieces. We
pay far too high a price for it in
money, time, and energy,
though.
Q. What if what the student
would like to learn is socially unacceptable or immoral? How would
the teacher respond to the student’s desire to learn this particular
controversial subject?
A. How could any learning be immoral? Of course, antisocial behavior would not be tolerated in
the classroom. I would define antisocial as harming another
person.
Q. Doesn’t excessive homework
allow the student to practice what he has learned in class and show
the teacher that he comprehends the material?
A. The student is in school for the
student's benefit, and not the
teacher's. The student
will be his own judge and the teacher's role is to be available when
needed.
Q. Doesn’t the control over the student help them develop time management skills by giving them excessive homework and study materials?
A. Our era has
been called: "The Age Of Anxiety." Stress is a major problem
in our culture. Time management skills are not a priority, as I
see it. Creativity and mindfulness should be our first objective.
If you look around you, you see people being busy for the sake of being
busy.
Q. How would the student know what subjects they want
to learn if they haven’t been exposed to all
of the necessary subjects yet?
A. It will be easy to expose students to a
huge range of subjects. Forced memorization is quite
another matter.
Q. Doesn’t the present school system already conform to the needs of the student by offering him or her a universal education in order to explore their interests of their future occupations?
A. No. It burdens him with a bewildering array of busywork and projects to the point that he loses a sense of who he is, and his mind is damaged in the process.
Q. Wouldn’t teaching from a television
be less personal then listening to a teacher lecture in a classroom?
A. A ceiling mounted
projection monitor with a ten foot wide screen is very impactful. The teacher's time would be better spent leading
discussion groups and listening to the student's concerns.
Q. If you don’t need the trivial education that you obtain in high
school, college and graduate school, then why is it necessary to take
the required courses?
A. Because the people
planning the curricula don't appreciate the
concept of
mindfulness, how it is developed, and how it is harmed.
Q. How are we able to remove the everyday distractions in the classroom?
A. Mindfulness promotes awareness. When people are aware of a problem, they will deal with it.
Q. Why wouldn’t some students also disrupt the classroom during an audiovisual presentation as well?
A. Because the ten foot screen and stereo sound system is so captivating, that almost everyone will be focused on it. It would be like someone talking in a theater. The group would rapidly put a stop to it.
Q. Aren’t a lot of textbooks
important to some classes such as math?
A. That would be a judgment
call. The class would decide between a
book
and computer-generated handouts. The class could vote on it.
Q. Don’t the required courses offer the student a universal education?
A. It depends on your reference point. In the model that we are proposing, the student is allowed to develop his full potential as a human being. He is not required to satisfy an outsider's mindless, ivory-tower view of a "universal education." Whole-brain functioning is paramount, and necessary for real happiness, rich, fulfilling relationships, and creative social contributions.