Cognitive Education and Communication

[David Linwood]

Here is a monumental work. Please comment. David Linwood

[Loel Shuler]

CEAC

As David says this is a monumental piece of work and great kudos and appreciation are due to Frank Gastner for his perseverance and labor putting it together. I’ve been looking at it since Frank first called it to my attention. And, indeed, it fits right into my contention that the earlier in life an individual is introduced to the principles of what we call General Semantics the better for the world. How it’s labeled seems minimumly significant to me compared to what occurs in the thinking processes of individuals. Nonetheless how it’s labeled may have significance for those who will decide to teach it or not teach it. And so “Cognitive Education,” which seems to be kind of the current buzz phrase, sounds good to me.

How to persuade teachers to use the material is the next big push. Making it free on line is a great step. But getting public school teachers to use it and principals to recommend it is another mountain to climb.

In my forty plus years of teaching children K thru 12 (and on up actually) outside of the public school system I have made some observations. By the 2nd grade students have already learned quite firmly that there are right and wrong answers to “teacher’s” questions. The trick is to figure out what any given teacher wants to hear as an answer. The cleverer you are at that the faster you are going to get ahead. Since the kind of teaching I was concerned with, the many aspects of theater arts including improvisation, involved quite the opposite, no right/wrong rather the exploration of doing and communicating, I spent a lot of time watching children struggle to find out what I “wanted from them.” I also observed the amazement at the eventual discovery that “what was wanted” was for them to explore whatever it was they were intrigued by exploring. That the only judgment would be how clearly they communicated whatever it was they wished to communicate. Usually this realization was like dropping a heavy load. One could see clearly a change in their faces.

The older the students the harder it seemed for them to get the message. Often by 5th and 6th grade it would require testing the boundaries by improvising on the most shocking subjects or using the most shocking language they could think of... I admit it was kind of fun to watch the amazed and bemused expressions when the “big shockers” failed to produce a moral guillotine.

Of course, my “classes” were relatively small and the students tended to come mostly from families who believed in giving them opportunities. Still it sometimes seems as though the most deprived children come from the most affluent families.

It has been a special gift to me to watch these children grow up and see how they have used this freedom. I must admit it has given me a sense of self-worth about my life that I do not believe any successful amassing of power or material wealth could have done. (Perhaps statements like this might serve some P.R. purpose, Gary Chapman, how about you?)

The one thing I have mentioned to Frank is that it would be nice to append a recommended reading list. Perhaps two, one for teachers and one for students. I was thinking particularly of students, however. My motive for the recommendation was not altogether altruistic because I would love to see my book, Alaska in the Wake of the North Star, on a secondary school reading list. as well as an upper level list. But selfish motives aside I think it’s a fine idea and perhaps this forum would be a good one to provide recommendation for such lists. I don’t think after all the labor he has alresdy put in Frank wants to take it on alone. So let me begin by recommending Jean Craighead George’s trilogy, Julie of the Wolves. These books, I believe are already on school reading lists. But they definitely would belong on one to enhance this program.

Loel Shuler

[David Linwood]

Hi Loel,

Bob Potter has already remarked that private schools might be more receptive than "standard" community K-12 public schools to Frank Gastner's CEAC material. I agree with him, that public school teachers have been so "uniformized" and made captive to the "know-it-alls" that they don't give a damn any more. They mostly are interested in getting by with the minimum work load they can finagle -- just like the students!! A sad situation.

David Linwood

[Gary Chapin]

David wrote:

"I agree with him, that public school teachers have been so "uniformized" and made captive to the "know-it-alls" that they don't give a damn any more."

Being a public school teacher, I couldn't disagree with this more. Not only do most of the people I work with "give a damn" but they are in despair over what political actions such as budget, NCLB, and state mandates do to their teaching. Even without such negative situations to respond to, most of the teachers I work with actively work to evaluate their effectiveness and lose sleep trying to come up with ways to "get to" the kids. Yeah, there are lazy people in every field, but slagging en masse the folks who devote their lives to our kids seems short sighted and doesn't match with my experience. It's also easy -- a convenient and easy map for inconvenient and difficult circumstances.

ps, I've looked at Gastner's stuff and, though I haven't told him yet, I love a lot of what I see.

[Andrea Johnson]

My husband retired as a school social worker and served as a link between teacher and parents, while also counseling children with emotional and physical needs. The stereotypes of "lazy" and "uncaring" got lobbed in both directions. For the most part, the adjectives didn't fit but the belief in these labels added a difficult hurdle for both parents and teachers.

I agree with Gary that teachers often end up maligned and tossed to the wolves as easy scapegoats for a nutty educational system that looks for The Solution, tries it, dumps it, finds another Solution, etc. The teachers have to work within The Solution and become pretty jaded by the Next Great Thing they have to use. Creative and dedicated teachers find ways to work within the mandates, but at costs of time, energy and often without administrative support. It's just not as easy as making a curriculum available to teachers.

I don't think any current IGS trustees work in or have worked in the teaching field full-time. Substitute teachers or adjunct faculty on the university level do not have sufficient understanding of the complex politics to appreciate the difficulty in making curriculum changes. Yes, it can happen, but usually the "higher ups" have to buy in first. That's one reason why general semantics has been taught at Alverno College in Milwaukee since 1976. It doesn't rely on one teacher because it's part of the curricular system.

TCU in Fort Worth has made a gs course part of the curriculum in the college of communication studies. The dean and several tenured faculty supported this inclusion just 2 years ago. In fact TCU, with the support of the provost, had hoped to propose an alignment with IGS where the institute would become an umbrella organization and benefit from university-college connections around the country. The majority of trustees did not want to entertain a proposal and some unfortunate "anonymous behaviors" (I truly do not know where they came from) pushed TCU away and a proposal was never made.

Long post, but my main point--getting gs into the schools, even into the hands of teachers has multi-level complications.

[David Linwood]

Hi Andrea and Gary,

I know of many dedicated teachers at both the K-12 and higher university level who have never "given in" and followed the"easy" way. I have been a university professor and lecturer over twenty-five years, as well as an industrial applied mathematician for for another twenty-five years. I have been blessed in that none of my deans or departmental supervisors have ever prevented me from teaching my students and grading them in accordance with a methodology I have followed and can display, when requested.

There are, in my experience, just as many teachers who act like they don't give a damn, or have been rebuffed so many times in making new attempts at improving instruction that they've become "punch drunk" -- "hit in the head" too many times -- "unappreciated", etc. and so, "demoralized, and frustrated". "Frustration" -- "intensely angry. but without enthusiasm any more".

In my experience, those at the college level or teaching at private schools have far less interference with the introduction of "effective teaching methods", "new curricula"., etc. -- not so?

Love, David

[Gary Chapin]

David, I can't disagree with you that such teachers exist. I simply object to the idea that they are "the problem" with schools or even the major part of it. There are all sorts of angles on this. The impact of visual media on literacy? The ethical and effective (and affective) implications of compulsory attendance? Administrations applying structural solutions (because, as Andrea implied, that's what they do) to relational or political problems? Political impact and contradiction within the curriculum (we "teach" independent thought, but demand obedience)? At home issues intruding on school time?

I haven't taught in college so can't speak to that -- my impression of the autonomy of the professor, though, agrees with yours. I'm still not convinced that's a good thing, since, my experience is that whether a professor is a good teacher or not is pretty haphazard.

As for private schools, teachers tend to be paid less (on average, because certification is not required and state pay level minimums don't apply) and have just as many hoops to jump through as public school teachers: it's just that the hoops are put up by parents and a more autocratic (God on their side) administration then they are by federal and state bureaucracy. The major advantage that private schools seem to have over public schools is that they are allowed to choose their student population. Not only can they filter kids coming in, but, with relative ease, they can kick kids out. With this sort of leverage, private schools can make all sorts of demands on the students and the parents that public schools cannot. From an efficacy point of view, this is amazing: of course your school will do better if you can dismiss the "troubled" kids. From an ethical point of view, I'm not so sure. Public schools have to take every kid that shows up and, again from an ethical point of view, are required to do the best with them that they can. We aren't allowed to give up or send them to "shop class." This makes public schools, maybe, less of an ideal learning space, but ... I'm not sure what my "but" is.

[David Linwood]

Hi Gary,

I agree with most of what you describe. I'm only concerned about who will adopt the CEAC program and give it a reasonable exercise for a few years. Whoever can transmit to the students the "good stuff" in this CEAC program is not evident, a priori -- therefore we should distribute the material to whomever wishes to try it out and evaluate the results.

How to evaluate the results, I'm not too sure. In general one has to compare the students at an institution who has not used CEAC, with the students in an institution that has. That's very tricky to achieve and get any comparisons that a "scientific" evaluator will accept as "valid". I suggest we avoid that "tricky" comparison and just broadcast our goodies.

I likely will not be around when a sufficient number of years has passed to consider careful evaluation. I suppose you could call it "an exercise in faith".

I do believe that the material speaks for itself very well and will be adopted by a number of institutions if we distribute it and "talk it up".

What say you. Any ideas?

David

[Frank Gastner]

Thanks David for getting folks to review parts of Cognitive Evaluation and Communication. Here is the point the project has reached.

I have just uploaded CEAC by Grade onto the website. I did not wish to get too many people looking at the material without this option. PayPal is still inoperative.

If you are a teacher, business person, or whatever, and you have taken the time to review the material, I covet your reviews.
These would be particularly interesting from out of the country.

I mentioned earlier that we had worked up a 5.5" x 8.5" flyer that we could supply interested parties. These cost $115 per thousand. We could use an infusion of funds. We are not a charity but any and all "gifts" would be appreciated.

Sooo, read, review and send us a winning lottery ticket.

Frank Gastner

[Nora]

Gary, you present a good picture that I think clearly shows some of reasons why one cannot pin the problems of education on any one group or policy.

Consider the sheer complexity of the society in which this education takes place. I think public education, like public government, suffers from the continual wrangling in society of almost uncountable different "cultures". Each single school district faces "participation" from religious parents who want to their particular faith-based ideals taught in class (but not somebody else's), scientists who insist on accurate representations of scientific theory, well-off upper class parents who will push their kids to meet federal standards so they can get into the old alma mater, less well-off parents who send hungry kids to school and let them go home to empty houses, educational reformers who introduce wildly divergent theories on how kids learn (at least sometimes without a shred of evidence), etc., etc.

No wonder the dominant theory changes from year to year, given the jockeying of all these groups! As you say, Gary, private schools are insulated from some of these pressures and thus have some latitude to apply a more consistent or long-term theory, although they also have more freedom to pick a theory that has more to do with ideology than actual educational outcome. Teachers in public schools end up having to employ a kind of passive aggression to keep to the methods they find effective despite changing fashions on school boards.

Perhaps your "but" might be something like "This makes public schools, maybe, less of an ideal learning space, but...in the long run, students in public school have a shot at becoming more aware citizens of our melting pot society than students taught in isolation."

[Loel Shuler]

This discussion is assessing the problems alright. It occurs to me that one of the beauties of CEAC may be that it does not directly interfer with the required formats of public school teaching. I mean it is not so much concerned with the tools that must be taught, 3 R's etc., as with "how to think." Any given teacher could and probably does spend a certain amount of time with students outside of the formalized programs. If those teachers who, as Gary says, are struggling to find ways of reaching the kids could be persuaded to use some of these programs in addition to the regular curriculum..........?

I have the impression that you do this on your own, Gary. Right?

It seems to me they would be so valuable especially in the early primary grades where ways of thinking are being framed. Just that small kindergarten exercise with the pencil for example; a bit of time spent with that might have a lifetime impact on a little brain.

So the question is how to get the attention of those teachers who might consider using at least some of it? It strikes me that an imprtant thing to keep in mind is that we are educating teachers here as well as students

Brings me back to my suggestion of recommended reading lists. Maybe it's important to start with a teacher list even before a student list. IMO such a list should be easy and attractive reading that carries ideas compatible with, but not necessarily labeled as such, GS thinking.

Andrea, I would be interested in hearing something about the results of teachers Alverno College sends out into the public school world.

[David Linwood]

Hi Loel,

I think the idea of getting CEAC on many, many teacher's reading lists is a very good way to go. How do we go about this. Hey you experienced teachers -- any ideas?

If we distribute "flyers" (Frank has prepared some), maybe that will help?? I will ask him to let us use his stuff and see if we can get a few teachers on board. Other ideas?

[Frank Gastner]

Sure will be glad to send some to anyone who cares as soon as I get my main computer back. I don't have all my programs on this laptop.
Frank Gastner