Re: [xmca] Fwd: Purposes and processes of education

[Tony Whitson <twhitson@UDel.Edu>]

I should be going to bed now (NYC time zone), or else turning around work 
from advisees that I'm behind on; but this topic has got me going.

Now I'm remembering one of my favorite short stories by the great 20th 
century writer Lu Xun. I'm not remembering the title, but it depicts an 
evening dramatic performance in a Chinese village. I am sure that this 
sort of event has been going on for centuries. It would be a mode of 
instruction for the young people; but it would be an activity that was not 
happening solely or primarily for that "instructional" purpose. It was for 
antertainment and socialization for adults, but the "instructional" 
function would have also been salient, if not necessarily "deliberate."

It seems to me one question here has to do with the degree to which it 
matters if the activity is conducted specifically for its "instructinal" 
value.

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010, mike cole wrote:

> I think this speculation is correct, Tony and lets hope someone can help us
> know:
>
> "I would bet that they have been used over the centuries as media for
> transmitting culture orally, through stories told by illiterate grown-ups to
> children who were not being schooled."
>
> Deliberate instruction is clearly not co-incident with literacy and
> schooling (30+ children to one adult, print mediated). Infants are
> deliberately (if not-so-effectively) instructed by parents.
>
> This is a great example of the belief that to study learning and development
> one has to study the history of these forms of change at several different
> scales of time and synchronic scale.
>
> Wow.
> mike
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