Modern schooling is virtually experience-free. Its victims
are widely known for their inability to do anything practical, or to possess
even fundamental useful knowledge such as food production skills, or distances
between major population centers, or the relation of principal nations to one
another, or the history and nature of important institutions.
Experience-light individuals have been avoided throughout
history for dangerous innocence and awful lack of self-insight; it appears
impossible to comprehend large abstractions like “democracy” and “justice”
without the feedback of actual experience with their counterparts in operation.
What we are as individuals – and the fascination we hold for
other people as friends and even as employees – depends upon our stock of
experiences. When you reflect on how much of our learning comes from emulation,
from imitating people we watch, it’s easy to see how popular wisdom like “you
are known by the company you keep” has developed. It also isn’t hard to see how
limited opportunities for emulation are for the inexperienced.
Jahn Taylor Gatto
No comments:
Post a Comment