sparky?

So the question is asked, what is the meaning behind the title of this blog?

I credit two influences, 1) my colleague and comrade in arms, Mike Dunn,who shared a quotation with me from Plutarch that goes something like this; "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited."; 2) The second attribution goes out to a web address (brainsonfire) that I noticed in the commentary section from Fast Company magazine. A little bell went off in my head that rang true: our role as educators is to stoke our students' intellectual passions, to set brains on fire!

However, I am afraid that the pressures for accountability for student performance on the standardized tests mandated by NCLB will dampen the intellectual spirit of students and teachers. Andy Hargreaves and Dean Fink's 2006 book on sustainable leadership states that the drive for standardization is the Silent Springs of education, that there is a "looming danger as fast-paced, all consuming standardized education reform leaves plagues of exhausted educators and joyless learning in its wake (p.4)". It reminds me of the swarm of dementors from the Harry Potter movies, the demons that suck the soul out of their hapless victims. I believe that standards have a role in education, but the manner in which they are utilized is critical.

Knowledge which is devoid of context is of limited value and could never be classified as wisdom.

A wise man is only considered so based on his decisions in new circumstances. Alfred Whitehead cautions us to beware of inert ideas, "ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilised, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations." Here are some more wonderful quotations from Whitehead's book, The Aims of Education and Other essays, published in 1929:
"In the schools of antiquity philosophers aspired to teach wisdom, in modern colleges our humbler aim is to teach subjects. The drop from the divine wisdom, which was the goal of the ancients, to text-book knowledge of subjects, which is achieved by the moderns, marks an educational failure, sustained through the ages" p. 29
"The evocation of curiosity, of judgment, of the power of mastering a complicated tangle of circumstances, the use of theory in giving foresight to specialized cases-all these powers are not imparted by a set rule embodied in one schedule of examination subjects." p. 5
"The craving for expansion, for activity, inherent in youth is disgusted by the a dry imposition of disciplined knowledge" p. 50
The ages of 8-13 'is dominated by wonder, and cursed be the dullard who destroys wonder" p. 50

Alfred Whitehead understood the aims of education 90 years ago! Why doesn't his name resound from the lips of educators, administrators, board of education members, and from the personnel responsible for directing curriculum? Ask any teacher, newly trained or experienced veteran, about Whitehead and you are more likely to hear a wisecrack about pustules and personal hygiene.

Constructivist education is one of the current buzzwords that has its genesis in the essays of Whitehead from the previous century and from Plutarch from the previous millennium. The hope for education is that some of the fundamental tenets, like stoking the fires of curiosity and interest, will survive the deluge of of assessments required to satisfy the emphasis on accountability. Curiosity, augmented with knowledge and the opportunity to apply it in novel circumstances will escalate understanding to the level of wisdom. So go forth and set some brains on fire.

Make a good day,
Tod

PS. For a synopsis of Hargreaves and Fink's views on the sustainability and unsustainability of leadership check out the powerpoint at http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Tapahtumakalenteri/2006/09/eu_28_2909/Andy_Hargreaves.pdf.