To complicate this, many questions require knowing a lot of answers to even conceive of.
School isn’t about accumulating knowledge. We forget so much.
It’s about becoming familiar with the intellectual signposts put down by earlier explorers. Being able to find your way to the frontier.
Only a little of what you find will be generally useful. You’ll not learn much about how to learn. But for the minority of people who are especially curious, it offers a way to fit the answers together until you’re ready to ask—and answer—unsettled questions.
And that is important.
The real question is how we motivate more people to maintain that curiosity. And how we create support for them to explore. Can school be less of a maze and more of a map?
The value of Montessori and other alternative educational paths is that it creates a niche that appeals to a specific type of student. Much like having special needs and gifted classes, black colleges and international schools, vocational training and homeschooling.
The more options there are, the more individuals can find the right intuitive fit.
I’m not always a fan of unlimited options. I don‘t need 16 types of peanut butter or more than one romantic partner. But a society with many approaches to education, including more exploration-centric styles, seems very good to me.
To complicate this, many questions require knowing a lot of answers to even conceive of.
School isn’t about accumulating knowledge. We forget so much.
It’s about becoming familiar with the intellectual signposts put down by earlier explorers. Being able to find your way to the frontier.
Only a little of what you find will be generally useful. You’ll not learn much about how to learn. But for the minority of people who are especially curious, it offers a way to fit the answers together until you’re ready to ask—and answer—unsettled questions.
And that is important.
The real question is how we motivate more people to maintain that curiosity. And how we create support for them to explore. Can school be less of a maze and more of a map?
The value of Montessori and other alternative educational paths is that it creates a niche that appeals to a specific type of student. Much like having special needs and gifted classes, black colleges and international schools, vocational training and homeschooling.
The more options there are, the more individuals can find the right intuitive fit.
I’m not always a fan of unlimited options. I don‘t need 16 types of peanut butter or more than one romantic partner. But a society with many approaches to education, including more exploration-centric styles, seems very good to me.