The Great Didactic: The Whole Art of Teaching

while doing my assignment, i found out about this amazing educationist called Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670)..

he wrote this book called the Didactica Magna, or in English "The Great Didactic".. this book explores "how people learn and how they should be taught from infancy through the university and beyond. Contrary to the popular belief of the time, Comenius believed that human beings were born with a natural craving for knowledge and goodness, and that schools beat it out of them."

this powerpoint slideshow talks a little bit more about him... he also believed in "travel" as part of education and wrote a little about the finer points of teaching:

"If we take a jar with a narrow mouth, for to this we may compare a boy's intellect, and attempt to pour a quantity of water into it violently, instead of allowing it to trickle in drop by drop, what will be the result? Without a doubt, the greater part of the liquid will flow over the side, and ultimately the jar will contain less than if the operation had taken place gradually. Quite as foolish is the action of those who try to teach the pupils, not as much as they can assimilate, but as much as they themselves wish."

pretty cool to hear it from some 17th century guy instead of some modern day book.. sometimes, i, too, wonder if we are cramming our next generation with too much for them to handle.. Even where i am now, there is little mention of the "philsophy of teaching and education", only what we hope to achieve through our education system, namely equipping the next generation with the "right" skills for the future etc etc..

though some may argue that the line between the two is thin and hardly worth arguing over, i personally am more enthralled by the thinking of education as an artform,with its own certain philosophy, and not as a grinding and urgent task and mission, and worse, as an inevitable "evil" to ensure children are adequately equipped to meet future challenges..

oh well, so much for an idealist.. i still got to do my assignments.. :p