Teacher – “That’s a peculiar question”
Boy – “They will ask me when I get home”
While preparing a contribution on the future of Open Education, I discovered a dialogue between Seymour Papert and Paulo Freire that took place at the end of the 1980’s.
Papert mentioned in his conversation with Freire a cartoon from the Punch Magazine that gives much to think about the importance of learning vs. teaching. Papert links it to what he understands school is about, i.e. “learning by being told” or better said “by being taught” as opposed to “learning by exploring”. According to him, “many children are destroyed by that, strangled”. 20 years later we keep arguing upon the ways for creativity to enter the classroom. (more…)