STRUCTURED LEARNING {Holt}
People are always talking to me about ‘structured’ and ‘unstructured’ situations. To this I say that there is no such thing as an ‘unstructured’ human situation; all situations have a structure; children live every second of their lives surrounded by structures, little ones, big ones, little ones inside of big ones. The question to ask is, what kind of structures? [George von Hilsheimer, in his book How to Live with Your Problem Child] makes a point that I would like to see written in letters a foot high on the walls of every school.
...Unfortunately, most people think the word ‘structure’ is limited to something like the military hierarchy and the pseudo-structures of the lecture room and textbook. It is as if biologists thought that a crystal or even a block of homogenous and undifferentiated matter had more structure than a living cell. [Italics mine]... The richer the selection of artifacts, gadgets, objects, spaces and relationships, the busier, more purposeful and satisfactory the behavior of the pupils is going to be.
—John Holt, ‘Chapter 28: Troubled Children and Others,’ What Do I Do Monday?
• photograph by unknown artist •
May 6, 2014