How Can a Saying From Confucius Help Teachers?

I have so much to talk about that I will probably need to make another post.:)

First of all I missed Quotable Thursday on Pamposh Dhar's Teratali Reiki and Counseling. So here is my quote, which I found in a book called Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher. Being a former teacher you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher.:) I like to imagine being in a classroom and teaching my way. This author and I think alike. It's refreshing.:)

"Learning without thinking is labor lost; thinking without learning is dangerous."

-Confucius

Mr. Gallagher starts his book with this quotation and I believe that this is exactly what is wrong with our country today. Many people were taught too much without having a chance to do any thinking about it. They went through school and learned some facts and connected them to where their teachers told them to, but teachers didn't have enough time to go into any of the areas in depth. So if these people didn't go to college where they might have dealt with these subjects in a deeper fashion, they have these unrelated facts in their heads. Add this to the fact that some people have certain beliefs that they just know are true. They have basically learned without thinking and later in life they have thought without learning. All thought needs to be combined with learning or you have basically dogma, which is a belief that you have on trust. People who have been taught to accept everything they learn without thinking about it will of course believe everything that anyone is thinking without asking for facts to back it up. Here we have in a nutshell the reason why even though Bush was basically the antithesis of what anyone would consider presidential, he still had thirty per cent who approved of him. This explains why people will accept the idea of Creationism.

Have you ever noticed that once you have learned about something you want to learn more about it? Humans learn by making connections with something we already know. The more you know about a subject the easier it is for you to learn more about it. We gain more connections by looking at things in different ways or thinking.:) Thinking is a necessary tool for learning. It helps us to examine what we are learning in various ways so we can find all the connections to ourselves that we can. The more you feel connected to what you learn the more you will want to learn it. If only some teachers understood this concept the educational system would be turning out fantastic students. Instead they are forced to push learning into kids like you would feed a reluctant toddler. Actually, when people are open to learning it is the easiest thing in the world to teach them.:) One example is any advanced class that you have taken to get a license or for an upgrade in pay. The people you are with are interested and interacting with the teacher for the most part. You wonder why this kind of interest is not seen in high school classes. The truth is that an affinity group that has a stake in their own learning is not an unconnected class of adolescents who would rather be texting their friends or on their IPods or playing Wii than be in that class. They don't see the carrot at the end. :) Maybe it would be a better idea to give them more motivation to learn than good grades. Just a thought I had and all from one quotation from Confucius.

What does everyone think about this? Sorry no interview or highlight this week. I will highlight someone's fantastic blog on Monday. Have a great Friday!! It's Memorial Day Weekend so enjoy the rest.:) More on my next post! Out-Numbered has led me to yet another great discussion. I can't wait to tell you about this new place that I've found and the discussion on this woman's blog. But that will be my next post tomorrow, which is really today now.:)