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In case it interests someone, here's a thumbnail description sent me by a friend in Vancouver, Peter Herd, of The Eductated Mind, a recent book by Kieran Egan (posted by Jamie MacKinnon) Lately, I've been having trouble understanding academic writing AND remembering the arguments, particularly when most of my reading is done late at night after brain shut-off or during the day while I'm often interrupted. With that caveat in mind, here is a superficial summary (oooh! I wish I could remember the good parts) of: The Educated Mind - How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding by Kieran Egan, SFU education prof. The problem with current education practice is that it is influenced by 3 incompatible ideas: 1. socialization - the initiation of the young into the knowledge, skills, and values of society 2. the search for the truth about reality - Plato's influence, abstract knowledge, rational thought 3. the development of the individual (Rousseau) - discovery learning, drawing on students' experiences Egan has developed an idea (based on the recapitulation theories of the 19th century, Vygotsky, et al) that connects past cultural development with contemporary educational development. There are 5 stages of understanding that people go through as they develop. Egan calls them mythic, romantic, philosphic, ironic, and somatic. Stages are added to, not replaced. 1. Mythic understanding -occurs in conjunction with oral language development -characterized by binary structures common in myths (good-evil...). Note that oppositions are a product of our thinking, not the phenomena. -can be developed through the use of fantasy, metaphor (kids' language is rich in metaphor), rhythm, narrative, images Even with young kids, we can approach the big questions (history, society...) through imaginative story-telling. It's not necessary to draw on their personal experiences (current curriculum theory) 2. Romantic understanding -occurs in conjunction with written language, beginning of "reason" -some magic is lost - literacy leads to literal interpretations -between ages 5 & 10, magic becomes questioned (Santa Claus) -binary opposites become gradations (hot/cold...add warm, cool...) -kids are attracted to narrative story-telling, heroes, Guiness Book of Records stuff -Examining the exciting elements of events and issues can provide a context for more detailed, broader examination later -Romantic understanding is lively and energetic - less concerned with systematic structures than with unexpected connections 3. Philosophic understanding -central feature is systematic theoretical thinking and a belief that truth can be expressed in its terms -not just a theoretical pursuit or mental game - philosphic ideas can be translated into political and social action through organizations and, increasingly, by spreading them electronically -beware of generalizations - the lure of absolute truth 4. Ironic understanding -irony is a powerful rhetorical tool used for effect, not just disguising what might be better stated literally -ironic understanding is reflexive - it enables us to apply the questions and doubts we have about others to our own sense making. -"ironic understanding requires expanding our sympathies and sensitivities to those who seem unlike us." 5. Somatic understanding -preceding and a part of every kind of understanding but separate from the language and conceptual components of the others -connected to behaviour, physical development, body language, survival strategies.... Summary "Our initial understanding...is Somatic; then we develop language and a socialized identity, then writing and print, then abstract, theoretic forms of expressing general truths, and then a reflexivity that brings with it pervasive doubts about the representations of the world that can be articulated in language. But irony is a general strategy for putting into language meanings that the literal forms of language cannot contain; along with this, Ironic understanding involves abstract, theoretic capacities, plus the capacities stimulated by literacy, plus the winged words of orality, and also our bodily foundation in the natural world." Egan claims that a proper education today requires that individuals recapitulate the various kinds of understanding and deploy them together. He has sections on implications for the curriculum and implications for teaching (some of these ideas have been noted above). He also attempts to refute claims that he is proposing a return to ethno-phallo-Euro-centred way of thinking.