PoP Book 06.2s MidRes - Flipbook - Page 32
Infinite Learners
6.02
surprise is to be trained.
‘To be prepared against
is to be educated.’
To be prepared for surprise
James P Carse
6.03
of tomorrow will mould voracious
The ideal education for the people
s.
about the world and its possibilitie
learners, with an endless curiosity
s
how and why of everything; courageou
Children who want to understand the
take risks just to see what happens.
enough to think un-thinkables and
keep the adults of the next decades
These are the qualities needed to
Explorers, investigators, tinkerers,
afloat in the choppy waters of change.
growers. Yes, in a word, players.
6.04
is the
tend to breed, in too many cases,
Unfortunately, what it seems we
been conditioned to select and
student-as-customer. Learners who’ve
most efficient transactions possible.
the
in
ns
qualificatio
tick-box
obtain
and on the other side are the educators,
They sit on one side of the counter,
in neat servings. All done in efficiently
handing over packages of knowledge
6.05
auditable ways.172
•
and
with James Carse’s scale of finite
It’s another picture which fits well
games,
species of finite play, that’s to say
infinite play. Schools are mostly a
students who win exams and degrees
because they bestow awards on the
higher
in
ns
them for competitio
from them. Those awards then qualify
and specialised professional training.
game levels, like prestigious colleges,
e system is normal; it’s always been
You can say this sort of competitiv
first thing it does is discourage
the
that
argue
I’d
But
the way. Maybe so.
young ones, from properly exploring
students, and in many cases very
This
now but for the rest of their lives.
their creative potential; not only
there’s a great deal of passion
is harsh generalising, I admit, because
off on kids as a hunger for exploring.
in teaching, and some of that rubs
e.
But it sure doesn’t happen everywher
6.06
6.07
Goodlad studied more than a thousand
In A Place Called School,173 John
s and found, on average, 75% of
elementary and secondary classroom
’. Of which, nearly 70% was just
all class time could be labelled ‘instructing
In total, teachers out-talked kids
students.
to
teacher
usually
—
‘talk’
across the large sample that
consistent
so
were
results
three-to-one. The
teaching ‘telling’. Barely 5% of any
he thought it reasonable to rename
145
Play School / Infinite Learners
144
Section 06
6.08
6.01
Play School
6.26
Swings an
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ool /
Swings
and Sli
des
162
d Slides
For more
than fifty
years chi
world’s cou
ldren’s fre
ntries, has
e-play tim
been on
e, in a ma
are far-re
a continual
jority of
aching. A
the
slide; and
long-term
shrinking
the conseq
study of
breaks, and
schools
uences
what fre
in the UK
managed
e time the
shows eve
as possi
re is being
rble
.206
even giv
In a surpri
as short
en enoug
sing num
and tightl
h
time to eat
ber of sch
y
ground.
ools, pupils
their lun
‘The fact
ch, let alo
aren’t
is that…
of the pre
ne get loo
timetable
ssure to
se
s
in the pla
are burst
deliver a
ying at the
children
huge am
seams be
for high-s
ount of lea
cause
takes tes
rning and
ts and exa
to prepar
ms.’ 207
e
Time for
free-play
has
been ero
exerted
ded, at lea
ever-grea
st in part,
ter contro
that’s left
because
l over wh
, certainly
adults hav
at childr
isn’t being
en do.208
e
the respon
And the
spent in
dents in
playtime
wide open
a survey
countries
spaces.209
of
twe
lve-and-a
said their
Over hal
-half tho
kids spe
f
That’s les
usa
nt
less than
nd parent
s time tha
an hour a
s in ten
n prison
kids nev
day playin
ers in a ma
er play out
g outside.21
ximum sec
side. ‘It’s
0
all,’ psycho
urity jail.
hard to find
One in ten
logist Pet
groups of
er Gray say
to be we
children
s, ‘and if
aring uni
outdoors
you do find
forms and
at
their par
them, the
following
ents dutifu
y’re likely
the direct
lly watch
ions of coa
and cheer.’
ches wh
ile
The signifi
cant rise
in anxiety
day in tee
and dep
ns and you
ression fro
ng adults
with the
m 1950 to
is regula
lack of fre
the
pre
rly
bro
sent
e-play oft
ught up,
conscious
en follow
and the cor
ly set out
s close beh
relation
to do aw
ind. It’s not
repeatedl
ay with pla
y ignore
that any
ytime, jus
d. But kid
one
their own
t that its
s who do
true value
actions,
n’t have
to make
is
the oppo
lems thr
the
rtunity to
ir own dec
ough the
control
isions and
course of
command
solve the
their pla
of their ow
y, grow up
ir own pro
n lives. Th
bfeeling the
lives are
ey wind
y’re not in
largely dep
up less con
endent on
fident, fee
luck, and
ling their
the whims
People wh
of others
o develo
.
p some sen
are much
se
of agency
less likely
over their
to develo
a natura
own fate,
p anxiety
l way of lea
in contra
and dep
rning to
st,
ression.
evolutiona
treat eac
Social pla
ry functio
h other fair
y is also
ns is to tea
ly. One of
and that
ch individ
its more
if they do
ual
covert
n’t take oth
humans
be asked
they’re not
er player
to join the
that specia
s’ needs
game nex
into accoun
l,
decline in
t time. So,
play may
t, they wo
aside fro
be both con
n’t
and lonelin
m anythi
sequence
ng else,
ess.
and cause
the
of increa
sed isolati
on
Play Sch
ool /
Swings
and
