I

r- I

K . A L

“fl”: STAN DALTON

CONSISTS OF CLQTfl|Nfi THE KING

ssuddenly aware that he is individual who is free,

esPQn51blea and decisive‘

‘is "Moment" is extremely

racial for the future of

his individual for, it will

ling to‘awareness that he

st b5 something in terms

1 his own unique individua—

fly. This he, and he alone

5 responsible for; and he

w is free to do so. How—

er, if he has been cajoled to playing roles determined

‘~others, he may not realize

he significance of this

mment" and, consequently,

all be retarded in his re-

ponse to the significant

‘oment".

MATURE GROWTH

The implications here or educational reform are adical. Some of these impl— mations are: Resist at all wsts any attempt to place we child in a role. I will laborate‘at length here.

The infant is utterly ependant upon others for me gratification of its wery need. The parent must ‘ontinue to provide for !is needs until he is able 0 gratify them himself. his means that the parent, dways watching for the mo- {mnt when he can give the hild some responsibility, mst encourage some inde—x lendence from the parent. 0 smother the child with dfection and care when he eally doesfi‘t need it, is i0 rob him of that precious xperience of responsibilty md self—direction so nec- ssary in his later years. Ihis kind of affection,the mgh probably well meant, ill stifle him, and conse- mently,would appear not obe affection after all. 3 he grows and develops ewill signal (to the wat- Imul, loving parent) when “w where he is capable of*r ssuming independent respon— ibility however small. As $ acquires experience of lm world and others he al— 0 acquires a more extenr 4V6 repertoire of experi— nCe or,rather, capacity' for handling experiences. W is to be given freedom . en he is capable of using

t0 his advantage. To \

eVent him from using it énhe is ready to is to 1tivate an ambivalence d frustration which may We the detrimental effect distortiong its proper '& On the other hand, to “CE him to accept freedom Q“ he is not yet ready '

reSolve‘emotional con— . 1cts of this nature, he ydevelop a persistent aSion of freedom in fut- eyears. This would be peeially‘tragic for one this f earsomeness when

he experiences the "moment" This applies not only to freedom but to responsibile ity ,and-decision—making

as well. The child must grow at his own rate, both physically and psychologic- ally. ‘

The child is usually very influenced by those in his immediate environment. Not yet sure of who or what he is he may attempt to ac- quire an identity by identr

~ifyingwith someone close. ,’”

This is usually the parent, since he is the one who is generally the closest. It is therefore extremely import- ant how the parent presents himself to his son. Child— ren tend to observe very closely whether parents are consistent with their views. The inconsistent parent may instill ambivalence in his. child if ( especially if)

that child has already in— , trojected some aspects of i that parent. In that case

the child would be aware of self—doubt,since his "Self"

. is to considerable degree

that of the parents.

That the parent possesses a meaningful goal to which 'he is committed is also very important, for the child will one day be faced with .a similar situation, that is, of choosing a meaning— ful goal. Courage, truth— 'fullness and honesty are important in the parentCI might add at this point, that these qualities are desirable for all who come_ in contact with children}‘ indeed, everyone!) for they will determine the

nature of the man and how

he will interact with others.‘ The presencd of these attr- ibutes and parental attitudes with regards to them, will not go unperceived by the child.

I by no means mean to imply that the environment must be structured so as to evade all negative (if they can be called that) aspects of human existence. Quite. the contrary; tradegy, pain, suffering are very much a part of human existence and because they are the child must be allowed to "feel" them as well. I believe life is both gOod and bad so for as our experiences are con- cerned, and to be healthy is not to have the one one to the exclusion of the other. How the parent reacts

'to tragedy will not go un—

noticed by the child — do not try to hide it from him.

' If he is protected from re—

ality - whether good or bad

,— how can he be expected to

deal with it when he is ca— lled upon to do so? When he

'is still under the parent's

care he must be allowed to '

"test" tragedy; this exper— ience will extend his rep- ertoire.

It is crucial therefore in my opinion that the child acquire those qualitative predispositions with which he can deal with life and its situations. V

Although it is important what is chosen among alter— natives presented, what is Qf most impOrtance t0 the growing child is the choos- ing itself. Teach him to choose — let him feel choice making; and, what is most important of all, encourage

,him to see these concepts

(freedom; responsibility, choice, itd.) in turns of his own unique "Self"-

(How do I respond to choice and its implicationf? What does choice itself mean to me ? etc.) You muSt"first choose out hentically.

You can choose not to be free and, to some—degree, get away with it; you can do the same with responsibility but you cannot choose not to choose since that is a choice in itself. If you cannot evade choice, then why the argument?, Because it is how you choose. It is choosing with subjective passionate committment.

TRUE LEARNING This philosophy applies not

only to the child, but to any and all who have not ex perienced th "moment" since, with out it, the significance of those concepts discussed above are of little value so far as cognition goes; but he will be psychologically and spirit: ually predisposed to thier significance at the "moment" OF awareness. »

After the"Moment" has

.been experienced, it is then

up to,that individual to de- termine his goals, values, beliefs, and the means by which he will realize them. The school (university) and its curriculum exist as a poss- ibility he may or may not accept-depending on his goals, etc. Those existing inStitutions, indeed the world at large, contains innumerable possibilities

. fromm which he may choose ’to actualize his potential.

gThe ideal "teacher"-"St— udent" (Self-Self) rela— tionship is, in my view, the Socratic method of question and answer. The teacher and student together may pursue the tr— uth; not as on authorita-’ tive "teacher" and inferior "student", rather, together as equals pursuing a common goal during which time one benifits from the other in an atmosphere of freedom, respect, and love. "1:This is hot the only

THE CADRE,MARCH 19,PAGE 7

methodhowever; the teacher must encourage independant study by the way of projects, assignments, etc. A great danger that must be avoided is student dependance upon the teacher. It is part

of the teacher's role (in so far as he functions asva "teacher") to assist his student to exist independantly of him; an element so neces— sary in his life as a

whole.

I do not mean to imply that each individual must seperate himself completely from others; rather, he and he only can live his life and must therefore stand on his own. To some degree he is dependent on others, but in a way Which stimulates growth — dialogue, exchange of ideas, etc.

This essay thus far seems to indicate that true reform must necessarily begin in the home. That is,

of course, very true. But

this is by no means suggests that we cannot affect signific— ant change at the university level - we most certainly can.

We might begin by demand— ing that each candidate for admission be not required to prove high school profi- cency but rather, be able to state quite specifically what his purposes for coming to university are; how he intends to use the university as a means to his goal, etc. I doubt very much that the "quali— fied" students at UPEI could do that- their reasons are determined by their roles and as such would prove superficial on questioning.

I do not mean this in any pejorative sense - itw is a fact.

If I may suppose for a moment just how this would affect the present system and how it would appear -

THE READY LEARNER

The mature, self—assured, committed individual who knows his purposes would, without difficulty, outline his plan to attain his goal. Let us assume his goal is to develop an understanding of himself and others.He knows that he. must study the historical and contemporary thought on this matter. He must go then to those who can articulate these ideas and point to other possible areas for study.

None of this is authoritative on the part of the individual who serves"as the instructor. On the contrary, the instructor exists to serve the needs of the individual as he requests. In most areas the instructor will have a better grasp of

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