While serving in the Ivory Tower my research and interest was focused on two brain directed topics from which I rarely
strayed. One was the matter of consciousness. Although Dan
Dennett (1991) explained it in Consciousness explained, his thesis
was too convoluted to end my searching. The second topic was the concept of time. My interest in time began in the
pages of Feldenkrais’ extraordinary book, Body and mature behavior: A study of anxiety, sex, gravitation, and learning. How can anyone not be taken up in
something that surrounds us, guides our lives, and is part of every thought we have? My
phenomenological epistemology included a study of language, of being, knowledge acquisition, that all ended in the question,
“how do we know?”
Toward the end of my academic career it was my turn to venture out into schools and to see how this culture set about
to put my chosen studies in motion and how they actualized things I had been teaching. It was an eye-opening experience to
“see” teaching and to try to “see” learning in action. What I found was inspiring, depressing, interesting,
and shocking.
Several things were true consistently. Teachers were “out there”
doing a task that was part custodial and part academic. Each child brought a
unique set of experiences that was often unattended and set aside among expectations that primarily had to do with “grade
level” and chronological age concerns. Teachers were absolutely certain
that there were smart children and not so smart children and that the difference could be seen in how they preformed
on the curriculum.
Very few teachers knew anything about the brain or brain function and many did not want that knowing to get in the
way of what they “already knew”. Principals were there to “run” their schools and much of that had
to do with maintaining order. Parents ranged from extremely interested in their
child’s education to children who had no adult in their lives who cared a scintilla about what they were learning or
whether they were learning.
It was pleasing to find that teachers wanted to know more when offered “other ways to come at teaching”. My belief has been parallel to John Dewey’s that democracy is as viable as its
public education system. And having been there, that belief has strengthened.
Consulting is a sacred opportunity to be part of a system that teaches and cares for our young. When it is done best there is mutual learning and growth. Had
I come to consulting while I was pontificating my research, my teaching would have been elevated. Schools and teachers interacting on matters of preparing for life---now there is where the action is!!
