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Re: Education (Was Re: Techwriting After the Boom)
Subject:Re: Education (Was Re: Techwriting After the Boom) From:"Richard G. Combs" <richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 9 Jun 2003 14:28:22 -0600
John Posada wrote:
> Mark...I don't agree. I think what you mean by abstraction, I think of
> extraction. I can teach something in the abstract without ever relating it
> to a concrete.
John, if you _do_ think of abstraction as extraction -- and you think about
what extraction means -- it should be obvious to you that Mark is correct:
when you _extract_ something, you must extract it _from_ something. :-)
People begin by perceiving things -- concrete things -- with their senses.
They notice similarities or patterns, and form concepts -- abstractions --
that allow them to group and categorize sets of related concretes. Then they
notice similarities or patterns among these concepts, and form higher-level
concepts from them. And so forth.
How about a concrete example? ;-) You learn the concept "chair" by noticing
(or having pointed out to you) that there are various objects in your
environment that have certain similarities, chief among them being
suitability for sitting upon. You likewise learn that "table" is a useful
concept for describing the class of objects upon which people set things.
Eventually, you form (or learn) the concept "furniture," which is useful for
describing a more general (abstract) category of objects, including tables
and chairs.
How would you teach the general concept of furniture without reference to
the more particular concepts of tables, chairs, sofas, etc., and to
specific, concrete examples of those?
Perception comes first -- you have to see, hear, smell, and taste things
before thinking about them. Then, conceptualizing is a process of going from
the particular to the general. The most effective way to teach something
emulates that natural progression. You can "teach something in the abstract
without ever relating it to a concrete" _only_ if the students _already
possess_ the foundational experience (percepts) and knowledge (simpler
concepts) to support the abstractions you're teaching -- that is, to relate
it to a concrete in their own minds.
That's what's wrong with so much of K-12 education today. All these
"educators" keep pooh-poohing "rote learning" and saying that it's more
important to teach kids "how to think." But, they don't first teach them
anything to think _about_! It's like trying to teach someone how to use a
saw, chisel, or plane without providing any wood upon which to apply them.
The math teachers want to teach kids set theory, "thinking about numbers,"
etc., without first teaching them to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
The result is cashiers who can't make change -- and can't think meaningfully
about numerical information at any level.
The history and social studies teachers think it's stupid/oppressive to
force kids to "memorize names and dates." The result is college graduates
who can't find Europe on a map and don't know in what century the U.S.
gained its indepence or from whom -- and don't have the slightest
intelligent thought about politics, world affairs, etc.
If you watch Leno's "Jaywalking" bits, you know what I'm talking about. It's
sad/funny.
Grumble, grumble: "When I was young, we had to diagram two miles of
sentences every morning -- uphill and through the snow!" ;-)
Richard
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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT voyanttechDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT freeDASHmarketDOTnet
303-777-0436
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