The 1939 Education Solution: Part II

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In Dr. Peddiwell's lecture in The Saber-Tooth Curriculum (see previous blog,) the Paleolithic educational system taught courses in:

• Fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands
• Wooly-horse-grabbing
• Saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire

The society flourished as their children became experts at the above subjects until things changed. A new ice age began and the waters became to muddy to see the fish and the wooly horses left for better pastures and the saber-tooth tigers moved to the desert (only to be replaced by ferocious bears.) Some, the progressive thinkers, suggested that the curriculum be changed to meet the new, more modern needs of the society; that they should teach subjects like net-making-and-operating, snare-setting-and-pit-digging and bear-killing. The wise old men, believers in the Great Mystery, claimed that new curriculum wasn't real education; that there were truths that all children must be taught.


Sound familiar? That same argument has continued well beyond Dr. Peddiwell's 1939 essay. Many in the 1980's said that we should not teach children about computers. Hell, I was even taught that there were nine planets in our solar system!


To me the answer is very simple. We must each students how to learn, think and problem solve. We do not know WHAT our society will face in the future. "Give someone a fish and she will eat for a day; teach her to fish and she will eat for a lifetime."


Recommend The Saber-Tooth Curriculum to all you know, whether they are reformers or devotees of The Great Mystery.