OST and the legacy of education

[Justus Lewis]

Hi Chris,

I found your paper very interesting. I'm a product of the Scottish education
system myself but I could certainly relate to Gatto's seven lessons. I've
always thought school was primarily a sausage machine to be endured and
resonate with 'teacher, teacher, leave these kids alone ... just another
brick in the wall'. However, I've got to acknowledge that a lot of kids do
actually enjoy school.

You raise some very interesting issues. Should school be run on Open Space
principles? I'm not sure how practical that would be in the lower grades
although I think some schools do give students a much greater degree of
responsibility for organising their own study program in the higher grades.

I remember an 'experiment' that lasted for one week in my primary school
when I was about 8 or 9 years old. The desks were rearranged in squares to
make small groups of eight students. Each day we were allocated work. The
first hour or so was new input from the teacher. As I recall, one or two
topics were dealt with each day. Then we had the rest of the day 'free' to
organize our work to suit ourselves. When we had finished, we could read.
I remember vividly thinking how wonderful school had suddenly become!
However, I was brought rudely back to reality at the start of the next week
when the desks were back in classroom format and as I remember, the teacher
told us that 'the experiment didn't work'. I thought it worked brilliantly.

Reverting to your article, I have a few suggestions.

1. You might consider adding a paragraph at the start that would make it
clearer where you are heading and why you are juxtaposing OS and schooling.
Some of this comes in your conclusion.

2. It might be useful to have some further discussion of freedom in relation
to the OS process. From my limited experience of OS, I perceive that the
'boundaries' that the facilitator sets by referring to the four principles
and the law of two feet in opening the space are vital to the subsequent
successful experience of freedom. In other contexts I have experienced,
freedom shock has included inappropriate behaviour that demonstrates lack of
respect for others and the pursuit of irrelevant agendas.

3. You might consider extending the discussion by mentioning examples of
school structures and practices that do or would incorporate open space
principles that could be encouraged or extended. Recently, in a very brief
ezine article I tried to put the concept of opening space in a wider
context.
http://www.transformasia.com.au/article-011.html

I hope these comments are helpful. I think what you're doing by relating OS
to a wider cultural context and encouraging people to think about the
unspoken agendas in how they conduct their lives is very important.

Best regards,

Justus



Justus H Lewis, PhD     Learning that works for you
justus at transformasia.com.au
http://www.transformasia.com.au

Phone:(Australia) +61 3 9525 3409 Fax: +61 3 9537 0167
            (Singapore) +65 9069 7189 Fax: +65 6734 4215



-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Wednesday, 8 January 2003 9:45 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: OST and the legacy of education


Hi folks.  I have recently completed a paper on Open Space Technology,
freedom shock and the legacy of education.

You can view a .pdf of this paper at
http://www.chriscorrigan.com/educationpaper.pdf

Comments and criticisms are both helpful and welcomed.

Chris


---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

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