THE TRUE COMMON CORE: Part Two of Six
It was eight-year-old Renae’s second year at the Living
Ethics School. At the conclusion
of the American History Teaching Story, it didn’t take her long to decide to
build a model of a log cabin for Presentation Night. Fortunately the resources
for her 12” by 12” cabin were all around her. Sticks about ½ inch in diameter that could be sawed or
broken to be about a foot long were strewn over the surrounding acreage.
The outdoors offer building materials for larger
construction projects as well. Carter, along with other ‘home builders’, was
seen for days dragging logs and branches to his ‘house’ among the trees and
shrubs of Peace Town. Hay from the freshly mowed prairie provided bedding and
filled in gaps between the branches that formed the walls of his house.
More recently the whole group of 17 plus kids raided a pile
of just-cut long leafy branches to erect leafy green screens around tree houses,
alcoves and newly erected teepees.
Some may ask, “Where’s the learning in all this? The answer
comes clear when we shift our focus from slivers of intellect to arteries of
intelligence. The construction projects exercise the creative/innovative
imagination, an integral artery of whole brain intelligence. An added bonus in
this 40-minute mid-morning break is that the physical exertion and creative
collaborations actually re-energize minds and bodies for another 40 to 60
minutes of academic labors before lunch.
Another tremendous value during this outdoor play in wild
nature concerns a second vital area of development. Like generative
intelligence, social intelligence eclipses textbook learning. Co-habitation in Peace
Town necessitates frequent negotiation and mediation of property disputes. A
week’s worth of disagreements over ownership of household pinecone currency
stashes, echoes the social and political disputes that plague humanity. Helping
individuals peacefully resolve conflicts of interest has convinced LES teachers
that there is no learning in the school that better prepares the children for
successful adult life than this outdoor, living arena.
The ability to ‘see’ real learning requires an adjustment
similar to exiting a dark cave to enter broad daylight. Anxiety-driven academia currently
screens out vital priorities for the full kaleidoscope of intelligence. The
first step is to remove the cataracts of control that obscure the fullness of
our humanity. To appreciate the accoutrements for real learning, necessitates opening mental apertures for sufficient light to enter the retina
of the adult heart/brain system.
The Allegory of the Cave Culture
– Part two
Au Coure
(To
the Heart; To the Core)
The cave parents,
while desiring the highest intelligence and best education for their offspring,
were themselves graduates of Low Light Learning. It seldom occurred to most to
factor into skills for intelligence expansion the faculty ensconced in the forebrain
for Envisioning new Possibilities. Who knew to relegate this ability to the
role of Illustrious Intelligence when it aligns with the heart as a coherent
system?
No one living recalled
that the ancestral heritage of cave dwelling humanity included many child
protégées, graduates of sunlit meadows. The valued innovations of imaginations humming
at full-tilt frequently earned them the esteemed title: Professor Emeritus of
Enlightened Envisioning.
In time a lone
adventurer, seeking primarily to escape the oppressive cave conditions, began
the laborious task of digging through the entrance rubble. A tiny pinhole of
light soon beckoned from a world beyond. A slight heart tremor startled the
digger, as if in response to a familiar call.
To be Continued in: The True Common Core - Part Three
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