SchoolFinder Blog

Bud the Teacher

Some people just get lucky with the cool names. Though I suppose Bud probably got a bit of teasing from his name growing up.

Bud seems to be one of those cool teachers who is comfortable using technology. He goes to Ed tech conferences and talks to other teachers about technology in the classroom. Yet somehow many of his blog posts seem to be filled with discussions of pedagogy. (The art or science of teaching: education: instructional methods)

Bud’s July 8th post was an interesting one. He is reading the book A Schoolmaster of the Great City by Angelo Patri, and added a few quotes.

I suppose it would be easier to cut and paste all of the quotes, but I won’t do all of them to give you a chance to click to Bud’s page.

•    It was difficult to get teachers away from subject matter, from machinery, and toward children. How could it be otherwise? (p.30)
•    The rod idea was at work. Books, benches, crowded rooms, sitting still, listening; talking only when called upon to recite, teaching where the teachers did the thinking; these conditions have meant and always will mean an imposed discipline, an imposed routine, whereas real discipline is a personal thing, a part of the understanding soul. To replace discipline of teacher-responsibility by the discipline of child-responsibility is a long, slow process. (p. 27)
•    I wanted opportunity for the masses, the best schools for the crowds, the best teachers for the heaviest load.  I thought in terms of service, they in terms of tradition. (p. 41)

What is the most amazing part of the book? It was written in 1917. He we have two educators (at least) writing about a book because it is so very relevant to today’s world, on computers and the Internet no less, and the book was written 90 years ago.

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again. Education isn’t about the tools you use its how you use those tools. You can have all the fancy doodads and gizmos you like, but if it isn’t facilitating education they what is the point. And yes, I like GlobalScholar because the focus is on facilitating education.