Socratic Arts' Newsletter

A monthly newsletter by Roger C. Schank

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A Sailing We Will Go In the summer I often hang out on a friend’s boat in the Greek Islands. I never expected to learn something important about education there. We were parked (or whatever they call it) at a dock on the island of Naxos when I happened to hear a voice in German giving what seemed like a lecture on a large sailboat parked next to us. It didn’t take very long to figure out that the guy giving the lecture must have just rented his yacht to the set of eight people (four couples I guessed) who were listening attentively to what he had to say. Now, if you know anything about me or my views on learning you know that the idea that people were listening attentively to a lecture is somewhat astounding to me. What followed next was even more astounding…

Archived columns:

What If We Started with a Clean Slate? Remember when Jimmy Carter said that he’d like to start each government department with a zero-based budget and then have them prove they needed any money at all? He never got very far with that and I probably won’t get very far with what I am about to suggest either: zero-based curriculum planning. How about if we assume that everything we have so far created as courses is wrong, throw them out, and start over? I think this idea has merit in corporate training as well as in high school and college...

What I Learned from Gammy: Role models are really important teaching tools, more important than the words they say. And love, caring, and nurturing are the most important teaching methods. So, what are you supposed to do, love your trainees? Should teachers offer love to students? I am sure there are those who would agree with these sentiments, but for me they are meaningless drivel. A mother loves in a way a teacher cannot. But does a mother motivate in a way a teacher cannot? Here is what you can do as a teacher or trainer…

Home Schooling and Corporate Training: School can be quite an unpleasant experience for many children. Even those who enjoy school tend to enjoy it because they have learned to play the game and win. They have learned how to please teachers, how to get good grades, and how to get the other kids to see them as admirable in some way. Home school parents are not into all this and rightly so. But their solution is funny because they have misidentified the root of the problem...

Enter Milo: Like most parents, I fought with my sixteen year old daughter about the limits of the newfound freedom that came with her driver’s license. Our dispute still comes up. She would never have done that to a child and she won’t do that to her child. We’ll see, I say. Last week, I became a grandfather. I couldn’t resist. As my daughter sat there feeding little Milo I gently inquired: Do you think he can stay out until 3 AM when he gets his driver’s license? No was the simple answer. Funny how that worked out. And what does this tell us about learning...?

Games People Play: I really don’t know why e-learning is such a faddish field. I guess the less actual content a field has, the more it relies on the latest and greatest idea that everyone must suddenly subscribe to. The idea of the year seems to be teaching by the use of games. So, naturally, I found myself thinking about games ...

Teaching the Unconscious: Did you ever wonder why what you learned in school isn’t still in your head, or why you can’t remember what your spouse wanted you to get on your way home? Or, why the things you decide to do to improve your business or make more money or be a better person don’t actually ever get executed? The answer is simple ...

Splendid Learning: Every time I think that e-learning couldn't get any sillier, someone figures out how to take a really bad idea and promote it into an ideology. At first I didn't get what anyone could be talking about when they used the phrase "blended learning." But then as I looked closer ...

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