The Fallen Angel

Time to play catch up.... this is from 10 -11-06

In Neil Postman’s chapter on The Fallen Angel he talks about how one needs to fall, make mistakes, in order to learn and to learn from the mistakes. He also talks about how knowledge is limited and that it foolish to think that one can achieve ultimate knowledge. But that should not discourage anyone from striving for knowledge.
He also talks about his idea of switching it up for the teachers. He suggests that teachers not use textbooks, teach outside of their specialty, and that students should monitor the teachers for liberalism. His reasoning for this is that teaching can become and is mundane and boring. Sometimes teachers that teach subjects for long lose the passion they once had for that subject, no longer making it interesting to the students.
I think this is a strange concept. I can see where he is coming from. I understand the logic behind it. But in reality, this is probably going to go nowhere. I really like his suggestion of getting rid of text books. I just remember as a kid hating the text book reading part. A lot time there was so much useless information or it was written in a redundant manner. I think this would force the teachers to form their own curriculum that would not include just assign reading and giving out tests. I would think more discussion would come from this. That is where I got a lot of my learning, from having to communicate my thoughts and ideas, and also listening to others opinions.
I’m not exactly crazy about the idea of teachers teaching outside of their expertise. This could definitely cause some major problems, like mixed up information. I could see where Postman gets the idea because it would pretty cool if the teacher was learning right along side the student. But I think loses the concept of what teachers are for. I mean aren’t they there to educate others on something they know a lot about. Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought that was the meaning behind “teach.”