“If education is not the answer you are asking the wrong question —why it’s time to see planetary crises as a species-wide learning opportunity”
by Zak Stein
Every now and again you hear a quote that shifts how you think about everything. I was listening to a conversation between Jim Rutt and Zak Stein when Zak stated that ” intergenerational transmission as basically the auto poetic (self making) function of the social system….. That’s actually the definition of education I’m working with, not just schools.”
This dovetails quite naturally with the adage “It takes a village to raise a child” In his book Education in a time between worlds he emphasizes the interdependence between educational organizations, teacherly practice and the rest of society and culture. The idea of multiple systems that are coupled in various ways and have extraordinarily complex dynamics. He uses the term intergenerational transmission to try to kind of signal that there’s actually a much deeper way to understand this function of education which makes schools actually a kind of relatively new historical invention. And that it’s important to have an ecology educational experiences and practices that interpenetrate and interwoven in the community at large. ie:
“the educational hub network. The basic idea is that school systems themselves need to be repurposed and redesigned. I suggest that each school building be transformed into an unprecedented institution that is some combination of a public library, museum, co-working centre, computer lab, and daycare”
If you have time, give him a listen here. To me it seems obvious how this is salient to the oneschoolproject. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.