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New Media, New Learning School for Tykes Craig Ullman Arecent article in The New York Times (“The Garlanded Classroom,” by Graham Bowley, September 23, 2007) discussed the latest new trend in tyke education: “the Reggio Emilia system.” From the article: The approach is based on the assumption that children learn best in groups and are resourceful enough to come up with their own ideas for lessons. Under the Reggio Emilia system, children investigate themes like angels or elevators; in one Craig Ullman, Partner, Networked Politics, 49 West 27th St., Suite 901, New York, NY 12401. Telephone: (646) 435-0697. E-mail: cullman@networkedpolitics.com famous example, they built water wheels and fountains for an amusement park for birds. The method so engages and electrifies children, its supporters contend, that they create work of unparalleled beauty and complexity. (para. 5) The children choose their own projects; the Reggio Emilia system, according to the article, is much more open-ended than a Montessori school, for instance. Quite a number of schools in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and in some other areas of the country have adopted or been inspired by the Reggio Emilia system. Two things strike me about Reggio Emilia—the contrasting view of childhood, and the political mashup that occurs when this system is used in the States. The traditional British classroom that was one of their legacies to us had a particular view of childhood: each little boy and girl is a potential miscreant. If left to their own devices, every public classroom would become a miniature Lord of the Flies. The ultimate value of school for children is for them to learn self-discipline by internalizing their submission to adult authority. Although a lot has changed in American nursery and grade schools over the last several hundred years, this kind of thinking about children and school still runs deep in our culture. The Reggio Emilia system turns all that on its head by propagating a view of child- Volume 4, Issue 4 Distance Learning 97
hood innocence that would make Rousseau seem like a downer. Children just need to be given the time and tools to become artists. They are budding geniuses until society gets in the way and stamps out their creativity and ability to collaborate. It turns out that this area outside Turin has a long history of left-wing activism, of which the Reggio Emilia system is only the latest product. For the public schools there to insist that even the poorest child has intelligence, creativity, and immense curiosity is a profoundly political statement that of course is immediately transmogrified when placed in an American context. In America, there is such an emphasis on children of successful people all being “baby Einsteins,” that treating each child like a little genius makes perfect sense. However, the door closes on such an idea when it tries to spread to poorer neighborhoods, which don’t have the money to support indulging children, and whose children haven’t been taught the prereading, reading, and early math skills that bourgeois American parents give their children as a matter of course. So yet another Utopian left wing idea gets absorbed into the great American bourgeoisie for its own self-indulgence (okay, kind of a harsh statement. We can talk about it at IKEA). I have no idea whether Reggio Emilia or the distant, modern equivalent of spare the rod, spoil the child is the better educational philosophy. I hate to sound so moderate, but it strikes me that both extremes have an incomplete view of children and their needs. It would be great if we could start with a more complex understanding of what a child actually is, instead of what we fear him to be, or what we hope he will become, to point the mirror so it reflects the child, rather than we adults. Another idea, I suppose, we can talk about at IKEA. UNDER THE REGGIO EMILIA SYSTEM, CHILDREN INVESTIGATE THEMES LIKE ANGELS OR ELEVATORS. 98 Distance Learning Volume 4, Issue 4
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DISTANCE LEARNING FEATURED ARTICLES
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DISTANCE LEARNING MAGAZINE SPONSORE
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SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE Barriers and the
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THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW ECONOMY A de
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Table 4. Rank Order of the 10 Facto
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ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE STRATEGI
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Table 5. Solutions to Barriers to D
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Table 5. Continued Social Interacti
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management. In L. Lau (Ed.) Distanc
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compensation, incentives and releas
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Pedagogy --Course Development --Cou
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Quality in Distance Education A Tri
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ability to understand and apply tec
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CONSTITUENCIES IN DISTANCE EDUCATIO
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control and responsibility for the
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Kirtley, K. E. (2002). A study of s
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Distance Education in the Public Hi
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distance education courses and Inte
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need, in a distance education class
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Using IT-Based Distance Education f
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to participate and share and exchan
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to a teacher and get to get filled
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Online High School Courses Preventi
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students. Fourth, a program that in
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independently (November, 2001). Thi
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Page 78 and 79: Learning Objects What Are They, and
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Page 84 and 85: INTERVIEW The Perils and Promise of
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