The Way of Learning

Adapted from IN CONTEXT #6, Summer 1984

LEARNING is a human necessity. It is both our blessing and our curse
that we don't come into the world all fully pre-programed. This gives us
the potential and the flexibility to become beautiful and remarkable
beings, yet it also makes us utterly dependent on what we are able to
learn. We have no instinctive reservoir to fall back on, and no one of
us has any guarantee that we will acquire even the basic skills needed
to cope with life, much less those needed to flourish.

Learning is also a cultural necessity. A culture could well be described
as a pattern of learned behavior and knowledge shared by a group of
people. A culture can continue only through being learned by its new
members (usually children), and it can grow only by extending its
learning.

Understanding learning is thus fundamental to the basic question at the
heart of IN CONTEXT - what is a humane sustainable culture and how can
we develop such a culture?

In this issue, we approach the question of learning from two major
directions - looking at the brain/mind system that does the learning (in
this section) and looking at the cultural institutions we use to
support the learning process (next section). That makes it all sound
very organized and straightforward, but don't be misled, for the Way Of
Learning is full of surprises.


OUR REMARKABLE INSTRUMENT
The Inside Story by Robert Gilman
Understanding the structure of the brain
Evolutionary Integration by Jean Houston
An experience of our evolutionary selves
Memory & Morphogenetic Fields by Robert Gilman
A controversial theory of how memory works
Subtle Shifts by Peg Goldman
Looking at life under one roof
The Learning Process by Robert Gilman
Helping various parts of our mind fulfill their intentions

LEARNING TOGETHER
How We Got Here by Robert Gilman
A brief history of education
Whole Systems Learning by Dee Dickinson
An alternative to simply doing more of what has been inadequate in the past
Retrofitting Colleges by M. Garrett Bauman
Promising developments in higher education -- preparing for a humane, sustainable society
The Classroom As Crucible by Saul Arbess
Imagining the multicultural classroom as a microcosm of the global society
20 Questions by Maureen Murdock
Children tell us how they learn
Language By Command by James Asher
The Total Physical Response approach to learning language
Confluent Education by Art Johnson
Guided imagery can be an effective classroom tool
Mariposa School an interview with Jo-Ann Jaeckel , by Diane Gilman
Education as it is practiced in a small private school
Waldorf Education an interview with Caroline Ostheimer, by Diane and Robert Gilman
Looking into the educational system developed by Rudolf Steiner
Growing Without Schooling an interview with John Holt, by Robert Gilman
Children may be more capable of competent self-directed learning than we give them credit for
Family Centered Learning by Debra & Eric Stewart
Developing a state-approved approach to homeschooling
The Way Of Learning by Robert Gilman
What learning can, and might, become

FOLLOWTHROUGH AND LETTERS
Mondragon and Relationships by Terry Mollner
Responses to Larry Langdon's letter in IC #5