Undercurrents No. 36: Children and the Environment, $1.25 from: 27 Clerkenwell Close London, England E.C.R.R. OAT by Simon Nicholson and Ray Lorenzo The principal and t·eacher of a school in Napoli attempted to explain to the "gruppo futuro" why several of their futures •collages (made on photos of their community) should be censored. "Certain reactionary forces will try to manipulate the presence of several nudes in the collages as an indication of the pornographic nature ofthe new attitudes toward school, (e.g. gruppo futuro ). You understand but your parents perhaps don't." One of the children stated, "We'll explain it to them... that's what it's all about." Children 9-11 years old in the gruppo futuro project were scheduled to participate in a community meeting at their school concerning "green spaces." They prepared a short slide/tape about play and play spaces and a series of interviews December 1979 RAIN Page 19 The primary focus of my last job was teaching social ecology to undergraduates. Since social ecology is the study of human as well as natural ecosystems, of the relations between people that affect the relationships of society with nature, a substantial portion of each course was devoted to visions and strategies for creating an ecological society. In light of the subject at hand, and due to my own preference for egalitarian modes of learning, I structured my courses to be as democratic as the students would have them, given the external constraints (which unfortunately were significant, e.g., competitive grading) imposed by the university administration and the general employmen't situation. Although I was relatively successful in introducing both new ideas and new ways of learning, I often found myself, . especially at the beginning of a term, frustrated by the resistance of many students (who, having chosen and lobbied to get into these courses, were for the most part genuinely interested in and sympathetic to-the concepts involved) to take advantage of this too rare opportunity to actively participate in their own educational process. While some circumstantial factors certainly contributed to their hesitation, I became aware that years of conditioning had hammered the idea into their heads that learning is a passive, top-down process. As such, despite their enthusiasm, many found it initially quite difficult to assume as much freedom (and responsibility) as they imagined they wan~ed, though they developed this ability over a period of.several weeks. It always str'ikes me as sad that most people haven't ever been exposed to participatory learning modes, so I was quite pleased recently to see a special issue of Undercurrents (sort of a sister publication to RAIN, out of the U.K.) on "Children and the Environment." Compiled to commemorate the International Year of the Child, the issue includes a special pull-out , comic supplement for kids' activities, a resource and book review section for schoolteachers and hometeachers; plus news from schools and community groups. In this excerpt from "Children and the Environment" Si- . man Nicholson and Ray Lorenzo discuss working with children in Oxford and Naples as they develop their own ideas of the future. Once outside the school, they believe, children are capable of radically redesigning the environment. The implications ofsuch an approach are exciting to contemplate. As Undercurrents observes, "schools procreate and manifest our ailing and fragmented society. A healthy, flowing society is 1 one which is integrated without institutions. Education should be the process ofliving within an environment which in itself is nourishing and creative." - MR for the politicians who _were to be present. Scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m., the "politicos" still hadn't arrived at 6:30 p.m. While the adults sat passively waiting for the "keynote speakers" the children expressed their criticism of the delay to the principal (who was awaiting the politicos' limousine outside the school) and taped her reactions on audio cassette. The meeting immediately began (without the bureaucrats) with t~e audio playback in public of the children's ideas and criticisms. These words-recount a few of many incidents that have occurred during the encounters of the Children's Participation in Futures; Projettazione del Futuro de parte dei Bambini (now called the Gruppo Futuro) in Napoli and Oxford (with affiliated schools in Glasgow and Toronto) during 1978-79. Our intention was to try to create_a procedure (process) in which children could actively experiment with as many media as possible in order to express, propose, question and build alternative futures with minimal interference/ domination from adults (especially those likely to specialize and profess).
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