Gayle Dauterive responding to Bunker Roy - Learning From a Barefoot Movement

Gayle Dauterive responding to Bunker Roy - Learning From a Barefoot Movement

Well, as I wasn't sure if I was supposed to listen to/watch/respond to one or two videos, I decided to play it safe and respond to a second one...just in case. I watched the video of Bunker Roy with mixed emotions and some confusion. I kept waiting for him to talk about "education" and "teaching" and "learning" and children and then it dawned on me that he was talking about all of those things, but what he was talking about was so non-traditional that it was hard to pick up on right at first. Have I, have we, become so ingrained in our western world form of traditional education that it is difficult to understand anything else? I guess the answer is, obviously, yes. I thought for a few more minutes and I guess what was confusing me was that this wasn't, in my mind, a lesson about education, but a lesson about the human spirit. I was waiting for him to tell me about how he went to this poor village and set up a school. And then he would tell me about how he taught the students and how they learned. And then he would tell me how his students went on to be successful. Well, he did tell me about going and setting up the school and about his students going on to become successful, but what was left out was how "he taught them". He didn't really teach them did he? He provided a place for them to make their own and to meet so that they could figure how/learn how to take care of themselves. That is really some kind of education!

The talk also left we wondering about the differences between these poor villages in poor countries and more affluent cities in richer countries. Who has the better education? It also made me think back to the child-driven education talk and wonder if these people in these poor villages would/could do these things by themselves without the instruction and motivation and encouragement from a teacher. Could and would any student learn without having someone their - a teacher - to encourage them and motivate them and instruct them (when necessary)? After all, Bunker Roy was an education man who went to them and gave them the opportunity to learn; they did not start this on their own, they had a teacher/mentor. I felt better at that point because, even though I do agree that students (to quote both talks) can and will learn to do what they want to learn to do and that if children have an interest, then education will happen and that learning can happen in any environment, I still believe that everyone needs that one person, that teacher, to push them to learn or to bring the opportunity of learning to them.