Changes

:''Epistemology is the construction of personal standards for telling fact from fancy, truth from fiction, and certainty from doubt. Ontology is the construction of theories of what exists. Ethical constructions remind us of what we think we should do even if we don't want to, and why. Everybody has them, and normally no two of us agree on them. The epistemology of Prussian-style education is, the King and his ministers are always right, and even if they weren't you would have no business questioning them. Or, at the classroom level, “It's true because I said so, now shut up and sit down!” The same attitude is common, even usual, in ontology and ethics as well. Nations are real because I said so, You're going to war to because I said so.''—Edward Cherlin (revised [[User:Mokurai|Mokurai]] 06:32, 8 June 2008 (UTC))

:''Epistemology is the construction of personal standards for telling fact from fancy, truth from fiction, and certainty from doubt. Ontology is the construction of theories of what exists. Ethical constructions remind us of what we think we should do even if we don't want to, and why. Everybody has them, and normally no two of us agree on them. The epistemology of Prussian-style education is, the King and his ministers are always right, and even if they weren't you would have no business questioning them. Or, at the classroom level, “It's true because I said so, now shut up and sit down!” The same attitude is common, even usual, in ontology and ethics as well. Nations are real because I said so, You're going to war to because I said so.''—Edward Cherlin (revised [[User:Mokurai|Mokurai]] 06:32, 8 June 2008 (UTC))

Cherlin paints a grim picture.

Cherlin paints a grim picture here, but elsewhere he has the positive version: What would education for truly free peoples look like?

Fortunately, this is nowhere near the whole story, but we have a long way to go before children's right to pursue truth is seriously recognized. While the theoretical layer of didactic methods has advanced, unfortunately, in much of the world's formal education systems, there has been little progress.

Fortunately, this is nowhere near the whole story, but we have a long way to go before children's right to pursue truth is seriously recognized. While the theoretical layer of didactic methods has advanced, unfortunately, in much of the world's formal education systems, there has been little progress.

These ideas are embodied in the culture of free software, which is a powerful culture for learning. It is possible to instill in the education industry some of the culture, technology, and morals of the open source movement. Such a transfer of culture could greatly enhance the education industry and its ability to engage teachers and students: empowering them with both the freedom to act and the freedom to be critical. Criticism of ideas is a powerful force in learning and in fostering economic development; unleashing that is an important part of the mission. Conventional wisdom suggests that teachers don't want to learn (and change); to the contrary, teachers perhaps more than any other constituency know that the status quo is failing.

These ideas are embodied in the culture of free software, which is a powerful culture for learning. It is possible to instill in the education industry some of the culture, technology, and morals of the open source movement. Such a transfer of culture could greatly enhance the education industry and its ability to engage teachers and students: empowering them with both the freedom to act and the freedom to be critical. Criticism of ideas is a powerful force in learning and in fostering economic development; unleashing that is an important part of the mission. Conventional wisdom suggests that teachers don't want to learn (and change); to the contrary, teachers perhaps more than any other constituency know that the status quo is failing.

==Practice==

==Practice==