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Informing educational practice: A response to Galanter
INFORMING
EDUCATIONAL PKAC’I‘I(:E: GALAN’I’EK”’
I)epal-tment of Educational
WILLIAM M. BARI‘ Psychology, University MN 554% . . 3U.S.A.
In “The Quadrate Mind,” Eugene has four independent components:
A RESPONSE ‘1-O
of’ Minnesota,
Minneapolis,
Galanter contends that the human intellect talking, drawing, planning, and valuing. He
also contends that education should be based on the judicious activation and development of those four components of the human intellect. Although the argument provided by Galanter in support of the quadrate mind model is not clearly convincing, the model itself is plausible, incisive, simple, and capable of informing educational practice. There should be a serious effort to implement the quadrate mind model in a school to determine whether such implementation would result in significant positive cognitive gains in basic scholastic achievement. I believe that such an implementation would he successful in many ways, because the model would result in a focused but integrated curriculum with attention to the drawing component engendering connections between art and geometry and attention to the valuing component engendering connections between arithmetic and cultural values. Presently education in many states of the United States is marked by fragmented disorganized curricula bloated with disconnected social adjustment courses such as courses in drug education, sex education, AIDS education, death education, peace education, career education, arid so on and so forth. ‘I’hese social adjustment courses often constitute kindergarten-through-twelfth grade across-the-curriculum efforts resulting from school boards and state legislators capitulating to pressure from various social-activist special interest groups. Social adjustment courses have, in many school districts, displaced courses in traditional basic subjects such as English, mathematics, natural science, social science, and foreign language as the core school courses. As a result, scholastic achievement levels of American inferior to those of comparable
students students
are, on the average, in other countries.
mediocre
and
The quadrate mincl model could stimulate a return to the traditional basic subjects hut in a fresh and vital way. Instruction in the traditional basic subjects could have, to varying degrees, elements aimed at activating and developing the talking, drawing, planning, and valuing components. A school using the quadrate mind model could likely be a hothouse for educational innovation. Considering the pathetic state of American public education, the quadrate mind model is a welcome addition to educational thought.
EDUCATIONAL PKAC’I‘I(:E: GALAN’I’EK”’
I)epal-tment of Educational
WILLIAM M. BARI‘ Psychology, University MN 554% . . 3U.S.A.
In “The Quadrate Mind,” Eugene has four independent components:
A RESPONSE ‘1-O
of’ Minnesota,
Minneapolis,
Galanter contends that the human intellect talking, drawing, planning, and valuing. He
also contends that education should be based on the judicious activation and development of those four components of the human intellect. Although the argument provided by Galanter in support of the quadrate mind model is not clearly convincing, the model itself is plausible, incisive, simple, and capable of informing educational practice. There should be a serious effort to implement the quadrate mind model in a school to determine whether such implementation would result in significant positive cognitive gains in basic scholastic achievement. I believe that such an implementation would he successful in many ways, because the model would result in a focused but integrated curriculum with attention to the drawing component engendering connections between art and geometry and attention to the valuing component engendering connections between arithmetic and cultural values. Presently education in many states of the United States is marked by fragmented disorganized curricula bloated with disconnected social adjustment courses such as courses in drug education, sex education, AIDS education, death education, peace education, career education, arid so on and so forth. ‘I’hese social adjustment courses often constitute kindergarten-through-twelfth grade across-the-curriculum efforts resulting from school boards and state legislators capitulating to pressure from various social-activist special interest groups. Social adjustment courses have, in many school districts, displaced courses in traditional basic subjects such as English, mathematics, natural science, social science, and foreign language as the core school courses. As a result, scholastic achievement levels of American inferior to those of comparable
students students
are, on the average, in other countries.
mediocre
and
The quadrate mincl model could stimulate a return to the traditional basic subjects hut in a fresh and vital way. Instruction in the traditional basic subjects could have, to varying degrees, elements aimed at activating and developing the talking, drawing, planning, and valuing components. A school using the quadrate mind model could likely be a hothouse for educational innovation. Considering the pathetic state of American public education, the quadrate mind model is a welcome addition to educational thought.