Scholarship and thoughtfulness make good partners. With her classical education &045; planted within her not in a fancy preparatory school but in a small school in a town of 6,000 residents in Iowa &045; Roberta Green Ahmanson quite naturally grew up with a burning curiosity about ideas and a hungering for truth.

In a speech she presented to the National Education Forum a few years ago, she put to the audience some questions about how recent ideas about education have shaped our modern world.

Without providing answers to all the questions, one overarching theme emerges from her thoughts. She urges this generation, &8220;Don’t let the light go out. Help the next generation to see.&8221;

Many amazing things are happening in our schools today. We applaud the programs that aim to &8220;let no child be left behind.&8221; We thrill to see the children with disabilities working alongside the mainstream students. And who could not be proud of programs that help troubled children get back into school after working in alternative school with what must be some of the most special teachers in the field.

Times change. Ideas shift.

One strong view from earlier in our history insisted that nature should take its course in education. Let the cream rise to the top; the others will turn out just fine, learning what roles in life they were capable of performing.

Others insisted that the school be more than educator &045; indeed, that teachers should take charge of the children and shape them in preparation for their roles in society.

Some of the old-time views have a slight ring of familiarity about them. Many reformers today wonder whether educators must take from parents and spiritual mentors the role of shaping the morals of today’s youth, for instance.

Ahmanson offers some interesting assumptions she believes modern Americans have formed about education. It is easy to follow her thinking.

4The process of learning is more important than the knowledge learned.

4Equality is more important than excellence.

4We learn more by using our hands than by using our minds.

4Experience is more valuable than knowledge.

4It is more important to feel good about yourself than to have the courage to face a tough challenge.

4Story is more important than information.

4To feel is more important than to think.

4Traditional religion should only be a private matter with no public face.

4We seek acceptance, not forgiveness.

4What we do is more important than who we are.

4Morality is more mind control.

4Values are kinder than virtues.

4The artist is our spiritual prophet.

4The academy, not the church or synagogue, is the repository of wisdom.

Are these in truth ideas that we are willing to accept, even to embrace? Chances are educators who read the list will reject them entirely. Nevertheless, programs, test results, philosophy espoused by leaders of educational organizations and other criteria in recent years give us reason to study Ahmanson’s list of assumptions one more time. It is not too late to take each one of those assumptions and turn them right side up. Try it. And see how they read and what they imply about our shortcomings.

Community Editor

Joan Gandy

can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail at

joan.gandy@natchezdemocrat.com

.