The book “Saber-Tooth Curriculum,” which has been authored by Abner Peddiwell, a.k.a. Harold Benjamin, teaches lessons on: resilience to change, acceptance that change is normal and continuous, and a prescription for a more progressive and useful educational system --- that is relevant to time, learning needs, and continuous societal changes / conflicts. In order for the author to provide prescription for the daunting scenario of a stagnant Paleolithic educational system, which can also be implied in the modern settings of educational curricula, a descriptive example has been presented using the story of New-Fist-Hammer-Maker and his tribesmen. The story revolves on the characters and their quests for learning survival techniques, with conflicting
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It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. You must know that there are some eternal verities, and the saber-tooth curriculum is one of them!” (44; ch. 2) In the midst of conflicting parties, comes a breed similar to New-Fist. They find new ways to adapt to the changing hostile environment. They have learned net-making to catch fish in muddy waters, antelope-snaring, and pit-digging to kill bears. The Saber-Tooth curriculum generally means enjoining in traditional ways and old systems of education. It embodies people’s resistance to change and hesitancy to embrace innovation, even if it is the only way for survival and what the age calls for. Traditionalists and radicals are always there to take their sides in every hot issue for debates and conflicting ideas. All are similar in the modern period, and maybe in next years to come. In chapters 3 and 4 of the book, the author provide a descriptive example of how teachers and schools manage to make the “Paleolithic” education system to be relevant with learning and survival needs of children, by creatively adopting an environment (45-85;ch. 3 & 4) where children can “fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands and “saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire” (28-29; ch. …show more content…
On the good side, change can open new opportunities and prepare new generations to learn progressively and fill innovation gaps. What the society needs is a breed similar with New-Fist: keen observer, solution-maker, flexible, and an Albert Einstein of the stone-age. In this way of 6thinking, the book has given a prescription. One quote from the book entails: “We can teach them how to think, not what to think” (109; ch. 5). This can be misleading, because different facets of education system tackle how to think and what to think. The importance of history is more onto the side of what to think or what has happened in the past that can be related up to the present time. On the other hand, subjects such as Science, Technology, and college courses are more on the side of how to think as the brain matures and learning skills improve; thus, what to think and how to think are somehow correlated. They stick
It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. You must know that there are some eternal verities, and the saber-tooth curriculum is one of them!” (44; ch. 2) In the midst of conflicting parties, comes a breed similar to New-Fist. They find new ways to adapt to the changing hostile environment. They have learned net-making to catch fish in muddy waters, antelope-snaring, and pit-digging to kill bears. The Saber-Tooth curriculum generally means enjoining in traditional ways and old systems of education. It embodies people’s resistance to change and hesitancy to embrace innovation, even if it is the only way for survival and what the age calls for. Traditionalists and radicals are always there to take their sides in every hot issue for debates and conflicting ideas. All are similar in the modern period, and maybe in next years to come. In chapters 3 and 4 of the book, the author provide a descriptive example of how teachers and schools manage to make the “Paleolithic” education system to be relevant with learning and survival needs of children, by creatively adopting an environment (45-85;ch. 3 & 4) where children can “fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands and “saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire” (28-29; ch. …show more content…
On the good side, change can open new opportunities and prepare new generations to learn progressively and fill innovation gaps. What the society needs is a breed similar with New-Fist: keen observer, solution-maker, flexible, and an Albert Einstein of the stone-age. In this way of 6thinking, the book has given a prescription. One quote from the book entails: “We can teach them how to think, not what to think” (109; ch. 5). This can be misleading, because different facets of education system tackle how to think and what to think. The importance of history is more onto the side of what to think or what has happened in the past that can be related up to the present time. On the other hand, subjects such as Science, Technology, and college courses are more on the side of how to think as the brain matures and learning skills improve; thus, what to think and how to think are somehow correlated. They stick