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Cultural Mentoring and the Learning Community |
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by Tyler Hartford
Rather than taking notes on a lecture, reading the text and then taking a test, a learning community comes together to study a subject in the manner that fits them best with the assistance of a facilitator. Although a revolutionary approach in the field of academia, where expertise is traditionally cherished, this learner-based pedagogy has a long tradition in many professional and trade careers. Many join the workforce only to find that their “real” education begins after their formal one. Within firms, businesses and crews, a culture exists which polishes the incoming recruits for the work load which they gradually inherit. Rare in fact, may be their opportunity to make use of their “education”; often met with awe by any witnesses.
There is even an older tradition which exemplifies this approach however. In fact, it may be the oldest of educational approaches. Within native communities the world over, generations were able to pass on their wisdom, knowledge and culture, without the incumbrance of formal schooling. Very efficiently and quickly the youth of these cultures learned everything that had anything to do with their environment, since this, their survival depended upon. Relevance is a crucial precondition for learning, and these cultures had an easy time with education since they didn’t stray from this principle.
Native communities pass on much of their teachings through subtle but pervasive techniques embedded within their culture. This process has been coined as cultural mentoring by naturalist and luminary Jon Young. It is the learning model which we employ at the Central Coast Village Center in our camps, after school, alternative school and adult programs. (We will be hosting Jon again soon for a speaking engagement on the topic of cultural mentoring. Check out our website for dates and information about these programs.)
The height of this model exists outside schools, within any community that upholds specific teachings as valuable throughout the community. A family living on a boat, for instance, will be natural mariners even without the “Anchors and Sails 101” class happening each weekday morning. The children won’t likely be able to account for their knowledge since it was not offered as a detached subject but wove throughout the fabric of their upbringing. Had this family lived within a larger community of families that all shared this lifestyle and had been doing so for generations, we could expect to see the elements of cultural mentoring expressed most fluently. The songs the people sing and the stories they tell, the games children play and even the dreams which come to them in the night are all impregnated with the wisdom of their ancestors. Without any time set aside for schooling, people have been learning everything that they need to know to be successful in their lives since the beginning of time, as long as this cultural mechanism is in place.
Setting up a school becomes important if the community decides that the children must be learning things that don’t have direct relevance to their current lives. Teachers, grades, homework, classes and tests are all part of making out of context learning relevant to students. This can be a very challenging job for teachers and students. One way in which teachers have recently been finding success in creating this relevance is by embedding the learning within a greater project on which the students work as a team. Project-based learning is a great way to begin to develop a learning community. With the right project and a mindful facilitator many subjects can be worked in and the students will have a reason for the learning that is tangible to them.
Our work at the Central Coast Village Center has been very effective in creating a learning community. Much of the effectiveness has to do with the cultural mentoring learning model which makes learning our curriculum contagious. Another aspect that contributes to our success is that the core of our curriculum is rooted in the relationship of our students to the natural world and community. The relevance therefore is inherent, although mostly forgotten. It is relatively easy then to reawaken our attention to this fact and build a bridge from this foundation to the less tangible subjects of study.
Our learning community is now in its fourth year and it has been greatly rewarding to experience its growth. The families that have come to our programs are becoming a community which share the values of learning and living in harmony with nature. If nature and community are values that you share come join us for tracking club or one of our seasonal celebrations. Send your kids to our summer camps and you’ll hear it was the best thing they did all summer.
Tyler Hartford is the Program Director for the Central Coast Village Center. He has an avid interest in naturalist and cultural studies, as well as education, sustainability, health and the martial arts. A calendar of CCVC programs, the above article in its entirety including footnotes, as well as other articles and information about the CCVC can be found on its website www.theccvc.org . Tyler can be contacted at tyler@centralcoastvillagecenter.org .
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