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Feb 28– "On The Institution and Education of Children" by Montaigne (1575) Translated by John Florio
Summary: Montaigne thinks education is hard, and then proceeds to say to do all the same things people say we should do in education today.
Commentary: This was a rough translation to read. I cheated a little and also read parts from Cottons's.
I don't have a ton of great insight here. I agree with 90% of what Montaigne argues for. Letting students try things and make mistakes, not just lecturing endlessly, adjusting education to fit the student... It's all pretty obvious pedagogy. His need to drop random quotes in every 20 words is questionable.
One thing that was interesting was his idea that (unless I'm reading too literally) kids should be put into study-abroad type programs as young as possible. Probably a little more practical in Europe where the countries are smaller, but difficult is America to truck every 6 year old to French Canada and/or Mexico for a week for some foreign language exposure. Maybe you could make it work with different regions within a larger country. I can certainly see the value, but sounds expensive, difficult, etc. Probably worth it though. Think how much kids learn at a simple sleep away camp half an hour from home.
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