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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (184
notes).

Note 180 by UMNS on June 26, 1997 at 16:28 Eastern (3456 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Ralph E. Baker                       368(10-22-71B){180}
          Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            June 26, 1997

Abbott tells educators, teach
students to use learning tools

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- "Historically we have an upside
down, inside out [education] system," the director of a British
not-for-profit trust, Education 2000, told college and university
administrators, chaplains and faculty members at the opening
session of the United Methodist Institute of Higher Education here
June 25-27.
     Speaking on the topic "Why Good Schools Alone Can Never Be
Good Enough to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century," John
Abbott said, "formal schooling ... has to start a dynamic process
through which pupils are progressively weaned from their
dependence on teachers and institutions, and given the confidence
to manage their own learning.
     Learning to use the tools of learning is especially important
in the early years of a child's development, Abbott said. The
human brain, the most complex organism in the universe, is only
about 40 percent developed at birth, he said.  For the brain to
grow to maturity "in utero," mothers would have to carry the
developing baby for 27 months.
     The formal school system and its use of resources has to be
completely reappraised, he said. "If the youngest children are
progressively shown that a lesson about learning something also
can be made into a lesson about how to 'learn how to learn' and
remember something" ... then, as they become older, they become
their own teacher.
     Pointing out that our U.S. stock market is "pension fund
driven," Abbott said only 11 percent of older people live below
the poverty level while 23 percent of school-age children do.  "We
have to break away from the concept that the classroom and lecture
hall is where we put all our education dollars," Abbott said.  He
said he was appalled by the society's "march to materialism."
     Progressively, educators have to think of the learner as the
embryonic teacher, Abbott said.  Inquisitiveness comes naturally
to children, he said.  Educators "need to learn to turn
inquisitiveness into learning."
     Banquet speaker Albertha Sistrunk-Krakue, professor of
education at Claflin College, Orangeburg, S.C., said, "The best
teachers do more than teach; they make children learn. They
release the magic that is inherent in each one of us just waiting
to be tapped."  
     "Students is what the teaching profession is all about," she
said.  Sistrunk-Krakue is 1997 winner of the $5000 Outstanding
Educator of the Year award given by the United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry.
     United Methodist colleges and universities "would not be what
they are without their dedicated faculties," she concluded.
     The Institute of Higher Education is sponsored each year by
the board's Division of Higher Education.  It provides training
workshops for administrators, chaplains and faculty of colleges
and universities related to the denomination, and provides a forum
for discussion of issues related to higher education.
     Robert Armour, assistant general secretary in the Division of
Higher Education, served as chairman of the event.
                              #  #  #

     

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