Applebee "Curriculum as Conversation"

I love Applebee’s reclaiming of the notion of tradition as being knowledge-in-action and as both ancient and living. Too bad that what we’ve come to associate with “traditional” education (even Dewey refers to the either/or mentality as controlling “traditional education” in ch. 1, "Experience in Education") is so knowledge-out-of-context intensive. In fact, when I think about it, the latter isn’t really traditional at all but, in terms of human history, a relatively modern twist. The notion of curriculum as conversation makes me think of the discussions concerning teaching our kids to think like a mathematician/scientist/historian/writer. It fits right in – when we treat students like they are novices in our discipline – versus telling them about the discipline – it shapes how we think about conveying that information. We treat them like baby writers/historians etc – and give them real tools to begin their work – to DO science, or to DO history. It seems to me that is where the doing comes in. Applebee says, “knowledge of a tradition involves both knowing and doing” (30). In an argument lain out so convincingly as Applebee does, this might seem to be a no-brainer, but it’s deceptively simple. When other than business-as-usual ways of schooling are suggested critics say that all this “learning by doing” just leads to chaos-- “how do schools avoid allowing them to wallow in their own ignorance?” (36)…which is the point….they don’t…not with a curriculum… or a plan that proposes to induct the novice into the society of writers/historians/scientists.