Will and willfulness

There are two fundamental branches in the theory of education. One group believes that education is something you put in the child. Facts, concepts, relationships, moral precepts and experience. The other group believes that education requires that something be drawn forth from the child, innate predispositions and powers that lie dormant and ready to be awakened at various points in the development of the child. This is a generalization for the purpose of examining aspects of educational theory, and no single educator will be completely one-sided in view.

The educators who believe that the purpose of education is to draw forth and awaken innate qualities in the child tend to be "progressive educators" in the lineage of Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Salomon, Montessori, Dewey, Steiner, and Howard Gardner.

This is where the idea of will fits in. Most parents are concerned about willfulness, or willful behavior in which children refuse to do what they are told. And if you spend some time with google, you will find that willfulness is a major concern. Children, it is believed, need to be taught to do what they are told.

It is interesting when you work with real tools and materials, that willfulness doesn't work. You can get angry with the wood or the tools, and they form a firm boundary. You can't make them do what they don't want to do. Go against the grain and you get poor results. And no amount of arguing with the wood and tools will change the situation.

But parents tend to want to make things easy for their children and to yield when there are complaints. Whining works wonders for a child hoping to gets his or her way.

But will is something else. It is an enthusiasm and motivation that arises in a child, providing energy for endless hours of exploration and practice. You see it in children on the basket ball court trying for hundreds of shots to perfect the free throw. You see it in children who become driven to master the piano, or the dovetail joint.

The matter of will vs. willfulness is a matter of encouragement, example and parental confidence. Will is developed when children are pushed out the door, beyond their comfort level to accomplish real things. When a child has parents that set an example of service, that helps. And schools can make the development of will a positive tool to propel children into the future as life-long learners.

I will try to focus more on this in the next few days. In the meantime, we are on our 6th day without power due to the ice storm. I've been practicing on my Kubota, removing snow and ice from our drive, then the Clear Spring School drive and parking lot, and then my neighbor's. It is what I do to keep busy when I can't do what would be more normal, and it helps in keeping my sense of calm in challenging circumstances.