Foundation

Strong structures begin with a well-constructed foundation. In larger construction projects, civil engineers create the groundwork. Civility underscores cooperation, which is one function of nurturing’s role in the community. Cooperation requires communication. Literacy and numeracy provide abilities in the two languages needed for the exchange of ideas. These represent the three r’s – reading, writing and arithmetic and use mostly the seeing and toughing senses. Speaking and listening are perhaps more important skills. True knowing does not occur until the subject can be expressed to another. Knowingabout is not true knowing.

Critical or clear thinking is the heart of our communications. As Nikola Tesla observed, “the scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” Our goal is to become creators. This requires we cooperate with each other. Clear thinking illuminates, while deep thinking provides a dark dense trap based on the fears of being wrong, mission out, losing, or rejection.

None of this foundation can stand firmly without being grounded with the pupil’s desire. Emotion is raw energy available to empower actions. Emotion combined with logic unifies left and right hemispheres of the brain and opens the pathway to heart felt intuition and imagination.

The Durrells in Corfu is a British comedy-drama series based on the memoirs of Gerald Malcolm Durrell. Gerald was the youngest child of the Durrell family, who lived in Corfu, Greece between 1935 and 1939, moving back to Great Britain at the outbreak of WWII. Gerald loved nature; but not schooling. He created his own zoo at home of native animals and spent his days studying nature and the habits of its creatures. Eventually he needed mentoring so he could communicate the knowledge and truths that he was discovering for himself. He delayed formal schooling. Yet, he became a widely known British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter.

However, cooperation amplifies our abilities. Like batteries, we have greater potential when we work together. Our combined power or energy depends on our alignment. Schooling should focus first on cooperative learning with children teaching children and the teacher orchestrating and correcting sour notes.

We must know and believe in ourselves first before we can take wise action. The means and materials to achieve our aims are within us. Nurturing directs discovery. The path chosen is ours to choose. We can change our choice at any time because we can nurture, teach, and train ourselves. Thus, our learning systems must be flexible enough to adapt to our unique discovery processes