>> where you have a little band, it's much easier to model for the younger kids that 'aren't there yet', allow for the ones that are reading further than their age, and otherwise make things fun mostly. <<
Yes, that's true. It works.
>> But it does depend on those older children having had experience in seeing this work. If all they've known is lockstep age-segregation, they're more likely to think Lord of the Flies is normal. <<
Also true. Children can be surprisingly gentle or amazingly vicious. Some of each is innate; there are individuals who are going to lean one way or the other. But humans are primarily contextual and the vast majority will conform to what others around them are doing. So if you design society where might makes right, your children will tend to act like Lord of the Flies.
And then people are shocked! shocked, I say! when abused, neglected, or otherwise malformed children bring guns to school and kill each other.
Well, duh. That was obviously going to happen. If you teach people that it's okay to hurt each other, which this society does routinely in countless ways, that is exactly what they will do.
>> Of course, things have been breaking down long enough we've got adults that never learned these things. <<
Yes. It's horrifying. We have lost so many family skills, it's no wonder that society is coming apart at the seams.
I've been intrigued by one suggestion that video games contribute to the breakdown, not because the games are violent, but because the player interacts with each character in a few lines, immediately moving on if that character doesn't say or do something they want. Someone noticed that college students were behaving exactly the same way with fellow students, teachers, staff, etc. Instead of having a real conversation, they'd make an attempt to get something out of the person, and bail if it wasn't immediately forthcoming. Most interactions lasted only 1-2 minutes. It was a fascinating article.
Re: Is there such a thing as a "perfect mistake"?
Yes, that's true. It works.
>> But it does depend on those older children having had experience in seeing this work. If all they've known is lockstep age-segregation, they're more likely to think Lord of the Flies is normal. <<
Also true. Children can be surprisingly gentle or amazingly vicious. Some of each is innate; there are individuals who are going to lean one way or the other. But humans are primarily contextual and the vast majority will conform to what others around them are doing. So if you design society where might makes right, your children will tend to act like Lord of the Flies.
And then people are shocked! shocked, I say! when abused, neglected, or otherwise malformed children bring guns to school and kill each other.
Well, duh. That was obviously going to happen. If you teach people that it's okay to hurt each other, which this society does routinely in countless ways, that is exactly what they will do.
>> Of course, things have been breaking down long enough we've got adults that never learned these things. <<
Yes. It's horrifying. We have lost so many family skills, it's no wonder that society is coming apart at the seams.
I've been intrigued by one suggestion that video games contribute to the breakdown, not because the games are violent, but because the player interacts with each character in a few lines, immediately moving on if that character doesn't say or do something they want. Someone noticed that college students were behaving exactly the same way with fellow students, teachers, staff, etc. Instead of having a real conversation, they'd make an attempt to get something out of the person, and bail if it wasn't immediately forthcoming. Most interactions lasted only 1-2 minutes. It was a fascinating article.