In the near future, technology may allow us to build what I think of as a safe, holistic classroom. School should be a safe place, the way home is supposed to be. A place where you belong, where you can grow and express yourself freely, where you know and care for the other people and are known and cared for by them, a place where other people come before information and ideas. Higher education is in need of science faculty who, as Tompkins and others might say, want to provide a holistic approach to learning. I am tired of seeing my students approach their first examinations with fear.
Fear pervades the course.
They feel no joy in learning. They have no fun in accumulating knowledge. They can't see themselves, or their intellects grow. I think of the garden that my wife and I grew this summer. We worked together to till the soil, to plant the vegetables, to weed and water.