Today in class we:
- learned to dance an Irish Jig
- learned about human color perception and #TheDress
- discussed the *benefits* of imposter syndrome
- explored how Chomsky demolishing Skinner's behaviorism has held back U.S. education
It was madness and it was glorious.
Conversation
Curious about how you see anti-behaviorism holding back US education?
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Barb’s argument was that anti-behaviorism has gone too far against procedural practice and repetition, making them unfashionable and undervalued.
Would be curious to hear your thoughts both on here and when you join.
More of her argument in here:
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Ah, I see! I thought you were talking about Chomsky’s criticisms of behaviorism as an explanatory model for language development, which still seem to hold. But I see what Barb is saying, which is really about the prescriptive effect.
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I agree (no surprise) that people tend to systematically undervalue practice, even “rote” practice.
Don’t love the conclusion (people should be better at school math, so let’s make them practice!). I’d rather find a way to fuel practice with authentic interest as Bloom suggests.
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(i.e. in “Developing talent in young people”)
In this sense I maintain the ideological opposition to behaviorism, which is about mechanistically producing behaviors by manipulating consequences, while ignoring internal mental phenomena. Thoughts and feelings make the magic etc
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I understand the behaviorist-ish argument that there’s an aversive feedback loop around practice and math abilities, but I don’t think Barb would actually endorse a literal behaviorist interpretation.
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It’s just an argument about consequences affecting behavior, which you’d want to evaluate in the context of the other mental phenomena at play (which behaviorists would deny exist/matter).