Virtual School - Virtual Classrooms - Teacher Resources
January 06, 2009 Return to Home Page

feature article . . .

What is "Authentic Interest?"

- Charles Winborne

"Authentic Interest:"

    1. Tends to stimulate the emotion of fulfillment
    2. Tends to be Beautiful, Good, True
    3. Tends to resolve apparent paradox
    4. Pursuit does not narrow, but rather tends to incorporate other subjects
    5. Tends toward origination, rather than inheritance
    6. Is never conclusively formulated
    7. Is engaged without attachment to results of action
    8. Is not antithetical to the Authentic Interests of Others
    9. Pursuit entails will and effort; engagement in discipline
    10. Objects of attention, and attention itself are increasingly sublimated

We make the bare, unsubstantiated claim that "One's life may have meaning."

We postulate that life-meaning is not a gift of nature. One does not obtain meaning-of-life from one's forbears; rather, one must make/author/originate one's meanings.

We postulate that to make one's meanings, one must come in to the authorship of one's own life story. The story of one's life will not be written by parents, peers, "teachers," religious leaders, or the State. It will not be impressed by the past. In fact, the authorship of one's own story will change the past in every meaningful way.

We hypothesize that each of us has the potential of self-authorship; however, this potential will remain unrealized as long as one is asleep to the fact that one's story is largely a colonization; as long as one permits oneself to be subjected to ability and suitability standards that do not fit. Potential will remain unrealized unless one enters into those disciplines marked by individualized standards, which will eventually enable one to seize oneself, along with one's day.

We claim that each of us, by virtue of birth, has access to a humanizing life; perhaps, even a super-human life. A humanizing life is one that continually refines and sublimates itself. A humanizing life is one wherein one's sense of "I" is continually expanding, subsuming, and sublimating. A humanizing life is one which, without standardizing these words, continually seeks and resides-in the Beautiful, the Good, the True.

We observe that the paths of becoming-human are manifold. Although keynotes may be identified, listed, and used as convenient footstools, we observe that the wonder of each personality is found at a core that cannot, and perhaps should not, be categorized. A thousand ways of categorizing people exist-each to some useful purpose. However, the student in front of us is his/her own path, and all of our categories should be suspended as we sub-vocally ask each day, as if for the first time: "Who are you? Why are you here?

These foundation questions may be considered as of a spiritual nature by some. However, we reject then as peculiarly religious in nature. Politics, Education, Psychology, Philosopy, Arts, Sciences, Religion, and Economics-for instance-each makes use of its own lexicon of sublimation.

These are the foundation questions that may provide insight regarding assessment of Authentic Interest.

The spoken assessment may be quite different, beginning with: "What do you enjoy doing?" An authentic teacher will welcome any answer, even that which replies, "I enjoy nothing." An authentic teacher sees to the core of each reply. Even though the answer indicates prurient interest, or the ordinary interests concerned with liking/disliking, or defiance, such a teacher honors that reply and begins to offer guidance on precisely that foundation. Such a teacher begins to provide learning opportunities that fit, where "fit" implicates a path of self-discipline and sublimation.

We theorize: If one enjoys engaging attention on certain objects-of-attention, that one will engage attention more often, with increasing concentration, and with increasing integration of related objects-of-attention. Enjoyable, often-exercised engagement of attention always approaches individualized mastery that complements those masteries achieved by others.

Finally, we can describe Authentic Interest, as follows.
    · Authentic Interest entails the achievement of self-discipline. It is marked by sublimation, which implicates increasing complexity, transparency, and integration into ancillary areas of interest.
    · Authentic Interest unfolds continuously. It is never conclusive. Conclusion, or fixation, or passionate identification, or a crystallizing expression of us-and-them, is always an indicator that one has veered off of the path of one's Authentic Interests.
    · The assessment of Authentic Interest may at first be modeled by teacher/guides/stewards. However, the goal of such modeling is always to transfer assessment tasks to the student. One implication of such a transfer is that experimental intuition must begin to supplant intellect, with respect to executive functions.

Regarding Customary Ways of Schooling:

We claim that an authentic teacher NEVER intends to write his/her students' stories. Only false teachers intend to permanently colonize a student's mind or heart. An authentic teacher continually assesses "Authentic Interest, " provides guidance in the direction of that interest, seeks to transfer authority to the student, and provides learning opportunities that fit.

We claim that any "schooling" or "education" that operates by means of normative standards (one-size-fits-all) is designed to service only those whose temperaments, suitabilities, and abilities happen reside within that narrow band of a bell curve referred to as statistically "normal." We note that the prevailing definitions of "normal" are often imposed by nominal leaders, who-without malice, but residing in significant ignorance-wish to impose their own world-views on those in their stewardship.

We observe that much of what we have come to call "schooling" is, by design, intended to create personal identities that are marked by normative words: average, successful and failure.

Success and failure, with respect to achievement of an individualized standard may be a proper description of a sampled performance in relation to an individualized standard.

Success and failure attributions ascribed within the normative-standards atmosphere of conventional schooling are claimed to be mere performance evaluations. But who, among us, does not know such evaluations to have the actual effect of evaluating the worth of the person? Who does not recognize pre-collegiate grading as an interpersonal/comparative process whereby the cultural value of a person is denominated in relation to the worth of others?

From the perspective of the assessment and pursuit of Authentic Interest, the school- manufacture of personalities that are identified with attributions like "ordinary," "successful," "loser" are equally dysfunctional, in both individual and cultural expressions. Such created personae ("creatures") are inauthentic and false, often drifting in the nether-worlds between fanaticism and meaninglessness. One cannot expect a culture that systematically cultivates its citizens in such a manner to indefinitely thrive. Such a culture must be sublimated from within, or wither on the vine in anticipation of a new beginning.

We prefer to reject those inheritances that prescribe learning the hard way.

past articles . . .

Play in Learning
Charles Winborne

A brief discussion of the nature of Play and its role in learning.

Maria Montessori: The Woman and The Method
cw

Maria Montessori: The Woman and The Method

Conflict? Content Management Standards and Learning
C. Vic Bunderson

Alerts to Conflict between Learning Theory and current Standards-Based Content Management Systems, like SCORM

Technology in Music Education: Brick by Brick
Barton Polot

Learning-Park philosophy appled to Music Education.

Meanings of Virtual School
- The Issue of Scarcity
Charles Winborne

Virtual schooling may be offering us our first opportunities to attempt the mass application of individualized instruction.

Meanings of Virtual School
- The Issue of Normative Application
Charles Winborne

The dinosaurs that both drive and emerge from traditional social science, normative analysis, and indiscriminate application through public policy, are becoming as fossilized remembrances.

Meanings of Virtual School
- The Issue of Assessment
Charles Winborne

Can we now provide learners with continuous assessment of ability, interest, and need?

Meanings of Virtual School
- Control of Attention
Charles Winborne

More important than content, the essense of an educative transaction resolves on Attention. A real teacher holds the learner's attention in a state of custodial trust, endeavoring to pass attentional control to its rightful possessor.

Meanings of Virtual School
- The Issue of Physical Presence
Charles Winborne

Virtual Schooling and physical presence. What are the liabilities and assets?

Meanings of Virtual School
- The Issue of Content Fidelity
Charles Winborne

Considering content fidelity in traditional and virtual schooling environments. What is real? What is useful?