midwives and remedial classes

Between reading the “Situated Learning” piece last week and going over it in class and reading the Rodby and Fox writing on remedial English, I noticed a few connections, and that both philosophies stand alone as well as support each other.  The part in “Situated Learning” that particularly interested me was about the Yucatec midwives.  Specifically, how they are faced with situations involving child birth nearly their entire lives.  They learn from these situations, and never officially become midwives, but at a certain point in their lives simply are so.

 

This reminded me of the predicaments that can arrive through remedial English classes that were discussed in the Rodby and Fox piece.  Specifically, that students are not challenged in remedial classes and feel that the material is simple and irrelevant to them, and in turn learn little.  Later, when they are exposed to an actual English class with actual assignments, they falter.

 

Although the two scenarios seem worlds apart, a very similar message can be found among them.  Learning speed and consistent expectations are important if a student is expected to take hold of the material or situations they’ll later have to deal with.  Just like it would obviously be unwise to put a midwife in a situation they haven’t been prepared for, it would also be unwise to put a student in a class with much higher expectations after having much lower ones.  Conclusively, a remedial class or slower background education simply serves as an incubator for failure.  Students of any type should be educated according to what lies in their future, and be given extra support if needed, not be placed in a lower bracket.  (I hope this all ties together successfully)