The School Ritual: Learning as a Game
The School Ritual: Learning as a Game
The School Ritual: Learning as a Game
By Andrés García Barrios
March 20, 2020
Summary
The COVID pandemic-19 has shown us that an essential part of the school ritual is fulfilled simply because the school exists.
Another characteristic of the school ritual reveals itself to us if we attend to the etymology of the word "School" that comes from the Greek "Scholé," meaning leisure.
The truth is that the idea that learning is a form of rest, not something obligatory, applies not only to that idle old school but also to the everyday ritual, which equally preserves the idea of something "Done for pleasure and not duty." I dare to say that even when school learning has connotations of work and even hard work, in its essence, there is always an underlying idea of rest and amusement.
Nothing can override this; not the most boring of teachers nor the most pragmatic educational model, nor the most authoritarian school administration, can override it.
Yes, despite how many efforts we make to learn, we will always face our ignorance, and at that point, we had better relax and settle for what little we have learned.
Again, the humility of the school ritual reminds us that we will never be able to know the ultimate essence of play and that we will have to settle for knowing only a little, bringing that little to reality, partially, accompanying our students in learning that is always incomplete.
As we say, the school ritual -at least in part- is not looking for anything.
Reference
Barrios, A. (2021, March 20). The school ritual: Learning as a game (part 2). Retrieved July 02, 2021, from https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-news/the-educational-ritual-part2