A Small Oops

I delivered a gig and trailer to another program yesterday.  This isn't a huge deal.  The bigger deal was the unloading.  The lot where we put her was sand.  Because I should have focused more on the blocking under her the trailer and gig fell off her supports.  This is not a tragedy, merely an inconvenience.  The tragedy, in my eyes, was that there were no kids there to see.  They would have seen the blocking shift and the rig fall.  Somewhere in their minds they would have imprinted to always check the supporting ground before you unload.  They would have sensed no anger or cursing.  They would have seen myself and another program director accessing the situation, sharing ideas, laughing, supporting one another, resigned to the amount of work involved, resolved to simply enjoy the puzzle presented us in the physical world.

I often think how much learning is to be had in everyday experiences in the physical world.  I often think how selfish it might be to haul and launch and trailer these boats alone.  OK, it was certainly not worth taking a kid's entire Sunday just to see an accident that we certainly wouldn't have planned.  But how rare is it these days that youth get to see adults working together.  How rare is it that they get to see adults make collective mistakes.  How rare is it that kids get to see adults resolve these mistakes with joy and humor.  Don't get me wrong.  Adults work together and make mistakes together all the time.  But where are the kids who might profit from it?

So I wish, and will continue to wish, for opportunities for kids of any age to work with competent adults.  I wish for laws to be revised so that those younger than sixteen can participate in real work experiences.  I wish for less focus on money and more on learning.  I wish for expended apprenticeship programs where all of the above becomes a natural part of growing up.  I wish and I dream and I write that some day we will realize how much education can and must take place outside of the classroom.