With the right perspective, education happens everywhere
all the time, but in this book Derrick Jensen takes the opportunity to focus on
formal education in the school setting, and in particular the intersection of
education, teaching, and writing. We as
the reader are guided through his rules for writing (primarily, don’t bore the
reader) and allowed vicarious participation in standard classroom activities
like lengthy philosophical questioning and discussion, expressing and
addressing intense emotions, and high-stakes games of capture the flag and
hide-and-seek. What Jensen emphasizes in each of these stories/chapters/essays
is the connection between education and culture. In a society that values
standardized production, schools provide “industrial education” that, rather
than contributing substantive value to the individual receiving the education,
leads the student away from him or herself at the steep cost of personal hopes
and dreams. Jensen rejects this system of education and instead offers his
approach, cultivated in years of classroom trial and error, of using education
as a tool to guide students to discover who they are, what they love, and how
they can use that in the future. All of which turns into a writing exercise, of
course.
In “Walking on Water,” Jensen challenges conventional
thinking on the method, impact, and purpose of education. Though most of the
book recalls his experiences teaching in a university classroom, he also draws
on his time teaching writing at a prison to compare and contrast the settings,
pupils, and lessons. Despite mixing examples from the classroom with the
prison, and connecting each with personal experiences and nuanced musings, the
whole book flows smoothly so that by the end, it hardly feels like a learning
experience. To be sure, he teaches several lessons in this book, the most basic
of which being his rules for writing. Although his statements, questions, and
examples are often provocative, they evoke serious consideration and
reconsideration of often fundamentally held beliefs. Sometimes this process
leads to new conclusions, and sometimes it reinforces those same ideas, now
strengthened after having been held up for scrutiny. In his teaching and his
writing, Jensen respects the student (and the reader) as a person, encouraging
full expression and understanding of varied opinions. Even as the reader, the
process is fun and interesting, and leaves a one with a greater sense of
certainty in what you know to be true and curiosity as to whether that is
really case.
Needless to say, I absolutely love this book. This is
partly because I generally enjoy anything that goes against the grain, but more
so because the book is so engaging.
Jensen very clearly models his teaching style in the way he writes this
book, and though I don’t get to participate in all the activities as a reader,
I still reap the rewards of critical thought and examination. Even, or
especially, when I disagree with his points. He references violence more
frequently than I remembered from my first reading, which I don’t appreciate, but
I feel good about reading the book having questioned the validity and necessity
of such statements. This is a must read.
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