What made you decide to write this non-fiction work? Traveling around the world, I noticed many different learning systems. In Uganda it costs to go to school. It was rare to find a school room with desks, tables, or chairs. Students sat on dirt floors. Most children in northern Uganda have no formal training.
In Mexico, rather than building and maintaining expensive buildings, many schools have one set of teachers and students 8:00-noon and another set from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Guatemala, for example, education was free, but only children whose parents could afford school uniforms, notebooks, and pencils were able to attend. As throughout history, others learned their parents trade and were gainfully employed as teenagers.
One Guatemala girl had her own shop near a ferry terminal. My wife and I were pleased how her small shop was organized and how well she spoke English. Two dialects of Mayan were spoken in that area and generally the boys and men learned Spanish so they could find outside employment. It was very rare for a young girl to speak English. Guatemala Mayans are small statured people. This girl was small and looked so young. She was fourteen.
“You have excellent English,” I commented. How did you learn to speak it so well?”
She said, “I need to know English to run my shop.” She went on to explain that she could not afford to go to school, but each day her friends would return from classes and practice their English with her. By learning English basics, she would practice daily with travelers like my wife and me. The girl then taught her friends functional English.
Can you talk about your experience of researching this non-fiction work? And the dates of when you began researching and when your research was complete? At some point I realized what is taught influences a life; how it is taught influences society.
My research on learning dates back at least two decades. Mainly I read non-fiction. Late nineteenth to early twentieth-century history books I find fascinating. Their word use, thought process, and historic references to Aristotle, Shakespeare, Gutenberg, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein indicated authors learned differently than today’s authors.
Over the years I developed a habit to take two, three, or more pages of notes and quotes from each book. In my Relating to Ancients series those old book reports provided background to help explain Learning as it influences the 21st century—my second book in that series.
Research was completed with the last draft before printing, although I still do book reports on each book I read.
What is the date you began writing this piece of non-fiction and the date when you finished writing the piece of non-fiction? Actual writing the manuscript began in May 2015 and it was edited through November 2017 to complete the 423-page book.
Where did you do most of your writing for this non-fiction work? About ninety percent of this book was written in a farming and fishing village where we a rented bungalow (BELOW) overlooking the Pacific Ocean in southcentral Mexico.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? Water is the only thing I drink while keyboarding my laptop. Absolutely no distractions allowed while writing, not music, radio, nor television, not even caffeinated drinks; all shorten the thought process blocking depth of understanding. Generally, I begin each day with a hike, often an hour or more. After brunch, I often write into late afternoon, then have an early dinner with a glass of red wine.
Please include an excerpt of one FACT or one set of FACTS that you were most impacted by in this non-fiction work. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. I began Chapter 24, entitled “Age Group” on page 327, revealing:
“Never in world history have children spent their youth only with those the same age. Senior citizens are now blocked the same way. Is it any wonder their minds lose abilities? ‘They have lost their marbles’ is a sad condition; a condition often created by standardization.
“Now by age five, siblings are removed from family. Many schools take children as young as three. Through the school system grade structure, children are taught only grouped by age. At about puberty, some schools integrate a narrow band of ages. It is too late. Opportunities are limited to learn from older children and adults. In the modern school system structure, teachers are even forced to train by age.
“While in grades one through four in a one-room country school, I learned the most as students grades five through eight were delivering lessons and were quizzed by our one teacher. Older students did not want to be embarrassed by overperforming younger students.
“Modern office cubicle format is designed for the same purpose. Young learn from old. Inexperienced learn by overhearing experienced workers. Homes provide cubicle learning. (Parents at home and work used to be the family’s primary teacher.) In cubicle formats, like country schools, work order is maintained by social interaction while slackness is observable with increased output the goal.”
Here’s a few quips as the chapter continues:
“Office cubicles are another example where business has learned social modeling, whereas schools continue to follow a model incompatible with effective lifelong learning.
“Unlike modern offices, schools miss a prime attribute of homes and the one-room country school concept, development of independent thought by listening to others. Formal office and learning systems rely on team interaction resulting in group think. Both systems focus on set theme detail.
“Unfortunately, paralysis by analysis rejects outlier ideas. Therefore, the large and more uniform the system, the less likely it is to change, or invent, or implement a concept. Conformance to the status quo has more influence on group think than an original idea or concept. Uniformity is not natural. In real life, people are forced to interact with all ages.
“Do students learn the most from their age group? Based on the modern school system, slower kids of the same age are grouped together, average with average, and quick learners are sometimes offered some advanced classes with other quick learners. All destroy the experience of learning from those younger or older, or with more or less life experiences or skills. When confined with same-age classmates, want-to-be bullies are teachers’ proxies. Others shroud their thoughts.
“…Artificial memory on a smartphone segmenting notes, thoughts, and photos by date (are) a thoughtless process.
“Schools want to dominate using modern substitutes. It is synthetic learning, removed from reality.”
Why was this one fact or one set of facts so compelling for you to discover and to write about? Studying and writing about Age Group learning led to the book’s subtitle which became the marketing title—Learning as it influences the 21st century.
As the twentieth-century developed, it became common for non-fiction to be written for a specific audience—often age specific. Writing for audiences is not my style. I delve into subjects I find interesting as did nineteenth-century authors like Henry David Thoreau.
Facts can be revealed by studying nature, the past and learning systems. Contrary to recorded history, today’s formal school system teaches children grouped by age. That is not natural.
Workplaces even changed to open-air cubicles to force interaction between ages, gender, experiences, and those with different responsibilities. Based on training, closed-door offices no longer met business needs. New cubicle workers are forced to overhear experienced workers which emulates a company’s culture.
As the twentieth-century schools migrated to learning by age, senior citizens unable to care for themselves, likewise have been blocked from youthful, exciting ideas that depresses outside thought. While schools and seniors restrict learning by age, business in cubicles found a way to match ancient learning from the experienced and working-age nature.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. Since I write and revise on my laptop, early marked up drafts are unavailable. My third from final draft was printed and marked. By that time, most of the cuts were completed. It was not unusual, even at late stage to have minor additions, corrections, and paragraph length changes. Page 327, the beginning of Chapter 24, is attached and gives an indication how I made changes on paper near the final draft.
For years without a car or home, Gary Wietgrefe and his wife, Patricia, traveled the world with a backpack and observed: Some places had bookstores and family-owned “mom and pop shops”; others did not. Some brick and mortar retailers thrived in places while others strived to stay alive. Why?
In many locations, education was intermittent with children helping families survive. Elsewhere, too many children forced schools to operate two shifts. Often in the developed world, children were skipping school. He investigated why there were differences.
As an inventor, researcher, military intelligence veteran, economist, agriculturalist, systems developer, societal explorer, and author, Gary observed and documented his findings from his many travels and experiences.
What does ancient mean? Could the difference between modern and ancient be the same reason grandparents buy books and newspapers and younger generations read electronic books, blogs, and engage social media on devices?
His books Culture and the mysterious agent changing it and Learning as it influences the 21st century help answer those profound questions.