Discipline and education in Peru is the topic of the next Pathways to Knowledge Lecture

Discipline and education in Peru is the topic of the next Pathways to Knowledge LectureApril 10, 2003Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

“Removing the ‘B’ From the ABCs: No More Blows, Belts or Beatings in Peruvian Literacy Education” will be presented April 15 at 7 p.m. in the College of Law’s Grant Auditorium by School of Education Ph.D. candidate Diana Dahlin Weber. The lecture is part of the 2003 Pathways to Knowledge Lecture Series and is open to undergraduate students.

Before 1995, most children in Peru’s Andean villages learned their ABCs and multiplication tables fearing the authoritarian teacher and the ever-present “whip,” Weber says. “Teachers understood instruction to be dictation; group work, discussions or problem-solving activities were non-existent. Students were expected to memorize and repeat.”

In 1995, however, a national educational reform movement called for child-centered, socially interactive and problem-solving classrooms throughout Peru. Weber’s research involves looking at how new teachers who have learned ‘under the whip’ respond to the changes in the system. The question Weber asks is: “Will the new teachers be authoritarian or have they too been newly constructed?”

The Pathways to Knowledge Lecture series is co-sponsored by the Department of Science Teaching in The College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School. The lecture series was established to provide Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to share their research with undergraduate students and to provide undergraduate students with insights into graduate education and an opportunity to broaden their horizons.