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The Teaching of ‘Family Subjects’

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In her letter, Connie McGray creates a false dichotomy between cognitive education (which addresses the child’s intellect, teaches knowledge) and affective education (which addresses attitudes, feelings and values).

Quality education is confluent and teaches to the whole child. It encourages the child to use both his cognitive and affective resources to think. In order to reason logically and make judgments, students must be able to draw upon their own value systems.

Unfortunately, many students plagiarize or cheat because they cannot generate original thoughts concerning materials studied. They do not know how to interrelate what they have read or researched with their own attitudes, values and feelings on a given subject. Therefore, believing that they have nothing new or insightful to say, they resort to copying out of books or parroting their teachers.

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Students cannot be separated from their own attitudes and values. Therefore, why not teach them to use all of their personal resources to get in touch with their own beliefs? Education needs cognitive instruction to generate analytical, linear thinking and at the same time, it needs affective instruction to encourage innovative, intuitive thinking.

KATHLEEN C. YORK

Irvine

Kathleen York is a high school teacher.

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