Louis L’Amour wrote one of the best education books I’ve read. He’s known as one of the hardest working and most prolific U.S. writers. He’s best known for his Western stories, including Hondo.
I like his Education of a Wandering Man in part because he did what many successful people I know did in his time. He left school at 15, because schooling got in the way of his education.
My dad used the same phrasing to tell me why he left school at about the same age. He also forbid me from following his footsteps: “Stay in school. You can learn in a short time what it took me years of mistakes and hard work to learn.”
I admire the attitude of that generation and try to create ways to encourage students and teachers to consider their wisdom about education and schooling. I included it as recommended reading in course syllabi for teacher ed classes. It was easy to tell without a test who understood the message of the book: education and schooling go together only sometimes.
Here’s a sample of how L’Amour earned his education: “I am probably the last writer who will ever have known the people who lived the frontier life. In drifting about across the West, I have known five men and two women who knew Billy the Kid, two who rode in the Tonto Basin war in Arizona, and a variety of others who were outlaws, or frontier marshals like Jeff Milton, Bill Tilghman, and Chris Madse, or just pioneers.” (from Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wondering Man, 1989)
What writers as educators have comparable experiences to share about today’s lives?
Maybe those creating and using Tablets and other ultra mobile personal computers? I’ve met a few here at MIX06 who could share interesting stories for students about learning outside of school.
Today is Louis L’Amour’s birthday. May your legacy live on.