Right after I wrote my last blog I realized that I was actually talking about the Smith book rather than the Dewey book, but then I realized that they both have similar connections and that is why I was cross referencing them! I love the Smith book because it puts what Dewey says in a way that I can understand it. One connection that I have noticed between the books is that they both talk smack on classical conditioning. This is interesting to me because I have a Psychology Degree and funny enough I completely agree to what both books said! Both books state that classical conditioning has nothing to do with learning, it is just training. I completely agree with this statement. Hitting a child's neck to make him bow to something does not mean he knows why he is bowing. It just means that every time he sees or feels a certain stimulus the child will bow, but he does not learn or understand why he is doing what he is doing, he just does it. While Pavlov was conducting these classically conditioning stimulus the animal is stuck in a cage unlike a human. An animal in a cage will respond a certain way then an animal that is free.
It reminds me of saying the pledge of allegiance in elementary school. We were trained that every morning when we get to school we stand up and repeat a pledge that we are taught to memorize. Just because we memorize something does not mean we are giving meaning to the words we say. We say the pledge because we are suppose to, not because we really know or understand why we say it. I recently got a job working with autistic kids which makes this topic interesting because ABA therapy, which is what is used on autistic kids, is exactly what classical conditioning is. Repeating an act, or word until the child memorizes what it is based on reinforcement. Maybe I can come up with a way that I can help the autistic kids learn without using classical conditioning! That is my new goal even tough it might be the only way they can learn.
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