The Two Clocks

The biggest change to my educational philosophy in the past fifteen years can be summarized by two images.

Image one:

Image two:

One instructional model insists on starting at the beginning and working right through to the end. You never have the complete picture until you’ve seen the process from start to finish. Even if you think you know what you’re looking at when you’re halfway done, you aren’t really finished until you actually finish.

The other starts with a wide, blurry view. Structures are clearly there, but are not easy to describe. Over time, that structure reveals smaller structures, which then yields more structure, and so on. You can stop when there is sufficient detail to answer your question, but more time leads to even greater clarity and understanding.

One is part of our tradition. One is closer to how we learn outside of the walls of formal education.

One has worked for a long time; but who has it actually worked for?