【前言】
座談內容系列文章連載，來到了這次發言最讓大家震撼與反思的與談人——Scott Gray。
其實臺灣人們比較熟悉的，是他的父親心理學者彼得．格雷（Peter Gray）。很少有人知道，《會玩才會學》書中提到的那位拒學的男孩，長大之後又回到瑟谷學校任職，獻身教育工作已經二十幾年。
我們在這次國際瑟谷教育交流座談，正式介紹Scott給臺灣的大家認識，而他鏗鏘有力的論點、直言不諱的風格，讓平日習於溫良恭儉讓的我們大呼過癮，留下深刻印象。
一起感受Scott帶來的顱內搖滾吧！
- - -
Scott Gray（史考特．格雷）
Part 1
【自我介紹】
我是 Scott David Gray，我曾在麻州瑟谷上學將近八年。離開瑟谷後，從事其他工作大概七八年的時間，又回到麻州瑟谷擔任職員超過二十五年。
【自主學習的經驗】
我記得四十多年前的一次經歷，當時我是瑟谷的新生。我那時對瑟谷的概念是：它是一個每個人應該要「決定學什麼」的地方。我還不懂得，當我努力過上充實的生活時，學習就會發生。
為了融入（新環境），我開始累積一堆研究／讀書計劃，並為它們規劃時間，我以為這些事情是我應該在瑟谷做的。一、兩個星期後，一名瑟谷職員 Joan Rubin 經過我旁邊，她看了看，問我在幹嘛。我一邊堆滿笑容，一邊回答她我正在研讀的清單。
她看著我，問了一個問題，一個詞。我希望我能清楚地表達她是怎麼說這個詞的。那是個開放的問題，顯然沒有「正確」答案，而且出於真正的好奇心而問。
「為什麼？」
就因為這個問題，我突然明白，我這麼做並不會給誰留下好印象，而且沒有人期待我這麼做。她沒有貶低我的作為，而是想著如果我做這件事，背後一定有某些理由。
那時我結結巴巴、瞎掰了幾句，卻立刻瞭解到那個問題的含義。我放棄了那堆書和學習計劃，再也沒有試圖「決定」要學什麼。Joan Rubin 的一句話，讓我意識到這個學校是一個沒有偽裝的地方，我是真正自由的，並且被期望成為自己的主人。
（未完待續）
My name is Scott David Gray. I was a student at the Sudbury Valley School for about eight years. And after being away doing other things for another seven or eight years, I returned to become a staff member over 25 years ago.
I remember one experience that I had over 40 years ago, as a brand new student at Sudbury Valley. I had this idea of the school, that it was a place where one was supposed to "decide what to learn." I had no idea, yet, that learning would simply happen while I worked to live a fulfilling life.
Wanting to fit in, I set about collecting a stack of projects to work on and study. And I set aside time for them. It was what I thought I was supposed to be doing at Sudbury Valley. After a week or two of this, one of the staff, Joan Rubin, came by. She looked at what I was doing and asked what it was. I answered, beaming, with a list of the things I was studying.
She looked at me and asked a question. One word. I wish that I could express clearly how she said this word. It was an open question, clearly not one with a "right" answer, and it was asked with genuine curiosity.
"Why?"
With one word I suddenly realized that I was impressing nobody, and that I was not expected to be doing anything like this. She was not denigrating the action, but was expecting that if I was doing it I must have some reason for doing it.
I stumbled, babbling some answer. But it took no time for the significance of that question to sink in. I gave up on my stack of books and my ideas about what I was going to learn; I never again tried to "decide" what to learn. With one word, Joan Rubin had made me aware that the school was a place without pretense, and that I was truly free and expected to be my own master.
(To be continued)
Comments