Elwyn S. Richardson (1925–2012)

Having been to Northland in January and passed the Oruaiti school, I have felt motivated to actually read this book from beginning to end instead of dipping into it.

Elwyn Richardson describes his school catchment and when I looked for one of the places mentioned by him Akatere, I couldn't find it in an atlas or on the Topo map app. Then today I thought well that's not so unusual as places I knew of in Taumarunui such as Hauhangaroa have largely disappeared now.

In the Introduction by John Melser he writes about 'homo faber' and 'homo ludens'. In short these are 'man the maker' (makar in early Scottish poetry) and 'man the player'. These concepts are from a philosophy writer Johan Huizinga published in Dutch in 1938. Homo faber if the concept of humans being able to control their fate and the environment through tools. Huizinga was the author of 'The Waning of the Middle Ages' - a highly recommended text during my university study.

I remain in awe of Richardson who had the freedom and the ability to allow the children in his classroom to develop their own course of study. They seemed to cover so many of the key or core subjects with minimal 'steering' from him.

On p.61 he writes: 'I noted that the more intellectual children used more abstract design,....' - maybe this reflects the period - certainly we wouldn't say this now.

Some of the work reproduced is still stunning e.g.: Owen's shark design on p.60, and Michael's Fish in weeds linocut on p.42. The children in his class established their own values and judged what was good. Why do I think these are good?

Note: In the book 'Downstage Upfront' John Melser is noted as Head of School Publications (Source: http://tinyurl.com/ztpp9jo… (mer)