"Courted by Incapacity", my undersized sausage and authentic learning experiences.

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plough over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
William Blake

I have often thought that in these 5 short lines Blake captures the essence of how best to live a life.  Blake’s verse also wraps up in 50 words the intent of 2 pages of text on the Key competencies in the New Zealand Draft Curriculum document.

[Key Competencies – the capabilities people need in order to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities. - Managing self, Relating to others, Participating and contributing, Thinking, and Using language, symbols and texts].

If my email Inbox is anything to go by, “being courted by Incapacity” is a "rich and authentic" concern in the 21st Century.  I am pretty much inured to reading the daily spam mail suggestions that “my woody is short”, “my schlong is so small”, “my thing is lacking”, “my ramrod inadequate” and “my sausage undersized”.  But I will admit to suffering from performance anxiety, and being “courted by Incapacity” after realising that the rhetoric of "rich and authentic" had infiltrated the draft Curriculum

The proposed curriculum will allow them greater flexibility to develop new and innovative teaching approaches, and to engage all students in rich and authentic learning experiences” Hon Steve Maharey Minister of Education The New Zealand Curriculum Draft for Consultation 2006

For instance, whilst I have been developing textbook learning experiences that might meet the directions for learning in the new draft curriculum I have not been able to shake off a continual nagging disquiet that what I have developed might not meet the “richness and or authenticity” expectations of others.

Richness and authenticity are much-sought attributes of “the road of excess” for the 21st Century Learner.  They trump “educationally relevant” as a measure of what we should look for in a learning experience for a 21st Century learner that might lead to “the palace of wisdom”. 

But I worry about the "who" when thinking about the expectations of others wrt "richness and authenticity"

1.  Who determines the "richness and authenticity" of a learning experience?  Is it “teachers, principals, advisers, academics, policy makers, boards of trustees, communities, (including communities of interest), parents, or students”.

And then I worry again over the "how" - what are the criteria used to determine the richness and authenticity of a learning experience?  For example, in a "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" type question

2. Is the “richness and authenticity” of a learning experience determined by the closeness of fit of the learning experience with

(a) The National Curriculum - touted as “the result of consultation with teachers, principals, advisers, academics, policy makers, boards of trustees, communities, (including communities of interest), parents, and students."
(b) The communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(c) The school’s interpretation of the communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(d)The science department’s interpretation of the school’s interpretation of the communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(e) The science teacher’s interpretation of the science department’s interpretation of the school’s interpretation of the communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(f) The learner’s interpretation of the science teacher’s interpretation of the science department’s interpretation of the school’s interpretation of the communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(g) The parent's interpretation of the learner’s interpretation of the science teacher’s interpretation of the science department’s interpretation of the school’s interpretation of the communities interpretation of the National Curriculum
(h) All of the above
(i) None of the above silly, measures of "richness and authenticity" have always been largely determined by the media.