Perry’s Phases of Development

Perry’s Phases of Development

As a child traces the letters of the alphabet in grammar school, he set himself up for certain failure. By doing as he is told; tracing letter and numbers, he assumes the rule of a dualist. In fact all children in grammar school are dualists, and all set themselves up for failure in their education. Simply by tracing Aa, Bb, Cc, etc. children begin memorize the given material without any thought besides, memorize this and recite upon request. Later in the educational path, they must lose this learning to gain new and more profound information.
One who may be called lazy or who is often told they don’t think for themselves, also has the title of a dualist. The role of a dualist is to take in the information and believe what they are being told is the ultimate truth. They memorize, take notes, and learn facts about the given information, and then to repeat the information in the form of tests, quizzes, or homework. Uneasiness, discomfort, reluctance, and a feeling of dismay often are the feelings that accompany a dualist when asked what do you think, or how do your thoughts about this subject? Their brains are thrown a curve ball and are at a loss of how to answer the given question. Instead of formulating an answer on their own, their brain searches through its filing cabinets on what they think the teacher wants to hear. The expectations of being a dualist are the same for a newborn bird. All they have to do is make sure they stay alive and the information will present itself. The baby bird’s only concern is to make sure they don’t fall out of the nest, allowing the mother bird to come home with the food to eat. As long as the mother bird regurgitates her meal for her young, the baby bird is content with its life. Provided that the student attends class, the teacher regurgitates his/her knowledge for the student, and they are content with the information and life given. In order to move onto the next phase of development, it requires the student to do some...