Spencer's Response 1

Spencer McGee
Human/Nature- MacCormack
October 7, 2009
Le Guin and Gatto Response
When I started reading Le Guin I couldn’t figure out whether we were talking about humans or animals. Then I thought about Tuesday’s class and how we discussed what are the main differences between human and animals. As I kept this in mind the characters of Buffalo Gals kept switching between each body. I thought of this as trying to keep humans and animals alike as much as possible.
What I figured out was that we do not need structured education to learn. As I read the child in Buffalo Gals matured as a character. In the beginning she was “blind” in one eye and needed aid. The coyote took the child under her wing and taught the child ways while making connections with other people/animals. This is relevant to Gatto’s essay about the education system. He states that education is boring and allowing too much leeway for student’s activities. I believe what Gatto is trying to say is that us, as students, need adventure and challenges instead of sitting in a classroom all day long.
Bringing it back to Le Guin, the child in the story experienced adventure and important life lessons and was not bored with the education that was experienced. If we could some how make the educational system more exciting and “adventurous” it would be more successful and students would be more active in class.