Interview
Q:
You have spoken on many occasions about
experiential learning. You actively promote and
want to apply experiential learning at Keystone. You
also wrote a very influential essay on this particular
topic. Can you elaborate on how experiential learning
will be implemented at Keystone?
A:
Experiential learning takes place inside the classroom,
where it is best exemplified when the teacher actually gets
the students to do things. It is active in this sense. Experiential
learning also takes place when you take students outside the
classroom to explore places such as museums, Beijing and
other parts of China, and outside China. Learning topics in
these locations are related to what is being covered in the
classroom. Finally, experiential learning happens when you are
doing something, yes doing it, that is unrelated to what you are
learning in the classroom, but which allows you to develop other
characteristics and qualities, skills and attitudes.
There are great theorists of experiential learning in China as
there are in America. It is not something which is particular to
any culture. It is something which is frequently ignored, however,
because once you get into the routine of a school week or year
people tend to focus on things which are less important than the
bigger picture. At Keystone I want to have a Director of Creativity
and Innovation. I want someone who is actually paid to have the
time and expertise to think about doing things creatively and new.
The responsibility to implement experiential learning effectively
will be a duty that is included in this person’s job description, for
sure.
Q:
What unique characteristics will a Keystone
graduate possess upon graduation?
A:
We will produce students who are dynamic and impressive.
We are (re)imagining the global preparedness needed to
enable young people to become the leaders and trailblazers of
their generation. We are confident that we will produce math and
science students of a very high quality and we know that the way
of teaching and learning through working in small groups with
discussion and debate will promote the liberal arts. We are also
confident that the focus on Chinese and English in a bilingual
immersion model is going to produce students who are fluent in
both of those languages and cultures. As students move up, they
will take on yet another language in their final years. So they will
have two languages, which are the two major languages of the
world right now, that they are really comfortable using, and then a
third language, which they will bebeginning to understand.
12
The Keystone Magazine
Malcolm McKenzie at an team meeting
Keystone will prepare graduates for top universities around the
world. Ultimately a Keystone education will equip them to take
their place as significant participants on a global stage.
Q:
You have been carrying Lao Tse’s Dao De Ching
with you for a while. Comparatively speaking,
western wisdom is also very rich. What inspirations
have you received from Lao Tse’s Dao De Ching that
has motivated you to carry the book with you and give
weight to the wisdom that the author presents?
A:
There are different books that I have carried with me at
different times of my life. But there are different ways of
carrying books with you: you can carry them with you in your
suitcase, or have them in your bedroom, and you can carry books
in your head. There are also books that you can carry in your
soul. So there are a number of books that I often carry with me
and frequently they are with me on paper. The Dao De Ching is
one. My great grandfather’s autobiography is another one. The
Charter of the United Nations is another one. 20 Love Poems and
a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda is another. With the Dao De
Ching, here was a philosopher or sage that I discovered when I
was probably 15 or 16. And I just felt an immediate affinity with
his way of seeing the world and writing. It has resonated with me
since. I was introduced to Lao Tse by a man who was the Chaplain
at my school, Bishops in Cape Town, which was a church school.
He became a very good friend of mine and had quite a significant
influence on me at one point.