Final Blog post

Folk learning is a type of knowledge taught through other people, to which collaboration and communication are essential principles. Although some people think that folk knowledge is in a separate category from oral, written, and print knowledge, folk learning is at the base of all types of knowledge because it can be incorporated into all forms.

People make the distinction that oral knowledge is simply education through oral means and that written knowledge is shallowly the language put down on paper. They think that print is only the publication process of knowledge, but it all has an underlying theme. The underlying theme is that although through different mediums (spoken through oral, paper and writing utensils through written and the printing press through print), folk knowledge has contributed to all of the actual information behind the kinds of knowledge we’ve covered in class.

All of the types of knowledge can be incorporated into folk learning, and especially oral knowledge. Such as with manners (see more about etiquette here) and traditions, much of folk familiarity comes from watching and learning. Although much of it comes from the “monkey see, monkey do” method, a huge part of folk learning is communication and collaboration from people who know what they are doing towards people who don’t know what they are doing. Therefore, it is essential that one orally communicates to teach another person, even if it is through an informal method of teaching, as suggested by Kimberly in a blog post about folk knowledge during recess. In the post, Kimberly examines what little children in elementary school teach other little children during recess. That example of folk knowledge, specifically outside of the classroom is about as informal as it gets, yet requires oral communication.

Written also has a base is folk knowledge. Written forms of information are simply the knowledge known that are written down. But this information has to come from somewhere. What is written down can come from two sources; either it is information that said author has figured out, or it is a subject at which they seem to be natural and about which they know very much. Although a book about some kind of research would seem completely different than folk knowledge, it’s not. In order for a composer of a written work to come up with the ideas and processes to gain new information, they must know of or have been taught something from someone. However ambiguous, it’s true. They had to have gained knowledge from someone else about the field they are studying in order to conduct research and get more knowledge about a subject in order to write a book about it. The other type of written knowledge that has a base in folk learning is when someone writes a book about something at which they seem to be a natural. Such as with a “How To” book, one must have taught the author at some point in time what they are now telling you how to do. The situation is replicated even in print form.

Collaboration and communication are fundamental to folk learning. Athough some people believe that folk knowledge is in a separate category from oral, written, and print knowledge, folk learning is at the base of all types. Folk education can be incorporated into all types of knowledge. The underlying theme is that although through different mediums, folk knowledge has contributed to the actual information behind the kinds of knowledge we’ve covered in class.