SCHOOLWORK, HOMEWORK, LIFES WORK - THE EXPERIENCE OF STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT LEARNING-DISABILITIES

Elementary school students were interviewed about schoolwork, homework , and personal learning projects (e.g., learning about astronomy). Fou r groups of students were distinguished. Those in the first group expe rienced school knowledge as an integral part of life and inseparable f rom their personal projects; students in the second group saw such kno wledge as necessary for preparing for life, but as less engaging than their personal projects. For those in the third group, schoolwork was an imposition, contrasting sharply with satisfying personal learning p rojects. Those in the fourth group lacked absorbing personal learning projects and found schoolwork to be an imposition. Students with learn ing disabilities (more than students without) fell into the last categ ory. Fostering more favorable motivation and voice (ability to articul ate purposes and critique schooling) in such students might involve ch anging their views of school knowledge, helping them find personal ide ntity-building learning projects, and reducing the dichotomy between s choolwork and personal projects.