An Ethic Of Excellence – Introduction
On David L’s recommendation, a number of us are reading or re-reading Ron Berger’s book, An Ethic of Excellence. I hope many of you have read this text or will join us in doing so in the coming weeks. I will volunteer to get the conversation started with my reflection on the book’s introduction, available here:
First, a couple of key points: I completely resonate with the concept of craftsmanship in education. In my study as a traditional hand-tool woodworker, I have also come to deeply value the inherent aesthetic of quality work, well done with honesty and integrity. When we fully commit to our work, give ourselves to work towards the limits of what both the tools and materials can produce (what they want to become, if you will), and work well within these limits, as Berger says, the work itself is transformational as well as sustainable and the product is beautiful. One of my late woodworking mentors, John Brown, wrote about this brilliantly in an article in Fine Woodworking magazine called Good Work, here: (worth the free trial subscription you’ll need to sign up for in order to read it.)
I absolutely agree also with Berger’s emphasis on emphasizing quality of work and quality of experience over
