I spent several hours today
teaching an old roommate of mine to rock climb at The Quarry, the indoor
climbing gym here in Provo. At first, I figured that this would count as folk
knowledge because it is something you learn from other people rather than from
textbooks or internet articles—you learn by doing and watching and feeling it
out. You get instructions from people who are better than you are, but the
instructions tend to be things like, “Stand more on your legs and less on your hands,” or “Make it a
little less, well, like that”—instructions that make little sense without a
shared physical context. After spending the day teaching Lisa to climb, I still think it counts as folk knowledge,
and I recognized some aspects of it that I hadn’t previously thought of as folk
knowledge at all.
When I handed Lisa a harness and a
pair of climbing shoes, I realized one essential bit of knowledge that I needed
to relay: how to put on a harness. You could read about this, or look at some
instruction manual, I’m sure, but that’s not really how you learn. You learn by
standing in front of someone who tells you where to step and pull in order to
make sense of the mess of loops and straps before you. As I helped Lisa into
her harness, I thought of the first time I climbed, on a date, with a boy who
taught me the same thing.
The
lesson continued, and I continued to notice details that I hardly even think of
when I climb. Not just how to belay, but how to hold the rope in front of you
so your arm doesn’t get so tired, or shortcuts for tying knots. Not just how to
climb, but how to be more aware of your own center of balance, how to look a
few steps ahead, how to trust your legs and the rope and the belaying device,
how to switch which hand you are holding yourself with in order to reapply
chalk to the other hand.
The
very nature of rock climbing helped me to realize the physicality of folk
knowledge—it’s not just something you read about or hear about, but something
you feel and experience, and your understanding and mastery comes from a
combination of those methods.
This folk knowledge is #1 awesome. #2 very important that you teach it well. cause if you dont people get hurt. A one on one interaction is also important because i would NEVER let someone belay me that said "ya i know how to belay, i read all about it on the internet" haha. Different medias seem to be more important than others depending on the knowledge. When it comes to rock climbing its important to learn from a Person.
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