Great job in class today, everyone. Great to hear you all talking so much and so articulately about the readings. I'm looking forward already to meeting up on Tuesday to hear your thoughts on the next readings.
Our discussion of Freire and Hooks left us with some interesting questions, whether you're thinking about teaching some day or not. How does education connect with traditional forms of school? Is it the most effective way, do you think?
I'm hopeful from what I've heard in class that today's teachers-in-training are thinking about these questions in creative ways. Do you think that's enough? Or, should we also be more encouraging in our society of creating lifelong learners who don't see their years in school as the end of their education?
Here's that link to John Taylor Gatto's article from Harper's entitled Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why
What do you think of his argument?
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I agree that boredom is a state of mind that can be easily avoided if, like Gatto says, one is able to engage one's self. But boredom is different than disinterest, and I think the later is the more prevalent feeling. I feel that traditional compulsory education does prepare and condition people for a certain type of lifestyle-the typical work lifestyle. I also feel that my generation and those that follow are working to break that mold, as it just doesn’t interest any more. We don’t want to stay in the same job for 35 years. We want variation, we want stimulation and we do what we must to obtain that. In some ways I am supportive of our present education system and in other ways I am unsupportive. I feel the same about the work world. After about 3 hours of either, I become quickly disinterested and I don’t think I’m the only one. I think there must me a focus shift, across the board. Both realms of education and work, need to be revised and the sooner the better.
Posted by: Kristie at June 13, 2005 07:33 AM
This was an interesting article. I agreed with Mr. Gatto almost as much as I disagreed with him.
Because I work with homeschoolers, I agree that there are an unlimited amount of benefits to the rejection of a formal curriculum and the confinements of a classroom. On the other hand, I don't believe as Mr. Gatto says, that public schools operate using a Prussian model for social control. I don't believe that educators seek to label and place students in designated social groups. I also think that Gatto's belief in the selective function of schooling - a means identifying and grooming members of a "master race" is misguided. It is tasteless and unfair to use Hitler's Nazi propagands when examining the hard, largely unrecognized work of America's educators.
I agree with Mr. Gatto that boredom is problematic and that many schools and classrooms are ill-equipped to engage students in interactive or meaningful lessons. With the emergence of Bloom's taxonomy of learning styles however, these problems are being adressed. Teachers are working hard to change the way things work in schools. They get paid minimally and have little support as professionals due to the opinions of pepople like Mr. Gatto.
Posted by: Margaret Kilcourse at June 12, 2005 08:18 AM
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