Posted in DemEd in Real LifePhilosophy of Education on Dec 13, 2009 - 11:47 PM
One of the things that I found appealing about democratic education is that, in its essence, it's a challenge against a widely accepted norm. There are many different suggested ways within democratic and alternative education circles to challenge the norm, but most all of them are against public school in its current form. But it's worth noting that not only is it a challenge against the norm - it's a challenge against a norm that many people do not think twice about.To me, this means that public school in its current form is sacred to most Americans. The faith put in it is such that there isn't always an open mind when alternatives are suggested. It may not be a religious institution, but in my opinion, there is no practical point to distinguish between something that you are religiously faithful towards and something that you simply will not question. Blind, intractable faith is the cornerstone of both religion and things held sacred by people.
I'm not really writing this, though, in order to express why I think public schools are widely accepted and the manner in which they are accepted. I'm writing it more to share with readers what I consider to be important to know about ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and opinions.
Firstly, I believe that all ideas, at some point and place, are valid. The factory-training model of schooling has some validity. If your point in time is the start of the industrial revolution and your place is in a resource rich nation working to become a world power, then training people to work in what will become the backbone of the world economy has validity.
Secondly, I believe that all ideas, at some point and place, are completely wrong. I believe that democratic schooling is desirable for the world of today, with factory work being rapidly mechanized and streamlined, but during the years that our current incarnation of schooling was created, it could very well be less desirable.
Thirdly, I believe that all ideas must be questioned for them to be of the most value to us. Presupposing that our belief that democratic education is desirable and correct for the point and time that we are in, I firmly believe we should still question and examine and analyze ourselves. Not doubt ourselves, not necessarily hold ourselves in check in the name of making sure we've looked at what we're doing in every possible way, but we should go into things with questions on our mind.
Holding the ideas above to be true, it's become my standard that if I cannot explain why I'm doing something to someone else, I shouldn't do it.
Tags for this entry:
k-12 education,
democratic schooling,
questioning,
discussion,
exchanging ideas
Comments
Sep 10, 2010 - 07:31 AM
Great point, love-fashion. And not only are these concepts so often questioned just because they’re not the “norm,” but they are also often so hotly contested above other choices, and I always wonder why that is. In college, for example, why did the rest of my debate team always haggle me about being a vegetarian? I didn’t pressure them or anything, yet they felt compelled to ridicule, tease, taunt, and badger me all they wanted, as if my “lifestyle” called for it.
My instructor would even stop at mostly barbecue joints, laughingly saying, “I’m curious to see what you’ll find to eat here.” It was so bad I ended up learning to bring my own food along, even though everyone got a food allowance from the school.
Sara Schmidt
Dec 21, 2009 - 04:00 AM
Great points, Kris! I particularly love your last line, “If I cannot explain why I’m doing something to someone else, I shouldn’t do it.”
That said, we also shouldn’t have to explain why we are doing something we wish to do, either. I don’t question friends and family on why they send their children to public school, why they get married (for a time, I was against marriage myself), why they eat meat, etc. These are all very traditional, conventional roles and decisions that people make; they are made, in fact, so often that sometimes I wonder if people even realize that they have a decision in the first place.
I’m definitely all for educating people about the way I live if they are curious, if they’re loved ones, and that sort of thing. But if a person is being belligerent about my lifestyle and propelling me with very rude and leading questions, it’s my right to say, “I don’t need to explain myself to you.” I have definitely learned this the hard way, having grown up a progressive in a family filled with very conservative Midwesterners who disapprove of most of what I do.
I also love your thoughts on all ideas being right or wrong at some point—like a broke watch, right? I could think of a few exceptions that would cause me to disagree with your theory—such as murder, chewing tin foil, sticking a fork in an outlet—but in general I think it probably works.