Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance

On my classroom door, I have a poster that contains a quote from Socrates that reads“Wisdom Begins in Wonder.” 

Yet, are students asking “good” questions and really thinking?  Are students being involved, inquistive, and engaged in learning?  Unfortunately, the harsh reality is no!  According to stastics gathered and presented by Wesch, “On average, our survey sample of 131 students reported reading less than half of the assigned readings, and further perceived only 26 percent of the readings to be relevant to their lives” (5).  Why, you may ask?   Well, Wesch asserts that the lack of student engagement is “the problem of significance itself” (5).  If students do not see the relevance of the material presented in the class, they are not inclined to join in the didactic process.  The lack of involvement leads to disillusionment in school, and the denial of learning or “the hallmark of humanity” (5).  Wesch solidifies his allegation in the following video clip entitled, “A Vision of Students Today,

     Furthermore, as teachers, we pride ourselves in being lifelong learners—curious and hungry for knowledge.  Why do we not expect the same of our students?  After all, “we are all cut out for learning.  It is what makes us human” (5).  Hitherto, driven by “adminstrative questions” (5) rather than inquiry-based investigation “education has become a relatively meaningless game of grades rather than an important and meaningful exploration of the world in which we live and co-create” (5).  As an educator, I scoff at the idea that the profession that I have dedicated myself to is looked at as “a relatively meaningless game” by students.  I do not place blame on the students, but echo Wesch, “[a]s teachers we have created and continue to maintain an education system” (5).  So, how do we rectify the situation? 

            Wesch returns to “the problem of signficiance itself.”  Education must MEAN something to the students!  Thus, despite the brevity of the article, Wesch elucidates the concept of “anti-teaching” (5) – a learning environment in which “the students…[are] fully engaged, talking to one another, grappling with interesting questions, and exploring any and all resources to find answers, and more importantly, more questions” (6).  Thus, the proliferation of asking “good” questions never ceases!  The following video explains Project-Based Learning, another example that ties into Wesch’s goal to highlight the significance of a lesson to students. 

 

   As a novice teacher, I am tentative!  I am having difficulty forseeing the implementation.  Has anyone tried something similar in their classroom?  Any advice on how to instruct such a subversive lesson that reaches the success level of Wesch?  Please send along resources!  Any feedback is welcome!

Waiting for Superman

Karp: “Who’s Bashing Teachers and Public Schools, and What Can We Do about It?”

Fine:  “From the Cutting Room Floor”

Let’s see if I got this…

BAD TEACHER + TEACHERS’ UNION = PROBLEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM

CHARTER SCHOOLS + TEST-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY = SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

How did I do with the equations?  Are they correct?  After all, I received a public school education!

      In “Who’s Bashing Teachers and Public Schools, and What Can We Do about It,” Stan Karp refutes the claims in the documentary film, “Waiting for Superman.”  Offering a broad-brush indictment of the American public education system and teachers’ union, the film prompts reform through the privatization of education through the establishment of charter schools, and merit-based pay for teachers centered on standardized test scores.  Yet in the eyes of Karp, “Waiting for Superman” oversimplifies the problems facing US students, and counters a ‘silver-bullet’ fix for struggling public schools.

      According to Karp, “the short answer…is that far too many people are bashing teachers and public schools, and we need to give them more homework because very few of them know what they’re talking about.  And a few need some serious detention.”  Is Karp implying that Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerburg or Bill Gates need a detention?  They are supportive of the film, “Waiting for Superman,” and are the “billionaire[s] with no education experience…who has made privatizing education policy a hobby…and who has the resources to do so because the country’s financial and tax systems are broken.”  So, is it philanthropy or monopoly?

     

      Reform is necessary; our “society…has its priorities upside down.”  Nevertheless, the documentary faults bad teachers and their unions as the failure of our public education system, and charter schools are the viable alternative.  However, the following article argues that charter schools “do no better than public schools” in serving lower-income students, especially in urban areas: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0629/Study-On-average-charter-schools-do-no-better-than-public-schools.

   Bill Gates shakes hands with Nelson Smith, President and CEO of National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, at National Charter Schools Conference in Chicago Tuesday, the same day that a government study found that charter schools do no better than public schools in student outcomes.

Additionally, in Fine’s “From the Cutting Room Floor, the aforementioned is further qualified and quantified.  With overtly snarky comments, Fine assumes the role of Lois Lane, a reporter at the Daily Planet, who pieces together clips from “Waiting for Superman” that were left on the editing room floor.  Reporting the distorted empirical evidence on the impact of charter schools, Lane asserts:

The best national data, published in the CREDO study by Stanford University researchers, suggest that 17% of charters outperform neighboring schools, and the New York City data are somewhat better than national averages.  National and small local studies consistently document that charters tend to be more segregated than neighboring schools, exacerbate local patterns of segregation, under-enroll English language learners and special education students and have high attrition or charter leakage/push-out rates…It seems clear that charters alone—enrolling 3% of all students—can’t save public education.”
So, charter schools are not the ‘silver-bullet’ solutions to our education system.  Now what?  Looks like we are still waiting for Superman.