BEDA 15 - The Social Reconstructionist

After you have been an educator for a while, you start to realize that teach and make content decisions based on an ideology. Last semester I put a name to my ideology. I became a Social Reconstructionist. Yep, that is me. A socialist soccer mom/librarian. My ideas of socialism are not however based on an economic structure. I would have to say I still camp in the capitalism tent, although, I would say on a higher ethical ground than many in our great nation. My socialist instincts are related to academic freedom and the view that education should better society through generous sharing, tolerance, empathy, and understanding.

I realized my ideology by studying a small book; Dare the School Build a New Social Order by George Counts.

I would not frequently use the term "fascinating" to describe a professional reading in curriculum/education theory, but this collection of three speeches delivered by Counts are more than fascinating. Add timeless, thought provoking, and at times, unsympathetically reproachful to those of us who consider ourselves progressive educators and parents.

The relevance to today's economic, political, and educational issues, which were first raised by Counts in 1932, then again in the 1978 preface of this edition, are uncanny, and a bit disturbing. The preface writer (Wayne J. Urban) does not believe, in 1978, that Counts should be labeled prophetic. However, we might want to reconsider this statement now that another 30 years have passed and, notwithstanding a few outdated terms circa the industrial revolution (i.e. replace "machinery" with "technology"), this book still reads fresh. If Counts was not a prophet, then I would definitely grant him the title of visionary.

In the 1930's Counts was actively denouncing the "evils" of the free market (i.e. a few very wealthy creating unwarranted recession for the masses) and how unregulated overindulgence and greed had lead to environmental destruction, energy crises, poor agricultural practices, hunger and starvation, mass unemployment, political corruption, and basically, the unraveling of the American Dream. His call to action was based on the need for educators to help prepare America's youth to combat these social injustices in an ever changing, technically advanced, and global society. Hmm, sound familiar?

Educators, he explained, must be professionally and powerfully organized so that they may demand the right and the autonomy to create appropriate curriculum for their students. Above all, educators must be willing to stand strong in the face of opposition by politicians, business leaders, and the few elite local decision makers, and be able to thoughtfully articulate and argue their positions. After all, Counts himself was accused repeatably of being a communist (which he was not) and a socialist (which he was) but continued to unabashedly defend the rights of the "masses" in a democracy.

At first I was a bit dismayed after finishing this book. I kept wondering "why after 70+ years are we still dealing with the same issues in our educational institutions and society as a whole" and "why can't the teaching profession secure the autonomy and power needed to effectively educate our students?"

However, Counts' message is also inspiring. For example, I found hope in idea that the truly "core" need of education, or the "why" we teach has not changed much, if at all, in the last 70 years; even when the content, or the "what" we teach can and should be organic and change continuously depending on cultural and technical needs of current society.

I found myself in line with Counts' belief that in the classroom teachers should not act as if they are unbiased, unfeeling, and unchanging members of society. Students, he said, should not be sheltered from adult situations and moreover teachers should in fact model how they make decisions based on their experiences, education, spiritual, and political beliefs. In this way, the teacher help create a socially and politically aware classroom where students learn (in one of many settings) how adults function productively, ethnically, and compassionately in the world outside the school.

To achieve such an environment, Counts believes that educators should not have to teach a dictated curriculum formulated by economists, business leaders, politicians, and the elite local "few", who do not have personal, in depth knowledge of the needs of their classroom community.

BEDA 10 - BTW FONS R NP

My BEDA 10 blog today is a hybrid. A bvlog. My first vlog actually. I took all frames of me out to increase your viewing pleasure.

Part of my research is centered around asking students and teachers what they would change about high school.

Will the answers follow a pattern? Will answers intersect on some issue of practice? Will they connect in meaningful ways? Or, will teacher and student needs and wants run an infinite, generational parallel?

Today my blog is a segment of an interview with Kaitlin, a 10th grader at a medium to large public high school. When asked what she would change about high school, her first answer pretty much sums up what many teens are telling me.

Cell phones. In the school where I teach, and in Kaitlin's school (which are not the same), teachers are finding it very difficult to enforce the "no cell phone" rule. Actually, within the last 5 years, the prevalence of cell phones in the hands of students has made a once very "serious" offense of being caught with a phone, become more of a verbal warning nuisance for teachers and students. Some school are changing the way they deal with cell phones by officially allowing students to use phones in the hallways during passing periods and in class during down time. There is a lot of unofficial cell phone usage going on in hallways and classrooms right now because teachers and administrators become wary of spending too much time on writing disciplinary forms, arguing with parents, and fighting practices that are now accepted cultural norms.

Cell phones with 3G networks are also throwing a wrench in legal expectation. The federal and state government required that school filter Internet sites available to students at school. Before web surfing cell phones became common place, the arguments surrounding filters centered on poor quality software and 1st Amendment rights. Commercially sold filtering software is often seen by teachers and teens as being too restrictive. In my school, we have seen a librarian and teacher complaints at having software make access and content decisions on their behalf. As we work through issues of the amount of access to restrict the main problem is changing. The issue of "how much to control" is becoming lost in the fact that students are bringing their own networks with them from the outside. Schools can't censor student cell surfing habits because schools can't enforce the usage of cell phones, period, without taking time away from teaching and learning. And you know what? The kids know this too.

I think the issue of "control" is probably the most difficult hurdle schools will need to breech. What things do educators want to control about student behavior? How much control do educators need? How much control can parents or the government expect out of High School educators? How much control is even possible?

A wise administrator once said to me, "You should never make rules that you can't enforce." Large high school leaders may think they can control cell phone usage at schools, but they are kidding themselves. If students purchase their own phones and plans, or if parents do and give the student texting and 3G capabilities, is it worth the fight? Can we use the phones for learning purposes instead wasting time on forms, detentions, and suspensions?

I asked my husband how he would have answered the same question (what would you change in High School) way back when? Both of us had a hard time deciding what the answer would have been. One reason may be that it has been (OMG) around 20 years since we were in high school.

The first three things that popped into our mind were:
1) Pizza every day in the cafeteria,
2) Being able to leave school for lunch,
3) Bringing back the smoking room that was available to students a few years before we came to high school.

It might be that our brain cells are deteriorating with age, but mainly I think the reason we struggle to connect to our teenage memories is because the culture has changed so rapidly since the latter part of the 80's.

There is a saying that "the more things change, the more they stay the same." I wonder if this age old wisdom is becoming obsolete. Yes, student do still want more pizza on the menu and many of them would like to have the time and ability to leave during lunch, but these wants are not a priority. Teen awareness of smoking hazards and the current legal age of purchasing cigarettes has pushed the once coveted smoking room off teenage radars completely.

Yes, teens still want to spend more time with friends, and less with parents. However, the way teens communicate, share, play, and learn is different from teens one, two, and three generations ago. It is surely a question for social scientists to wrap their heads around.

So, if you are a teen, what would you change about school? If you are not a teen, how would you have answered this question when you were in school?