This reminds me of some of what Neil Postman wrote about in The End of Education, Teaching as a Subversive Activity and Teaching as a Conserving Activity. It pays to read the last two as a pair because they show how so often what we think of as problems are maybe better understood as dilemmas. Dilemmas become a little easier to navigate if you are able to expand the pie.
Thinking about the goal of social mobility is it not the case that in some senses social immobility is the goal, particularly when we think about this and the relationship to meritocracy?
“Let people go to the bathroom!” Let’s unpack this one; what percentage of students actually toilet, compared to; procrastinate, vape, smoke, chrome, vandalise, meet-up?
Non-teachers fail to understand the lack of self regulation and control that comes with puberty, and certainly never ever occurs in their precious perfectly behaved offspring.
I really appreciate this perspective. And it was a perspective I did not have until I read something similar you wrote some moons ago. I have taken it onboard, to be honest, provisionally, as the truth.
But of course a descriptive analysis is not a prescriptive one. *Should* education be a mishmash of competing interests?
This is the same exact conflict that exists in a family of more than one child. As a parent, one hopes that the benefits of siblings, of community, of sharing an experience, etc outweigh the costs of shared resources and attention, of rules that weigh everyone’s wellbeing instead of what’s best for an individual, etc.
Why, it's almost as if schools are mini-reflections of the diverse interests and desires of the communities in which they are situated! Enjoyed the essay, even if Labaree is a bit of a grump.
I don’t think schooling has to be a zero-sum game. In fact, I’m constantly asking myself, “How might I create a classroom of abundance instead of scarcity?”
I do think it’s possible, especially in disrupting certain inequitable zero-sum practices and policies. I also think that designing culturally responsive learning experiences offers chances for a creating opportunities of abundance instead of traditional lesson plans, where knowledge is controlled and there are only so many chances for success.
This reminds me of some of what Neil Postman wrote about in The End of Education, Teaching as a Subversive Activity and Teaching as a Conserving Activity. It pays to read the last two as a pair because they show how so often what we think of as problems are maybe better understood as dilemmas. Dilemmas become a little easier to navigate if you are able to expand the pie.
Thinking about the goal of social mobility is it not the case that in some senses social immobility is the goal, particularly when we think about this and the relationship to meritocracy?
“Let people go to the bathroom!” Let’s unpack this one; what percentage of students actually toilet, compared to; procrastinate, vape, smoke, chrome, vandalise, meet-up?
Non-teachers fail to understand the lack of self regulation and control that comes with puberty, and certainly never ever occurs in their precious perfectly behaved offspring.
I really appreciate this perspective. And it was a perspective I did not have until I read something similar you wrote some moons ago. I have taken it onboard, to be honest, provisionally, as the truth.
But of course a descriptive analysis is not a prescriptive one. *Should* education be a mishmash of competing interests?
This is the same exact conflict that exists in a family of more than one child. As a parent, one hopes that the benefits of siblings, of community, of sharing an experience, etc outweigh the costs of shared resources and attention, of rules that weigh everyone’s wellbeing instead of what’s best for an individual, etc.
Why, it's almost as if schools are mini-reflections of the diverse interests and desires of the communities in which they are situated! Enjoyed the essay, even if Labaree is a bit of a grump.
I don’t think schooling has to be a zero-sum game. In fact, I’m constantly asking myself, “How might I create a classroom of abundance instead of scarcity?”
I do think it’s possible, especially in disrupting certain inequitable zero-sum practices and policies. I also think that designing culturally responsive learning experiences offers chances for a creating opportunities of abundance instead of traditional lesson plans, where knowledge is controlled and there are only so many chances for success.
What do you think?