Educational Manifesto

What is Education for?

            What is education for? There is no one set thing that education is for or how you can define it. We all have our own thoughts of what education is for. Education can be seen as an occupation. Education can be seen as a missionary field (Christians going to school to become a certain occupation and being a disciple of God in that field of work.) Education can also be a right to freedom. I see education as an opportunity; it’s a path towards a future of possibilities. It is an opportunity for people living in poverty, who are assumed to take after previous generations by staying where they’re at, with no education and barely living off of anything; they need to prove society wrong. No matter where you come from, you are capable of doing all things when you put your mind to it and give it to the Lord. “For with God nothing shall be impossible” Luke 1:37 KJV. There is always hope for a future even when it feels like there isn’t.

“The individual is between an identical past and present, and a future without hope. He or she is a person who does not perceive himself or herself as becoming; hence cannot have a future to be built in unity with others. But as he or she breaks this ‘adhesion’ and objectifies the reality from which he or she starts to emerge, the person begins to integrate as a Subject (an I) confronting an object (reality). At this moment, sundering the false unity of the divided self, one becomes a true individual” (Freire, page 154).

 Education allows these people to break away from this way of life, a life of hopelessness, and low self-esteem in what they are capable of. There future doesn’t have to be the same as their past and present. Their future is filled with hope and new dreams. Education allows them to become the individual they are meant to be, not what society (the oppressors) expect them to be. Education allows these people to accomplish their dreams and make a new name of themselves. Education is a life of opportunities.

             There have been a few people here at Trinity that are the first generation in their family to go to college. They are setting an example for their family. It shows their families and others that it is possible to break away from this life they have known for so long. “If the conditions which penetrate the home are authoritarian, rigid, and dominating, the home will increase the climate of oppression” (Freire, page 135). These families have let others tell them who they are, what they should be, and what their future looks like; these families are finally standing up for themselves. The more recent generations are showing their families and others that you can live out your dream through getting an education. The oppressors have no control over them. They have the freedom to do what their heart desires. They are free to be their own individual. They have created hope amongst their family and functional community.

            The oppressed are working towards their own functional community. “…a functional community is a community that enjoys value consistency, a shared understanding of what the world is about, what is important, and how the group should live…” (Vryhof, page 4). Rich kids functional community has always been about going to school, graduating, and working in successful businesses making millions. The less fortunate, their life hasn’t been as fortunate. They go to school and drop out thinking they aren’t capable of graduating and becoming successful citizens. This then causes some to get into trouble, party, or do drugs, but with this new functional community, things can and will turn around. Their values will start to change. They will want to go back to school and graduate.

            They can contribute to society and their community by going to college and making a name of themselves. They will then work successful jobs alongside the rich. They oppressed will work just as hard, if not harder to show that they deserve this job, that they earned it, all thanks to the opportunity given by education. Through this, they will want to turn their community into a place of hope. A place where people can dream big and show others they are worth it. They can succeed with the opportunity education gives them. No longer will they be that stereotyped definition of be the oppressed, going no where. They are individuals who have gone off to get an education to make something of them. Sooner or later their community will rise and join them. All of their community will function on education. Education allows people this dream. It gives them hope.

            Too many times do people have this one set view of how life should be or has to be. When these people begin to broaden their horizon to all the opportunities God has given them, due to the power of education; they can accomplish anything. They just have to open their eyes and look around. “Small windows onto reality supply only a narrow and limited view of the surroundings, just as the tiny portholes of a submarine reveal only a fraction of the immediate area. Submariners know that a widened view requires a periscope. A periscope would give a comprehensive perspective; it would permit us to scan the whole horizon above, not just part of it” (page 181). Society is like a small window, it shows people one way of living, the only way the oppressors think these people (the oppressed) are capable of living. When education steps in and gives the oppressed a periscope, it shows them that they are more than that. Education provides them a variety of opportunities. As individuals they can either look at their future in a small mirror or through a periscope. The oppressors (society/stereotypes) don’t own their future, they do.

            Education can be seen as an occupation. Education can be seen as a missionary field (Christians going to school to become a certain occupation and being a disciple of God in that field of work.) Education can also be a right to freedom. I see education as an opportunity; it’s a path towards a future of possibilities. It’s hope for the hopeless.

Experiences incorporated in the Classroom, Occupation, and Real World

 

            Throughout Dewey’s book Democracy and Education there was one theme that stuck out to me, the integration of experiences and learning in school. They go hand in hand; you need one to help further enrich the other. When you integrate knowledge from life experiences and school, that’s when you truly learn something. “When we experience something we act upon it, we do something with it; then we suffer or undergo the consequences. We do something to the thing and then it does something to us in return: such is the peculiar combination” (Dewey, page 139). We see Paulo Freire’s ( author of Pedagogy of the oppressed) definition of experience through his points “Divide and Rule” and “Unity of Liberation.”  When the oppressed are “ruled” by the oppressors, they don’t really have a mind of their own. They can’t incorporate past experiences into what they are learning or their occupation because they don’t have past experiences of their own (they’re consumed by the experiences the oppressors give them). When they break free from this divide and rule aspect, they become their own individual and begin to create their own experiences.

            At a very young age you begin to observe actions or motions of those around you. When you grow up, you then incorporate the actions and motions you once observed throughout your life. “A child sees persons with whom he lives using chairs, hats, tables, spades, saws, plows, horses, money in certain ways. If he has any share at all in what they are doing, he is led thereby to use things in the same way, or to use other things in a way which will fit in” (Dewey, page 32). These motions can be incorporated in the classroom. Pushing in your chair would be an example. As a child you watch your family push in their chairs at the dinner table. From experiencing this situation, you mimic it in the classroom. According to Freire, you can also learn/mimic actions as an adult through leadership classes. “As soon as they complete the course and return to the community with resources to control the submerged and dominated consciousness of their comrades, or they become strangers in their own communities and their former leadership position is thus threatened” (Freire, page 123). What these leaders learned in their leadership classes, they can use to control their comrades back home. You can use the things you observe and learn (your experiences) in the classroom and in real life. Reading is another example of an experience you can incorporate in the classroom.

            Before a child even reaches kindergarten, they have been read to countless times. When they first begin to read or have been learning how to read, reading may come easier to them because they recognize a lot of sight words from listening to their parents read to them. They are using this past experience and incorporating it into their school learning. “The knowledge which comes first to persons, and that remains most deeply ingrained, is knowledge of how to do; how to walk, talk, read, write, skate, ride a bicycle, manage a machine, calculate, drive a horse, sell goods, manage people, and so on indefinitely” (Dewey, page 154). One’s experiences are filled with how to do’s. Teachers can incorporate them into lessons to further their students’ knowledge (for example, what we talked about earlier in the paragraph; students recognizing sight words from their parents reading to them). When students can use past experiences during a lesson, they will retain more of the lesson. The more you incorporate past experiences in class lessons, the more students will learn and take away from school. It will help build them into the individual they are meant to be (when uniting experiences with their learning). “But as he or she breaks this ‘adhesion’ and objectifies the reality from which he or she starts to emerge, the person begins to integrate as a subject (an I) confronting an object (reality). At this moment, sundering the false unity of the divided self, one becomes a true individual” (Freire, page 154). You can’t create your own experiences to incorporate in your learning or occupation until you become your own person, step away from reality’s views and experiences and create your own.

            “It is commonplace to say that education should not cease when one leaves school. The point of the commonplace is that the purpose of school education is to insure the continuance of education by organizing the power that insure growth. The inclination to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life such that all will learn in the process of living is the finest product of schooling” (Dewey, page 51 in my addition).

 The things one learns from experiences and school doesn’t have to end when you leave school. You can incorporate your past experiences and school knowledge into your life after school as well, for example in your job placement (occupation). “An occupation is a continuous activity having a purpose. Education through occupations consequently combines within itself more of the factors conducive to learning than any other method. It calls instincts and habits into play; it is a foe to passive receptivity” (Dewey, page 309). Our instincts and habits (our past experiences and/or schooling) are brought into play in our occupation. The habits I learned from my teachers growing up and through my learning experience at college will show through my teaching styles when I become a teacher. On the other hand Freire states, “If for a person to be in the world of work is totally dependent, insecure, and permanently threatened- if their work does not belong to them- the person cannot be fulfilled. Work that is not free ceases to be a fulfilling pursuit and becomes an effective means of dehumanization” (Freire, page 126). Workers who are dependent, insecure and permanently threatened don’t have the chance to incorporate what they have learned in the past to their occupation now, from this they aren’t fulfilled. They aren’t getting as much out of work as they would incorporating themselves into it. They are too busy being ruled by the oppressors, doing what the oppressors want.

            I completely agree with Dewey’s main theme. When students incorporate their past experiences in the classroom, it can be beneficial to their learning. When a student can relate to what they learn, they usually remember it (they have it ingrained in their memory) more and enjoy learning. When you integrate school and life experiences, that’s when you truly learn something. From Freire’s stand point, when the oppressed unite to gain liberation, that’s when they truly start to learn. They become individuals, they get to create their own experiences and use them when learning in their everyday lives (whether in school, work, or in everyday life situations).

 

iPads in the Classroom

            Ideologies have been a part of this world since the beginning of time (with Adam and Eve, even though God told them not to eat the forbidden fruit; they did it anyways because Satan made Eve think it would be okay to eat it). Ideologies are a set of conceptions or beliefs a specific group of people have. Ideologies control us and manipulate how we live our lives.

“It is intent on replacing the dominant values across the entire spectrum of its activities. Ideology creates the world anew. It establishes new founding stories and new laws. It redefines the meaning of life. And to complete the imitation, ideology requires new redemptive powers, new saviors, whose power is needed for the re-creation of the world” (G3VH pages 37-38).

            Technology can be seen as an ideology (a controlling one at that). “Already in 1977 Jacques Ellul highlighted this very process, describing the transition from ‘technology’ to ‘Technology,’ by which society in all of its modalities, having succumbed to a truncated, reduced view of reality, submits to a coherent, self-sustaining, universal, and autonomous technological system” (G3VH, page 42). Ever since the first computer came out, technology has progressed. It’s taken over our lives. We cannot live without our technological devices (smartphones, TVs, laptops, iPads, iPods, etc). It feels like every few months Apple is coming out with the latest and greatest devices, even if it’s just a new look (bigger screen on the iPhone or IPad) or app. Apple has made its way into the classroom. iPad’s are being used by students now.

            These past few summers I have worked at a summer school back home. A few summers ago I heard a student talking to one of their friends on how they get an iPad when school starts (they were going into 2^nd grade at the time). They were all excited to have princess’ as their wallpaper on their iPad. This past summer, iPads were being used in one of the classes I was helping out in. I understand its summer school and things are a little more laid back, but the students were mesmerized by these iPads. They would sometimes ask when they would get to use the iPads. One of the students in the class, I found out, just had the same kindergarten teacher that I had. They asked if I had an iPad when I had had the same kindergarten teacher. I found that funny but also sad (I went to kindergarten in the 90’s and felt like I was dating myself, there wasn’t technology like iPads back then). I am not that much older than these students and it seemed like we are centuries apart.

            Kids are starting to become immune to technology in the classroom. They idolize it. I remember when we actually had computer class (we had to walk to computer class) to teach us how to use a computer and we sometimes got the chance to play computer games. Students now of days have technology at their fingertips. I know we live in a technological world now, but I am afraid how technology is going to have an effect on our students. Students won’t be as social as previous generations and I don’t know how much of a success rate there will be in the classroom. There needs to be a balance between technology and the use of textbooks. If we set a limit on when the students can use the IPads and for how long, I think we can start to steer away from this ideology of technology in the classroom all the time. “Technology and science have indeed become the shining hope of many people” (G3VH, page 41). Technology has become hope in the classroom. We can show others we don’t need to completely rely on IPads to get through school. There is hope through hands-on activities, textbooks, etc. to get through school. The Periscope Guideline can help guide us away from this ideology.

“Small windows onto reality supply only a narrow and limited view of the surroundings, just as the tiny portholes of a submarine reveal only a fraction of the immediate area. Submariners know that a widened view requires a periscope. A periscope would give a comprehensive perspective; it would permit us to scan the whole horizon above, not just part of it” (page 181).

We could expand our horizon by blocking certain websites so iPads wouldn’t be as distracting to the students. We could limit the time that students use the iPads. We can incorporate more textbook work and hands on activities in the classroom in place of iPad use. This would be the beginning of hope in the classroom. Students wouldn’t fall as hard to the ideology of technology if there’s a limitation on the use of it. This may not stop them from using it at home, but the classroom is a nice place to start. This will show students there are different ways to learn in life than the use of iPads or other technological devices.

            Ideologies are a set of conceptions or beliefs from a specific group. “Generally, sociologists (along the lines of Karl Mannheim) define “ideology” as the entire set of conceptions and beliefs subscribed to by a specific group of people. According to this definition, everyone has an ideology of one sort or another” (G3VH, page 32). Some have an ideology about technology in the classroom, to the point that they idolize it. Technology is a good thing to an extent, but when people (classrooms for example) start idolizing it, something needs to be done about it. Ideologies can be very controlling.