It’s fascinating, the dichotomy presented by contrasting Wilner and Blau (while acknowledging Blau’s caveat that compare-and-contrast assignments are simplistic and nigh-worthless). Several of Wilner’s students refused to read certain texts, much less analyze them; anything that contradicted their worldview was anathema. But Blau frequently points to the typical student’s tendency to regurgitate the teacher’s interpretation, maybe just for the grade, or perhaps because it’s just the most recent explanation that they’ve read (not really a case of being armed only with a hammer, therefore making all problems look like nails; more a case that they’ve just read a book on hammers, and all problems have begun to temporarily—if naively—appear as nails). Put these behaviors together and you have a bout of intense resistance followed by near blind obedience. That’s cult atmosphere.

It reminds me of an old “Simpsons” episode from about ten years ago. Homer sold all his family’s possessions so that they could join the “movementarians.” Lisa was heavily resistant at first. What finally broke her down was a very singular form of brainwashing. The answer to every question in her class became“The Leader.” Who discovered Electricity? The Leader. Who invented the cotton gin? The Leader. What is 4 + 5? The Leader. Lisa was initially livid; however, as her frustration evolved, the question of whether the answers were wrong became much less important. What became important was her need for validation, her need to get good grades.

Now, we’re not trying to teach such an absurdly simplistic curriculum (hopefully), but this parody does show that students understand more about what teachers are unconsciously afflicting upon them than we might think. Students who savagely refuse to try new ideas are resisting the breakdown of their personal identity. They understand that they’re being indoctrinated into the very thing Blau warns against: blind obedience to the interpretation that the teacher presents as fact, blind obedience to what will get them good grades—no matter how bull-headed or prejudiced their position.

Also of interest was just how resistant Homer was to the brainwashing at first. This was not necessarily because of his stupidity (although that helped), but because of his extreme inattentiveness. The movementarians initially tried to brainwash everyone with a mind-deadening film sporting Ed Wood-level production values, all about their eventual relocation to the magical land of Blisstonia. Whenever anyone tried to leave the cultists would immediately shine a spotlight on them, telling them they were free to leave at any time…but had to explain why. Everyone was too embarrassed to counteract the cult atmosphere. However, when the cultists asked Homer what he thought about the film, something different happened:

Homer: Wait, I’m confused about the movie … so the cops knew Internal Affairs was setting them up?
Male Cultist: What are you talking about? There’s nothing like that in there.
Homer: Well, you see when I get bored I make up my own movies. I have a very short attention span.
Female Cultist: But our point is very simple, you see when…
Homer: Oh look! A bird! Hee hee hee!
(Homer runs after the bird)

Sometimes tuning the teacher out isn’t just laziness. After all, the student doesn’t have to rail against the breakdown of their personal identity to try and maintain their own individuality. The can recognize the impetus towards blind obedience and ignore it, but unfortunately ignore everything else as well. Their bird-watching becomes their form of protest. Now, is it better to ignore the stultifying lecture and maintain your own individuality, or to copy notes furiously and become nothing more than a sheet of paper upon which the teacher writes. This is an important conundrum that requires a great deal of thought and much discussion, lest we become that which…

Oh look! A bird! Hee hee hee!

-Matt

P.S. How amusing that I put down the punchline and then signed my work.