Just wanted to share this link before I got into my post – it’s the April 6th strip of the comic Frazz and its take on school and intellectualism. I’m having a bit of trouble with the code side of things, otherwise I would have given a direct link. But in any case, here it is – sorry you’ll have to cut and paste:<\/p>\n
www.comics.com\/comics\/frazz<\/p>\n
And now, for my post…<\/p>\n
246-255<\/p>\n
What I am about to say is probably already evident from my previous posts this semester \u2013 I consider myself more of a writing teacher than I do a literature teacher. I do believe teaching literature is integral to a student\u2019s development as a thinker, but the real thrust for me is literature\u2019s role in a student\u2019s development as a writer. My opinion regarding academic discourse versus more creative expression, then, is similar to Graff\u2019s. There is no need for a sharply divided, contentious debate that one is superior to the other. Rather, students should be exposed to both modes just as they are exposed to multiple genres of literature. The key (as I have said in class) is to teach audience awareness and authentic voice, two elements of composition which allow the writer to walk the fine line between academic language and more personal prose. Jones provides a solid opportunity for his students to develop this sense of navigation, specifically in the way he asks them to evaluate their own writing and differentiate between the rhetorical requirements of various professors and assignments. This makes the idea of combining two voices more relevant to a student\u2019s own academic achievement as opposed to reviewing samples of such work written by other (professional) writers. Once again, the student writer becomes more aware of what he or she already knows, an understanding of \u201cdiscursive variations\u201d that otherwise might not have been brought to the forefront. That Jones noticed his students still resisting the language while actively engaging in the process itself identifies immersion in an academic tongue and experience as fruitful pedagogy for the teaching of argumentation. It is somewhat like running in cooler weather \u2013 though the intensity of the act is still the same (or perhaps stronger) as it would have been in another climate, the reaction to such an experience is less exhausting and more effective (i.e., as a runner might push himself harder without noticing, so might a student adopt the offending discourse without as much opposition). As Graff points out, however, Jones does not go about this lesson in a secretive way. He is open with his students about the struggles they experience and places a name on a frequently ignored, esoteric quality of academia.<\/p>\n
261-263<\/p>\n
Meier\u2019s theory is a strong one. Though I\u2019m sure she would disagree with a number of educational theorist whom I hold dear (Peter Elbow most notably), I find the premise of her ideas engaging. She understand the reason why students gradually lose enthusiasm for school, turning into reluctantly shuffling automatons from the excited, \u201clook what I did at school today, Mommy!\u201d little ones who can\u2019t wait to go to school every day. When children are young, school makes sense. They learn about the world through play (a relevant personal activity). As they age, however, the idea of school becomes more and more complex and disengaged from the lives they lead outside the building\u2019s walls. The less sense education makes, the more likely a student is to shy away from it and find the experience pointless, if not exasperating.<\/p>\n
266-267<\/p>\n
I wonder what Meier would have to say about the current \u201cunschooling\u201d phenomenon in which children are left to do precisely what Meier says nonwhite teachers and parents find objectionable: find out everything they need to know on their own. Unschooling presupposes the idea that a child\u2019s natural curiosity will lead to great discovery and learning as long as it allowed to progress unchecked. While homescholing families follow a traditional curriculum, unschooling families tend to eschew schedules and allow their children to do whatever they want, whether that means playing outside all day, devoting nine hours to online gaming or playing with a personal chemistry set just because the mood strikes. Parents who choose to unschool do so precisely because they object Meier\u2019s strict adherence to adult authority. Many of them, in fact, are strong supporters of John Taylor Gatto and have probably read Dumbing Us Down<\/u> several times, cover to cover. I am not a proponent of unschooling, and I find Meier\u2019s premise intriguing, but I think there has to be a happy medium of sorts \u2013 an environment in which students experience self discovery under the guidance of adult authority.<\/p>\n
270-271<\/p>\n
I find it interesting that \u201cstaunch lefties\u201d attack Meier and her schools for not removing the \u201cwrong\u201d beliefs from textbooks. I agree with Meier: if students don\u2019t know that these debates exist, how will they ever learn to formulate their own opinions and be able to defend those positions in a public forum? The trend toward political correctness assumes that differences don\u2019t exist, that all values in life are equal. Meier should be applauded for exposing her students to cultural debate.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts<\/p>\n
Synthesis. It\u2019s what we want from our students \u2013 and what we should expect from ourselves. Solid education requires cohesive instruction and inclusion in an intellectual community in which students are not only aware of cultural and academic debates but are guided in the process of such discussions and encouraged to take part in them as well. True thinkers flourish in an environment of thoughtful and engaging discourse. How much longer will it take for educators and policy makers to get a clue?<\/p>\n
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