I. We come to this work having also been a product of it as students
A. Our experiences in schools have affected all of us
1. On the one hand, schools have given us access to new information, exposure to a wide variety of people, and a context in which to learn about being part of society
2. On the other hand, there are 5 aspects of schooling that have had particularly harmful affects on us in lasting and significant ways
II. Trust/Distrust
A. Social change requires widespread cooperation and tolerance
1. Schools foster competition and distrust
a. Students: Competing for grades, recognition, approval, affection
b. Adults: between and within groups (students, teachers, administrators, parents)
III. Confidence/Lack of Confidence
A. Teachers: policies or practices that place unrealistic expectations or demands
B. Students: emphasis on the right answer, the right method, the right way to be or speak or think
C. Parents: being shut out of the system, not be listened to or included as valuable members of the school community
IV. Activity/Passivity
A. Teaching that focuses on lectures and absorbing information, rather than active engagement of the learner, emphasizing their ideas, their questions, their solutions
V. Reality/Pretense
A. Since school success has a high premium, students learn to pretend in order to save face or to assure love, affection, recognition, and respect
1. Pretending to understand when you don't understand
2. Trying not to make mistakes; hiding mistakes (instead of understanding mistakes as part of learning); not asking questions
3. In order to avoid criticism, comparison, and ridicule, students also pretend about their feelings (of frustration, uncertainty, unhappiness, confusion)
VI. Acceptance/Denial of Emotions
A. It is not okay to cry, to laugh too hard, to tremble in fear (not only in school, but generally)
1. Yet, that's what is necessary to recover from hurtful experiences (including frustration, humiliation, confusion)
VII. We bring all of these attitudes and expectations into our roles as adults (teachers, parents, administrators)
A. We internalize them with respect to our own behavior
B.
We pass them onto the children we work/live with
PERSONAL IDENTITY EXERCISE
1. Put yourself in the center
2. Fill in those identities that you brought to school as a child (in contrast to our present identities)
3. Choose the one that was the most important, in terms of how you were treated in school and how you experienced school, other students, and teachers
4. Vote on groups
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What was great about being a member of this group as you were growing up and attending school?
2. What was difficult about being a member of this group as you were growing up and attending school?
3. What don?t teachers/those in schools understand about this group of students?
4. What do you wish teachers/those
in schools would never again do, say, or think with respect to this group
of students?