Gatto - The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher
John Taylor Gatto specifically mentioned the six lessons that all students learn in school, and argued that school is "a 12-year jail sentence in which bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned". All the lessons that he lists have nothing to do with school materials but hidden curriculum that we might not even realize but learning them as a conformist. Not only Gatto has demonstrates the way how school runs, he emphasizes how these lessons are dumbing the students down. Of course, we are learning, and still might be rich in knowledge. But simultaneously, we are forming bad habits as what Gatto mainly claimed. Because of the bells, we learn that nothing really matters ultimately. We are just like the light switch, turning on and off at certain amount of time. More importantly, we no longer self motivate ourselves to learn but being a conformist as a learner. Since the teachers are the ones who plan the lessons, we are losing curiosity. Throughout the text, Gatto did not only point out the hidden curriculum that most of the students are learning in compulsory schools, he also specifically in favor of depicting school as a prison that kids no longer have their own privacy, and they are just numbers. All the points he emphasizes mainly falls to the category of systematic learning are bad and dehumanized.
I do agree with Gatto’s point that school at certain levels do really look like a prison. However, I think he went a little way too extreme, because realistically, that’s not what he’s teaching every day after day. It is true that students are forming these habits of learning because of the way school has shaped them, but students are learning on the other hand. No doubt that all the six lessons that he point out is true to most of the student I believed, nevertheless, it does not mean these lessons did not help the students learn. There are many ways to shape students in the way that is best for them to learn, and being able to train kids to be able to handle many different tasks in a day is also important. If kids are to be train like he said, to just continue learning the same subject for hours, instead of switching to other classes, it also reveals the student’s inability to handle multi-tasks. Lots of the points that Gatto points out are strong, but it seems he never really consider the benefits of these six lessons. He just went too extreme in a way that it seems there is only one best way for kids to learn whereas there are many different ways that fits varies of kids.
Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Throughout the text “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Freire basically demonstrates and compare the two educational concepts between banking and problem-posing education. Banking education simply means that the teacher as depositor keep practicing the act of depositing the students as depositories. They treat students like containers and just fill in the students’ mind with facts while the students play the role as ignorants who just keep storing these deposits. Thus, students slowly fit /adapt themselves with these facts back to the world as their consciousness of reality without questioning too much about the world. On the other hand, problem-posing education deals with communication between teachers and students where both shares their ideas back and forth which makes “authority” invalid at school. Not only it helps the students of the teachers and the teachers of the students to see the reflections of each other, it helps them to reach their own conscious of consciousness within their own perceptions of the world that they believe is the reality based on their own situation. Through these dialogues between the teachers and students, the “act of cognition” eventually will “unveils reality” within themselves. Freire seems to be in favor of this concept because this type of education inhabits “creativity and domesticates the intentionality of consciousness by isolating consciousness from the world”, so people can be more fully human.
Based on my understanding of reading this piece by Freire, I really enjoy his unique way of looking at education and his critiques. I strongly agree with him, and find it amazed how he has come to a thoughtful solution towards “authority” at school. I like how he emphasizes the two concepts of education, and his concepts of problem-posing education is totally sophisticated. It seems this way of learning among each other is way better than just having the students to play the role of ignorants to reveal the teachers’ existence. By sharing ideas among each other within communication, I believe this way really will make authorities no longer valid at school which I think is ingenious. Sometimes I really find authorities unnecessary among learning environments because simply we are just there to learn. By taking out these roles off from each other and simply just enjoying learning seems phenomenal to me. Not only is a brilliant idea, I think it makes the whole situation of learning more pure. It did not only help people to have a better sense of reality, I think the idea of sharing your own perceptions with each other will make ourselves better individuals as a whole.
Based on my understanding of reading this piece by Freire, I really enjoy his unique way of looking at education and his critiques. I strongly agree with him, and find it amazed how he has come to a thoughtful solution towards “authority” at school. I like how he emphasizes the two concepts of education, and his concepts of problem-posing education is totally sophisticated. It seems this way of learning among each other is way better than just having the students to play the role of ignorants to reveal the teachers’ existence. By sharing ideas among each other within communication, I believe this way really will make authorities no longer valid at school which I think is ingenious. Sometimes I really find authorities unnecessary among learning environments because simply we are just there to learn. By taking out these roles off from each other and simply just enjoying learning seems phenomenal to me. Not only is a brilliant idea, I think it makes the whole situation of learning more pure. It did not only help people to have a better sense of reality, I think the idea of sharing your own perceptions with each other will make ourselves better individuals as a whole.
Delpit - Silenced Dialogue
Lisa Delpit has this very interesting idea where she sees school as the “culture of power”. By saying this, she meant school itself has constructed a set of rules where many things are “enacted” in the classroom, and in order to sort your intelligence or “normalcy” as she described, you have to follow that sets of rules of the culture created by the ones who have power. With that being said, she believes that different cultures should have appropriate strategies for students to learn especially the ones who are different from the others in terms of ethnicity or social class. She argues that she does not “advocate simplistic basic skills”, but school needs to ensure that they provide these contents or “codes” needed that helps the students to “fully” fit into the mainstream of American life. By doing this, it is the only way that can help the diverse groups to fit into one as a whole, so they can understand what they are learning better. If not, the poor or lower class group will just be learning things that do not even belong into the rules of culture of power, therefore, they are not even given the chance or being invited to the table to the same culture among the middle or upper class.
I think Lisa Delpit has a very good point that lots of the diverse groups might not even be train to practice to fit into the mainstream of American life, which means the lower class will never even be able to fit into that culture, or in other words the group that have power. Therefore, even the diverse groups are doing perfectly fine in terms of their own sets of rules of culture of power, they are not going to the same direction. I think she did point out a very good issue, but it seems she did intentionally tried to say that everybody should have a basic knowledge just as Hirsh’s idea. It is true that people with different culture learns differently, but instead of saying providing codes that is needed for these groups, why can’t the class provides same materials but with different learning technique? Or teach the diverse group the culture that they are experiencing instead of having the sense of "being cheated". As for me, when I just came to the U.S., it is absolutely difficult to fit into the mainstream of American way of learning, but as you try to understand other’s culture, I believe it is easier to fit in other than providing certain “codes” for the diverse groups to fit in. Because at the end, you are here to learn the same material, is just that different cultures have different way of teaching.
I think Lisa Delpit has a very good point that lots of the diverse groups might not even be train to practice to fit into the mainstream of American life, which means the lower class will never even be able to fit into that culture, or in other words the group that have power. Therefore, even the diverse groups are doing perfectly fine in terms of their own sets of rules of culture of power, they are not going to the same direction. I think she did point out a very good issue, but it seems she did intentionally tried to say that everybody should have a basic knowledge just as Hirsh’s idea. It is true that people with different culture learns differently, but instead of saying providing codes that is needed for these groups, why can’t the class provides same materials but with different learning technique? Or teach the diverse group the culture that they are experiencing instead of having the sense of "being cheated". As for me, when I just came to the U.S., it is absolutely difficult to fit into the mainstream of American way of learning, but as you try to understand other’s culture, I believe it is easier to fit in other than providing certain “codes” for the diverse groups to fit in. Because at the end, you are here to learn the same material, is just that different cultures have different way of teaching.
SOF Educator - Manley
Interviewing Manley in our class, he shared a lot of his own school experience with us and told us how those have impact his way of teaching. Although he did not clearly explain to us why he became a teacher, he did tell us why being a teacher is better than an office job. He mentioned how different it will be if you compare the teachers’ working environment to the ones who work for companies that just sat there the whole day with not many interactions. As a teacher, he thinks it is a “real humanistic job” that not much career offers. Being able to interact with students and colleague is the part that makes him enjoy teaching. He also told us that how his teachers used to lower his self esteem by making him stand under the flag makes him will never do that to his own students. He said he will try to make the student feel as comfortable as he/she can be while in his class. He went off sharing more of his experience at high school and about his teaching experience. He said SOF is a school that is very different from the others which makes him loves teaching at this school. He also mentioned how when he was at other school, he was not suppose to share any of his stories, or experience with the students, but teaching grammar, which makes him feel like teaching at that school “sucks”. He ended it the interview by telling us how important it is to teach the students something that actually mean something to them, instead of just giving them lessons that students should learn, because that is the way to make teaching fun. He enjoys teaching 11th and 12th grade, because it almost makes him felt like his part of it and he can feel how the importance of that turning point in his students’ lives.
I personally very like the part where he said teaching is a “real humanistic job” because I am surprise how important it is to have a job that you actually get to interact with people other than just sitting in front of a computer. I also like the way how he has put his own life experience into his career of being a teacher that he will not do something that he does not like what his teacher has done to him. As a student, I feel like this happens a lot. Such as what teachers or parents did to you that you find it discomfort, you will always end up saying you will never do this to your kids or students. I like how he has put his perspective as teachers into the students and really try hard to put his shoes into the students to understand them. It makes me feel like he is not just there to do his job as being a teacher, but he actually enjoys to be there at school teaching and be part of us through interaction. It almost seem as he is not just there to teach, but also to live his life meaningfully at the same time enjoying his job and living. Which I personally think is very important to have teacher who loves teaching as passion other than just be there doing their job.
I personally very like the part where he said teaching is a “real humanistic job” because I am surprise how important it is to have a job that you actually get to interact with people other than just sitting in front of a computer. I also like the way how he has put his own life experience into his career of being a teacher that he will not do something that he does not like what his teacher has done to him. As a student, I feel like this happens a lot. Such as what teachers or parents did to you that you find it discomfort, you will always end up saying you will never do this to your kids or students. I like how he has put his perspective as teachers into the students and really try hard to put his shoes into the students to understand them. It makes me feel like he is not just there to do his job as being a teacher, but he actually enjoys to be there at school teaching and be part of us through interaction. It almost seem as he is not just there to teach, but also to live his life meaningfully at the same time enjoying his job and living. Which I personally think is very important to have teacher who loves teaching as passion other than just be there doing their job.
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