HW 50- School Theorists

In the first text by John Taylor Gatto, he tries to argue his position that schools are factories, in which nothing truly exceptional is created. I would compare Gatto's theory to the idea that if you build a Toyota assembly line, you will get thousands of Toyota's but not a single Ferrari. Using a generic curriculum gives everyone the same education, but doesn't provide the environment for genuine intelligence to thrive.

Gatto also raises interesting points in his acceptance speech, talking about the loss of confidence in the ability of the system to properly equip people to thrive in the real world. School is seen generally for what it is, a place which teaches obediance, and ignores real world application. The fact that people realize this is a big problem for the school system, but instead of changing the system, we make cosmetic adjustments to the system while leaving the actual system the same.

The next theorist I looked at was Paulo Freire. Freire views the school system as an uneffective method for educating American children. The problem he saw was that students were being taught to like a computer is typed into. The person doing the work is inputting their knowledge into someone else. The problem with this is that if the person you are sharing the information with doesn't see how it applies to them, than it is worthless.

Freire seemed to be of the opinion that in order to properly teach children, you need to make sure they learn, not memorize. Arguably memorization is a part of the learning process, but it is not the learning process entirely. To better the system, Freire would try to construct a more collaborative system in which the teachers acted more like coaches and mentors than instructors and teachers. Learning with a person is much more intellectually stimulating than being instructed to figure out an answer or solve a problem.

The educator Lisa Delpit offers unique perspective into the topic of education specified towards certain ethnicities. The concept is that African- Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Caucasians all have different cultures, meaning they have different manifestations of intellectual pursuits, and in America, the school system ignores all but the learning habits of caucasians. Delpit's focus is on the African-American community. She raises an interesting point in her book where she talks about how some A.M's are very well versed and trained in poetry (rap lyrics, both writing and performing). While the American school system doesn't generally recognize this as a way to demonstrate literacy or skill in writing, it is just that nonetheless.

Delpit has some very interesting and unique ideas that I strongly agree with, but others which she speaks about border on preaching the importance of African-American's assimilating into the dominant Caucasian-American system. This, I think is wrong. While it is important for students to receive an education unique to their culture, it is also important to integrate cultures, not just further divide them. For this reason I am a little unsure of the positions which Delpit takes in her writing and theory.

HW 49- Class Movie Analysis

The movie that our class made, was filmed over two days. Given minimal time to put together a finished project, our class did not fully complete the production process. However, because I was [along with Charles] filming the movie, I was able to play my part in contributing to this final project.

The movie itself seemed slightly trivial in that the main actor in the film (Andy) was sending a contradictory messages to the viewer through his inconsistent tone and movements. Our project seemed to lack a clear point or opinion which we were trying to get across. The script as written was clear enough, but unfortunately it got lost in translation when we applied it within a new medium.

Interestingly enough, the same aspects of our project that made the film unclear and confusing were probably the most insightful parts as well. Although Andy was entirely incapable of acting, he revealed how uninteresting it was for a teacher to play a teacher in a movie. Like we learned in the "cool" unit, a person plays a role, a character if you will. Being an actor on stage is when a person playing a role in life assumes another fictional role in the theater. This is the point at which people are the most removed from their true selves.

Andy was entirely removed from himself when he was portraying a fictional version of himself. He got lost and what was left, was the Andy that we see in the film. He stares confusingly into the camera at times, and half heartedly commands his class at others.

What we touched on in this project, was that teachers are part of a much larger system. The teacher shapes the lives of his or her students, and is the flesh and blood connection that we have with the leviathan system that controls the teachers. For this reason, it is logical that the dull, fascist teacher who Andy portrayed was instructing pawn like students who were arguing amongst themselves. Showing signs of argumentation between each other provided enough contrast to highlight the lack of confrontation between the students and the teacher. His rule was unquestioned and the students were content. Typical.

HW 46- Research and Writing

For my research into the concept of "Pedagogy", I read the book "Dante's Inferno" by Dante Alighieri. The book is a tale of two men; Dante the pilgrim, and his guide: Virgil the poet. They journey into the depths of hell, going throughout the rings and sections of the "Hell" that Dante has designed. The book is representative of a pedagogical relationship when you focus on the interactions between Dante and Virgil. While Dante is guided on his journey by Virgil, he is not led by him. More or less, the two are experiencing these events together. The character of Virgil acts as a guardian to Dante. Dante and Virgil do not physically interact with one another, but they discuss their surroundings as they travel. The book follows the two of them from their entry into Hell, to the end of their journey where they meet Satan and escape back to the surface of earth.

The main message of the pedagogy in this book, as I interpreted it, was to highlight the importance of leading your own life, but having a companion or "guide" to ensure you don't stray from your path. The story is told in such a way that their is continuous progression in the plot, and no real obstacles come into the picture. That is because the story is about the setting of the journey, not the journey itself. The real objective is to get through the rings of hell, and than get out. Virgil is Dante's teacher, as much as he is Dante's guide. Arguably Dante is able to stay focused on the goals of his journey because Virgil is with him to remind him of his purpose.

My question for this unit is; How important in the pedagogy in schools? How much or how little should teachers intervene in the education of a student?

In my experiences in this class particularly, Andy plays a Virgil like role in my sociology education. He gives me the information I need, and allots enough time for discussion in order for me to understand a topic, and than takes himself out of the way. Once he is sure that I have enough information available to me, to complete a task or assignment, he leaves it up to me to do it.

In a similar way to how Andy teaches his class, I think that an interesting part of "The Inferno" is that their are many ways in which it could have played out, but only one way that it actually did. Dante could have strayed off his path, as their is no evidence that Virgil would have prevented him from doing so. Virgil provided Dante with enough guidance as to ensure that Dante stayed on the rout he was supposed to.

I think that the ideal teacher would be able to interfere as little as possible, while keeping students in line. Virgil was able to do this, and to quote an episode of Futurama; "When you do things right, people won't be sure that you've done anything at all". Guidance, not instruction is the way I envision an ideal pedagogy.