Tag: schools

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More Shootings and We Still Haven’t Learned

Yet another school shooting today, and this time young children, as well as adults.

Of course, we still think everyone should have guns, even though the 2nd Amendment was not intended to allow guns in everyone’s homes, but rather for state organized militia. We should remember that those were very different times.

But, the issue of gun control is somewhat secondary to what has been a recurring pattern in our schools. Fundamentally, our whole notion of dealing with children in and out of schools is really heartless, much in the same way Boehner and his colleagues want to treat our elder citizens. Kids and the elderly are just numbers and pawns in a game of money and politics.

If we really want to help children, we don’t need to “raise standards,” use more high stakes tests, implement “zero tolerance” (just another form of heartlessness), or set up a “Common Core” curriculum. None of these efforts really have anything to do with the welfare of children. If we really cared about our children, we would help teachers formulate approaches to develop relationships. Children need to learn how to appreciate one another, to value differences, to develop empathy, and negotiate solutions to particular problems. When I was in the classroom, the personal and social problems that arose always trumped whatever agenda I had for the day or the week. We’d drop everything and work on ways to communicate and appreciate one another. It’s all about developing deeply meaningful and empathic communities in schools. When kids feel appreciated, they don’t act out with violence. But, of course, adults don’t do a very good job of modeling relationships and community. Look at our congress and the way they treat each other and the way they propagate fear and hatred of other cultures.

What the people who develop educational policy don’t realize is that when children begin to feel good about themselves and each other, they learn more than we could ever imagine. But, maybe that’s the issue. Maybe the policy-makers don’t want our children to feel good about themselves and don’t want them to learn more than some meaningless content.

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“Stupid”

Earlier this week, my teacher education students completed their month-long moon study. As I’ve been doing for years, we spend a class session “debriefing” and sharing the explanatory models each student has developed over the month. In general, this session reveals the conceptual difficulties children and adults have in making sense of phenomena from a scientific perspective. The difficulties arise from the conflict between what we observe and experience throughout our lives and what is actually occurring. A common “everyday” conception is that the moon moves from east to west around the Earth. We develop this understanding from seeing the moon “rise” in the east and “set” in the west. However, with careful observation over a number of nights, we will notice that the moon moves further to the east every night. Such an observation indicates that the moon is actually moving from west to east around the Earth.

The problem that arises almost every time I do this is that a significant number of students feel “stupid” for having difficulty “getting” the concepts involved. Sometimes students are in tears. Other times, they retreat into some “safe” place while solidifying their dislike for science (and other forms learning). For some reason, I’m always taken aback by these reactions. However, I too fall into situations where I feel “stupid.” It’s the legacy of our system of schooling.

The “feeling stupid” syndrome seems to arise from our experiences in school. If you don’t “know” something, the subtle or not so subtle message is that you’re not smart. This labeling is further reinforced by our ridiculous obsession with testing and by a wide assortment of other situations, such as the TV show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”

However, the research in student learning shows that these faulty conceptions are evident in almost everyone (including highly educated people). These types of understandings are so basic to our ways of viewing the world that we consider them self-evident “truths,” even though they are not accurate. So, why do we consider ourselves and others “stupid” for not having a particular understanding? Why are these feelings of “stupidity” propagated by our schools and our social institutions? These negative labeling patterns are major disconnections and acts of psychological violence that hinder our ability to learn and to enjoy learning. Instead of feeling stupid, we could feel “challenged to inquire further” or “intrigued by another interesting problem.”

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Gregory Bateson: An Introduction

Gregory Bateson at Naropa Institute, summer, 1975

I had the fortunate opportunity to spend five weeks with Gregory Bateson during the summer of 1975. Gregory was an extraordinary man with a huge heart and phenomenal mind. In 2004, his last wife, Lois, mentioned to me, “you know Gregory had a big mind, but he thought with his heart.”

My interest in connections and in patterns that connect is primarily due to these five weeks with Gregory Bateson. Although he towered over almost everyone, his huge presence was a mixture of kindness, intense curiosity, rigorous intellect, and quiet reflection. Even at that time, he was concerned that we, as human beings, had already harmed the environment to such an extent that it may have been too late to save ourselves.

I think it is out of this concern that the notion of connection is so very important for all of us. Without connection, we risk separation(disconnects) from ourselves, from one another, and from the environment with which we are so intimately intertwined.

  • What is the extent of the disconnects we experience today?
  • What contributes to disconnections and separation at various levels (self, others, environment)?
  • What is the extent of the connects we experience today?
  • What can help create more connects (connections) to self, others, and environment?
  • Rather than pursuing school curriculums that lead to deadening our children, what alternative approaches can we take to help enliven our children?
  • How can we combine heart and a rigorous sense of intellect in pursuing connections?

Please join me in these explorations….
(originally posted April 6, 2008)