Enculturation in the classroom
Nov. 23rd, 2009 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageEdgerton Ryerson, the father of public education in Canada (and arguably in Western culture) called it the Hidden Curriculum. Back then, it consisted of neat, clean uniforms, washed hands and face, shoes, standing when spoken to, lining up, and other niceties of polite behaviour. It didn't change too much for a very long time.
No one really questioned the rules at the time, with the possible exception of the children themselves. Middle-class people believed in cleanliness and obedience for children and expected their schools to mirror those values. Lower-class people got no say in the matter. Upper-class people were sending their children to private schools that had similar rules for public behaviour, with a few additions (such as uniforms.) Since the middle class was driving the public school system and middle-class values were self-regulating their homogeneity, it was understandable and expected that middle-class values would dominate the school system. This was right and good.
We still use school to instill middle-class values in kids. We still teach them the rules of behaviour. We still expect them to speak politely and work hard and obey their teachers. But some of the other expectations we have for public education are changing, and they're creating a conflict.
Pedagogical research is clear: the deeper and higher the question, the better the learning that accompanies it. That means that a book about the Underground Railroad won't just be discussed in terms of theme and characters and history; it will also spark questions about points of view, both missing and present, the meaning of freedom, and rights. A book about the water cycle will be discussed in terms of what children can do to conserve water in their own country and to help other people around the world who don't have enough fresh water. A poster about diamond mining may lead to discussions of diamond cartels, sweat shop labour, and capitalism. (All of these examples come out of my own classroom, and I'm not alone; I'm using the materials bought for me by the school board at the behest of the Ministry of Education.)
Middle-class liberals are familiar with these topics. They come up in their perusals of the internet, they get discussed amongst friends, they spark donations and outreach in their communities, and they appear in newspaper articles aimed at this group. But other middle-class groups may not have the same values. Will a discussion about diamond mining be neutral territory and fair game in a public school in the Yukon? Will a discussion of water cycles and pollution be fair game in Sudbury or other heavily-polluted mining towns? It's extremely difficult to moderate that type of discussion in a classroom without the teacher's own views coming through; how much politics in the classroom is too much? When does enculturation - the introduction of children to their own culture - become acculturation - the introduction of children to a dominant culture not their own?
The clearest indication of this disconnect at the moment in North America is the Conservative movement to homeschool. The reasons for homeschooling are complex, but they boil down to a belief that liberals (especially secular liberals) are using the school to brainwash kids into accepting liberal values without question. The belief is that teachers' job is to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, and maybe some history and geography. In other words, a teacher's job is to deliver facts and basic skills. According to this view, it's the parents' job to give these facts and skills a cultural context. Children should be studying culturally neutral material and learning the skills everyone agrees they need. The critical thinking, the higher-order questions, the debates - all these things are too culturally charged to be left in the hands of a group well-known for their liberal leanings.
I'm certainly not going to pooh-pooh their concerns. They're right in several ways. We have changed what we expect kids to learn in school. We have changed the behaviours we expect of them. We have changed the questions we ask and the materials we ask them of. And "liberal" is indeed a good way to describe much of it. While the intention is to get children thinking critically about what they read and view, the fact is, teachers' biases are going to come out in those discussions, and the students - beginning critical thinkers as they are - will not always realize it.
How much right do teachers have to go against parental requests in the name of better teaching?
No one really questioned the rules at the time, with the possible exception of the children themselves. Middle-class people believed in cleanliness and obedience for children and expected their schools to mirror those values. Lower-class people got no say in the matter. Upper-class people were sending their children to private schools that had similar rules for public behaviour, with a few additions (such as uniforms.) Since the middle class was driving the public school system and middle-class values were self-regulating their homogeneity, it was understandable and expected that middle-class values would dominate the school system. This was right and good.
We still use school to instill middle-class values in kids. We still teach them the rules of behaviour. We still expect them to speak politely and work hard and obey their teachers. But some of the other expectations we have for public education are changing, and they're creating a conflict.
Pedagogical research is clear: the deeper and higher the question, the better the learning that accompanies it. That means that a book about the Underground Railroad won't just be discussed in terms of theme and characters and history; it will also spark questions about points of view, both missing and present, the meaning of freedom, and rights. A book about the water cycle will be discussed in terms of what children can do to conserve water in their own country and to help other people around the world who don't have enough fresh water. A poster about diamond mining may lead to discussions of diamond cartels, sweat shop labour, and capitalism. (All of these examples come out of my own classroom, and I'm not alone; I'm using the materials bought for me by the school board at the behest of the Ministry of Education.)
Middle-class liberals are familiar with these topics. They come up in their perusals of the internet, they get discussed amongst friends, they spark donations and outreach in their communities, and they appear in newspaper articles aimed at this group. But other middle-class groups may not have the same values. Will a discussion about diamond mining be neutral territory and fair game in a public school in the Yukon? Will a discussion of water cycles and pollution be fair game in Sudbury or other heavily-polluted mining towns? It's extremely difficult to moderate that type of discussion in a classroom without the teacher's own views coming through; how much politics in the classroom is too much? When does enculturation - the introduction of children to their own culture - become acculturation - the introduction of children to a dominant culture not their own?
The clearest indication of this disconnect at the moment in North America is the Conservative movement to homeschool. The reasons for homeschooling are complex, but they boil down to a belief that liberals (especially secular liberals) are using the school to brainwash kids into accepting liberal values without question. The belief is that teachers' job is to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, and maybe some history and geography. In other words, a teacher's job is to deliver facts and basic skills. According to this view, it's the parents' job to give these facts and skills a cultural context. Children should be studying culturally neutral material and learning the skills everyone agrees they need. The critical thinking, the higher-order questions, the debates - all these things are too culturally charged to be left in the hands of a group well-known for their liberal leanings.
I'm certainly not going to pooh-pooh their concerns. They're right in several ways. We have changed what we expect kids to learn in school. We have changed the behaviours we expect of them. We have changed the questions we ask and the materials we ask them of. And "liberal" is indeed a good way to describe much of it. While the intention is to get children thinking critically about what they read and view, the fact is, teachers' biases are going to come out in those discussions, and the students - beginning critical thinkers as they are - will not always realize it.
How much right do teachers have to go against parental requests in the name of better teaching?