I recently watched a movie on Lifetime (I don’t remember the name of it…it was on March 27 at 1pm). It was about the principal of the school running for the state-wide superintendent. She was very strict on what the teachers and students could and could not do. For example, one teacher taught a class on making documentaries with video tech. When he tried to let them go out of the box a bit with their idea, he was suspended. I remember the quote he said “I’d rather be fired from this school, than change the ways I teach.” Her strict ways ended up causing the students to rebel even more, so far that they called everyone in their phonebook to tell them not to vote for her when the time came around. I feel that Dewey would be opposed to her sort of methods because she took away the teachers’ and students’ freedom in thought and imagination through assignments. On page 61, Dewey comments about the traditional schooling with rows of desks and the “military regimen.” Her type of commandment over the school reminded me of this type of enforcement (not quite to that extreme though). On page 62, Dewey states “Enforced quiet and acquiescence prevent pupils from disclosing their real natures. They enforce artificial uniformity.” The principal wanted to have the ideal school with ideal students and teachers that would be an example to the rest of the state. However, this way of running the school created chaos because of the lack of freedom for the school. The video tech teacher that allowed them to think outside the box represented the greatest amount of individual growth that the students were allowed to have, and she eventually took this away from them as well. As teachers, we could learn from this in our individual classrooms. If we model our classrooms as the principal did, we don’t learn about the individual needs and backgrounds of our students. However, if we let our students use their imagination as the video tech teacher did, we would help them to grow as students, as well as individuals into adults.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Limitations and Learning
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3 comments:
Excellent post -- it's what happens when one prioritizes "order" over "growth".
Knowing what I know about how kids learn and what kind of teachers they listen to, Dewey would most definitely not be in favor of such a strict regimen. I myself am certainly not. Kids learn best when they are free to think and not so bound to adhere to such a strict regimen. This aspiring superintendent of a principal was apparently not thinking of how the kids would learn best and progress academically. Trying to run her school in this manner will certainly have an adverse effect from the kind of progress she hopes it will bring.
It's funny that you should mention this movie, because I also thought of such movies as Lean on Me and Dead Poet's Society while we were discussing Dewey. They all seem to rely on the ability of students to express themselves, and embrace new ways of thinking. The teachers created an atmosphere for learning by allowing students to "experience" education, and the students did thirst for more. Though they were movies, they were also believable and inspiring. By restricting learning styles, the learner is also restricted.
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