Until this presentation, I had never thought about the connection between all the issues we discussed and democracy. I always learned that our society was a democratic one, but I never fully comprehended the concept. To me it was a government made for the people by the people. It was based on things like equality and freedom for everyone, but after this taking this class it's hard to see where those principles exist. The great number of inequalities and injustices of our education system seems far from democratic. A question was posed during this weeks presentation which asked "what can be done to encourage active democratic participation within the schools that will motivate students to be more democratically active within the lager society?" In my opinion we need to educate students about current policies and the rights that they have. If schools initiated programs which informed students about community affairs and allowed them to voice their opinions and concerns, I think the students will be more interested in trying to make a difference. If they are shown that they can make a difference on a small community level, and then are encouraged to participate on a larger level students will be more inclined to do so.
Aquote I liked came from the Chomsky article on page 4. It reads "As our society allows the corporate cultures to reduce the priorities of education to the pragmatic requirements of the market, whereby students are trained to become compliant workers, spectorial consumers, and passive citizens, it necessarily has to create educational structures that anesthetize students' critical abilities, in order to domesticate social order for its self-preservation." this reminded me of the section in Kozol where he talked about teaching students to become managers. The school focused on this one profession and geared their lessons and activities accordingly. Also, when the IBM representative taught a lesson in an elementary school class and taught the students words like goods and services. In my opinion, by allowing corporations to teach kids about one specific job, we are limiting their goals. We should allow children to think for themselves and be what they want to be. By pushing a certain job type, students will think that is all they are capable of when in reality they could achieve much more. Another quote i liked was on page 68 of the West article. He says, "Democracy is always a movement of an energized public to make elites responsible-it is at its core and most basic foundation the taking back of one's powers in the face of the misuse of elite power...Democracy is not just a system of governance, as we tend to think of it, but a cultural way of being." I like this quote because I think it reminds us of the foundation of democracy. Power should not only fall into the hands of an elite few, but rather in the hands of the people themselves. We should be able to change our system when we find it necessary. If something is not working for us, we must do something to fix it. Unfortunately I feel that this is not going to happen. Many people feel like they do not have any power and cannot make a difference. I think if we can change this attitude which any of us hold and work together to fight for the things that matter, hopefully we can make a difference. I realize that sounds very optimistic but I think there is a chance that it can happen. We need to take control of the situation in order to correct the inequalities of our educational system.
the following link is for a speech Chomsky made at Loyola University:
http://zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html
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4 comments:
You said that until this presentation you never thought about the connection between all the issues we have learned and democracy. I find this interesting because this is exactly what the government wants and tries to get people to think, well in this case not to think. They do not want us to start analyzing the system because then many of us will begin to realize that there are so many problems with it.
I definitely agree that if we begin to give students a voice that would make a difference. People need to begin to think that they will make a difference instead of just conforming because it’s easier.
If students did have a voice that would mean trouble for our government. They want everybody to be equal but we're clearly not. As you said most people dont think about the connection between everything that we have learned with democracy. If the student were to learn about these things then that would have a major impact on education. furthermore, i also would say that their parents would also have to become knowledgeable of the rights of their students. with these two factors combined it will make a change for the better
In a way, I disagree with Ali's comments about giving students a voice. I think students already have their voices. We shouldn't give one to them; instead, we should create opportunities for them to use theirs. If we "give" them a voice, then we are censoring them just as we have been censored. I know some might argue with me about this, but I think censorship poses a greater threat than the unequal resources. If you think about it a bit more, unequal resources is a form of censorship. Funding depends on what is being taught, and what is taught depends on who controls the funding -- think about the corporate funding of schools. As you mentioned, when corporations are involved, what students are taught is censored according to the best interests of the companies.
I am also concerned when I hear/read statements like "people need to begin to think they will make a difference..." I feel making these statements poses unnecessary limitations on the empowerment of the individuals making those kinds of statements. "I think people should care/do/say/whatever more..." should be replaced with "I should care/do/say/whatever more." Think about what might happen if people focused more on what they could do/control themselves than on what other people can/cannot control. Again, I think this is a product of learned helplessness... sometimes we tend to blame or focus on others, whether exclusive of ourselves or inclusive of ourselves as a blanket term, for their part in not making a difference without regard for what we as individuals can do to make a difference (at least when it comes to something perceived as negative anyway). Oftentimes, we fail to recognize that indeed there are several out there who are trying to make a difference -- perhaps we're just not being receptive to them.
I think it's important not to limit the power we have as individuals. YOU, as your own individual, have the power to impact something... you just have to want to do it. This is where the part of West's passage about people getting too caught up in their daily lives comes into play. Perhaps in addition to focusing on the voices of others, we should emphasize finding and using our own voices.
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