"We have in mind a new education that would set out to cultivate just such people-- experts at "crap detecting."
I learned in Postman's article, that "crap detecting" is an vital skill for today's students. As teachers, it is our responsibility to cultivate students who are able to "recognize change, to be sensitive to problems caused by change, and who have the motivation and courage to sound alarms when entropy accelerates to a dangerous degree." This is a great task.
My first reaction to all this is: How? How can I teach and model these skills and all the "behavior's of a good learner" that Postman mentions--- to a class of 30 or so students within one school year? It seems like one would have to know everything there is to know to fulfill these expectations. Isn't this what school principals, CEOs, and presidents do and are for? To make big decisions and promote change? Of course this is the kind of thinking we don't want. You can't leave it all to them. But then I think of a realistic classroom. Is it possible for a class of unmotivated, low-achieving students to acquire such skills? I know that all students have potential and that every student can grow in their capabilities. I know that it's important and necessary for everyone to form these skills, not just ones who hold power. I know that a year of school, no matter how great it is--- do not instantly produce law-changing presidents and the like. Maybe I'm asking the wrong question. Perhaps what I should ask myself is: How I can instill a "crap detector" in my students (given the time I have) in smaller, manageable measures. How will my students learn to think for their own and be the change? How will my curriculum reflect these goals I have for my students? How will I teach these bigger ideas? How can I continue to develop my own "crap detector?"
As Postman further explains, change is changing. So many of our new inventions/technological advances have only appeared relatively recently. In order for students to detect the "crap" within their society through today's countless mediums, they must be taught with a new aim in education. No longer can we teach in the traditional model of the past. I hope to implement change well.
My Co-Op teacher, as well as the district, aim to be and from what I've seen, are on the "cutting-edge" of educational theory and practice. I find that the shift in education has reached Central York Middle School. And so as of now, it's hard to come up with an instance where I've found any kind of serious "crap" in the school.
However, I learned from other classmates that there is a dissonance between how they are taught to teach at Millersville, with how teachers at their school want or expect them to teach. Some students feel as if they are the bridge between this pedagogical shift. Also, how my peers have been taught is vastly different from how they aim to teach. The kind of "crap" they are experiencing deal with their frustration with their ideas/methods of teaching clashing against their Co-Ops' ideas. One student talked of his Co-Op saying something loosely along the lines of... you have these ideas now, but once you teach for awhile... you'll see the reality... you'll revert to the old ways.
Change can be painful... but it's here... it's happening.
And we should always have the student in mind.
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