Beyond the domestication of learners

 

I came across this 1989 quote in one of my old books. I survey them regularly, mining for treasures. I picked it up to see if its wisdom still held the test of time. I read Henry A. Giroux: 'One cannot understand how literacy functions as a way of legitimating particular forms of life, authority, unless one questions the particular interests, purposes, and values implicit in its meaning and social practices." He went on to say: "One of the most important projects for teachers in the next decade will be the development of a "Critical Literacy" that incorporates the politics of cultural diversity with a view of pedagogy that recognizes the importance of democratic life." Like Dewey and Freire, Giroux understands education must be more than some domestication of future generations. More than some static score or standard objective measure devoid of the humanity of who learners are. Dr. Girous was a young scholar then, and he had his eyes on this functional literacy curricula focus domesticates learners. Hides from them the possibility of something greater. Something that builds bridges from where we came from, where we are now, and where we might go next. Laboratory literacy putting learners in charge of their own destiny, empowering them to reshape the world. He saw dominant views of reading and writing with their emphasis on mastery learning and standardized testing as status quo gatekeepers preventing literacy and learning from becoming the means of liberation for that could lead diverse populations into redefining education that educates learners to lead, govern, and to create a more just world. Why such an emphasis on high-stakes testing? You only need to understand that testing is a gatekeeper holding future generations from becoming brave new leaders. Leaders needed to break this status quo bondage of functional literacy that fails to educate diverse populations to liberate themselves and the world. I, too, sing, I still read those old books that hold the test of time, This "Critical Literacy" That Liberates All, Dr. Jesse P. Turner Moral Monday CT Education Ambassador National Committee Uniting to Save Our Schools.

If you want to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk over the Avon Mountain its Curtis Mayfield's Power to the people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdbrVRc2l5U

"Hardening crimes is a part of the times nd it's rough for some people to live

Disease can move fast but it don't have to last

It is now the nation's turn for all to be concerned

We can be freer still, it is the people's will

And bring back the power for the people

That's all we ask in our country dear

The sick and the hungry are unable

Protect them and those who may live in fear

Power for the people

Power for the people

Power for the people"  ~ Curtis Mayfield

Teachers feel things far beyond their pay scale

 Things no test score ever showed

What no standardized test ever showed..

When Fransico was murdered by the two men he gave a ride to, When young Alex our Honor Society star died in a crash on the reservation,

When you said to the school social worker and principal Little Billy has another bruise,

When his mother ask you to stop asking questions,

When Billy's family moved in the middle of the night,

When you went home and dropped to your knees and cried, When your heart shattered into a hundred thousand broken pieces, Never to put back together,

Teachers feel things far beyond their pay scale. If only our policymakers, CEOs, and legislators had a clue,

Jesse The Walking Man Turner

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk its "Teacher Brandon moved away today" by Judy Dumeny Bowen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cructhdh-oQ&ab_channel=JudyDomenyBowen-Topic

Fear Of A Public School Education That Liberates All

 Hard to believe America's Education Policies failed to ever understand that curriculum is not static, children not blank slates, and teachers, not robots. For over a hundred years, school prevented children and teachers from seeing the possibilities of a curriculum that lifts, inspires, and motivates all in our public schools. In 1902 John Dewey offered policymakers a brave new world.

His Progressive Education vision offered new possibilities of what curriculum in public school could be.

1. The curriculum must start where the learner is.

2. Experience in school must be relevant to the learner.

3. Children learn by doing.

4. School is not preparation for life; it is life.

5. In school, as in life, experiences should be integrated around problem-solving and inquiry.

6. The classroom must be democratic so that children will learn to participate in a democracy and to work with others in social groupings.

7. The curriculum of a school must satisfy the personal needs of all learners while it serves the needs of society.

If you ask me where that brave new world went? I would say it was stolen by small-minded policymakers, CEOs, and legislators who were afraid that children living in Dewey's brave new world would exceed every expectation ever imagined by him. Let me make it clear American public policymakers live in fear of a world where public education would liberate all children. They are fine with some, their own, but all scares the heck out of them.

Fight the power,

Rise up teachers,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Moral Monday CT Education Ambassador

Uniting to Save Our Schools National Committee

Professor of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education
If you want to listen to the song that I listen to on my morning walk today, its Risa Up by Andra Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwgr_IMeEgA