It's been exactly 1 month since my last post. Life just took a roller coaster slide for the worse, and my trying to write only positive things was rather dificult.
I have a whole mess of things I need to write about Harry Potter, because it came out yesterday, but this came up and doesn't require a load of planning or thinking, so here you are.
Pedagogue figures are fantastic. Everyone needs one in their life at some point. The teacher figure who can provide opinions when asked, but not overload the subject, and NEVER create a fear of asking questions. In fact, the one who may simply use the conversation's subject matter to inspire the student to become one who ... well my favorite quote sums it up quite well: "There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings." -Dorothy Thompson
The truely beneficial pedagogue will teach the student that it's not about the _____. It's about analyzing the causes of happenings. I've had many wonderful people like this in my life, and I'd like to mention one here, as I see my opinions on things changing because of things he said to me years ago. This is the case with all of them, but the others will get another post, this is long already. Now I'm to the point where I can provide such a position for those younger than me... my first truely deep relationship with a teacher figure was when I was 15 and he was 18. We had a class together, and I was just starting to question things around me, and he provided me with the same idea as I have listed above. It was one of the most liberating experiences I'd ever been through at the time. I couldn't wait till I had observed the world around me in such detail that I could offer someone else what he had given me. The last time I saw him, he wrote in my notebook, "And now I pass the torch to you." I've never forgotten that. It may have been his faith in me that gave me the hope to continue the journey.
And so it came. Simply by being around those a few steps behind me (while never forgetting to follow those a few steps ahead of me) and encouraging them to THINK! TO THINK for themselves and never take anything as fact until they have thoroughly examined it, because the history of the human race proved that people who thought they knew everything only knew quite little. Slightly relevant tangent: Doctor Who had an episode where a space community was run by their news station, which was only publishing lies that they used to manipulate the community. It was effective because of the way that most people were not allowed to get ahold of the facts, even the newspaper workers' memories were just computer chips, and how their one information source was fascist and biased. They had in turn created a society that had stopped asking questions. This is probably on a more subtle, subconcious level what we all do in any type of intelligable conversation with anyone whose opinion may be unformed or neutral. One of the individuals I'm most proud of is a boy I met on a forum just after leaving my own pedagogue, I was 15 and he was I believe 12. We frequently share many intellectual discussions over facebook these days, and I can honestly say that he has grown as much or more this year as I did when I was 15. It's amazing. Maybe this is what my 18 year old "mentor" felt like while watching me.
So now that we have established obvious exposition as obvious, I'd like to paste here a recent conversation. It's about, in fact, the topic of education itself. Here you are. I've erased the real names. The bracketed stuff is my own commentary on the conversation, written in my perfect 20/20 hindsight right now.
It started with a thought provoking facebook status. Which I'm proud of in itself. ;)
Him: So, I cant stand it when our literalistic communist wanna bees for teachers play the blame game and say all our problems are the farmers who are using too many pesticides and watering the crops to much and using too much fertilizer, but without the American farm families who risk it all to feed our selfish asses, wed all be screwed. I love you American Farmers ♥ and I'm proud to be one ♥
Me: Just wait, soon enough the genetically modified test tube foods will become commonplace, and nobody will blame the pesticides.
....They'll blame the people who regulate cloning and transgenics for giving us cancer. You see, literalistic communist teachers will ALWAYS blame someone. :P there's just no way out. Three cheers for consumerist society!
Him: I know Alex its ridiculous and it always seems to be the science teachers that say this garbage I think they should screen the people they hire as I think they have no right to press their political ideals and beliefs down the students throats when they can barely carry on a correct conversation with people... and they call themselves educated. I'm hip hip and hurraying for a communist run future! hip hip hurray!
Me: It is true, they *shouldn't* press their political beliefs on anyone, but if your beliefs are strong enough (regardless of how poorly founded lol!) your feeling is basically that anyone with opposing beliefs is going to doom our future. And then when you get a teaching position, it's as if someone has entitled you to spew those beliefs to the future - the children. Like giving a bully a megaphone.
Him: Amen to that! Luckily I certainly hope I wouldnt tell people what to believe as people should have their own opinions and my two cents have no use being in there. I think the future of america should be able to make thier own decisions and not what their teachers press into them. Luckily I dont listen to them and the next time they say something against american farmers, well id better find a bitch to hold my weave because their will be a knock out drag down fight going on in science class... okay that was my wigger moment for the day lol lets hope for a non misogynistic future where children can make their own damn decisions for what they believe in and that american farmers arent that bad ;)
3rd person: I had a biology/science teacher and he tried to teach us we came from apes and enforced that we learn it and test on it. I was against it and he failed me on that subject but I don't think they should bring in any of their "own" beliefs into teaching.
Him: Oh yes they most deffiantley do i was raised in a republican conservative household and a democratic liberal teacher was telling all the republicans do is lie and cheat and everything said on fox news is a total and complete sham, yes they have thier own opinions but keep it between the adults are children should not be raised believeng they are better than another for their polictical beliefs!
Me: [trying not to make it apparent that I'm holding back spurting my unadulterated athiestic beliefs. I realized as I was writing the following that if I simply said that the aforemention liberal has a point, that I would be a hypocrite of what I'm about to explain is wrong. Plus one point for working through innrer termoil on the internet!] I would like to give props to that teacher, Fox is.... >.<
It's the job of the teachers to encourage kids to think outside the box that raised them.... otherwise kids would grow up to be their parents little robots, and that's no better than that of the teachers. [What I was getting at is that I know he's raised by a religious right family, and I too would have been inclined to be brainwashed by only watching Fox news, if someone hadn't told me to think outside the box that raised me. But I don't think I conveyed the objectiveness correctly - this shit's harder than it looks!]
But both parents and teachers who think they are right usually lose sight of encouragement and skip right to recruiting the easily influenced. The best of each will not give their opinion as fact, but teach the student the valuable life lesson of questioning *everything.* Humanity's history is full of people getting it dead wrong. It's those who sought real answers and not accepting myths that progress the race.
There is a happy medium to be found.
3rd person: There is a happy to medium, but as I experienced with this one teacher if you didn't agree with him, he failed you in that subject, that is soo not right. I can see if he has his own perspectives on how science is and he may disagree with ...the text book, as he did this as well. But not try to literally imprint something someone does not believe in. Not like talking about political views, but religion? Even political views, the teacher should not bash the other side. The should encourage students to get all the answers and think on their own, I totally agree, but not dominate what the kids think.
Me: Well agreeing or not, I studied the material and took the tests because it was part of the ciriculum. If religous parents don't want their kids learning evolution, they should homeschool them. Although that very reason is why many kids become their parents' robots, because they don't recieve the outside opinions in the years where they may naturally question things. Even the Amish let the 16 year olds "out" to decide if they want to continue being Amish. Some parents are not so supportive. Of course it's not the science teacher's place to condemn religion for its logical fallacies, but many can't help it... they gotta teach what they gotta teach.
Truly, a teacher figure of any kind who has mastered presenting their beliefs in a palatable way while only using said beliefs to encourage progessive thinking - not making it about the belief - is worth his or her weight in gold. They are few and far between. ♥
3rd person: Alex there is expected curriculum, I don't disagree there, but it isn't right the way this teacher enforced these beliefs on our class, he didn't expect you to just get through the subject he flat wanted us to agree. This is why I refused ...to cooperate with it. That is thinking on my own. I was 16 and I did not feel like a robot, I am very outgoing to learn and make my own decisions on things in life. But what he was enforcing was absolutely diabolical. I wasn't raised to think a certain way or you will be deemed bad. I was raised to think of God, but wasn't imprinted to the point I HAD to be secluded from other options and decisions. Yea, the Amish are the ones I can see drowning their young into one belief and nothing else. Not allowing them to think on their own. I am far from that restraint. I had many great teachers and they did teach you to reach far and learn whatever comes your way and take it in and examine it to your own thoughts and decisions. But also have my parents to thank, whom let me explore and learn many outlets as to have a great variety of experiences and the freedom to choose. I am not disagreeing with you, just also think some are too elaborate in their teachings.
Me: Yes for sure, those types of teachers (and parents/caretakers with the same mentality) are the ones that abuse their power - bully with a megaphone - who force their opinions as fact and really are doing the children an injustice. Actually... the one I had who taught us evolution was the same way. And since I was quite religious at the time, his straight-forward factual tone was rather offensive. But again, they only say so because they are so firm in their belief that they seem to think if other people don't live their lives according to what the teacher himself is saying, it will more or less doom us all. Like Al Qaeda being so firm in their religion that they think they must dominate the world with it to gain approval by their creator, etc. It's why Fred Phelps does what he does, fear for the future. The economics teacher who states their political opinions as fact to the influencable students does so for fear of the affect those future voters have on the rest of us. Which may be a reason kids often learn better from peers.... the peers are still figuring out life too and may not be solid enough to force the opinion. Life is facsinating! [Here I am alluding to how I was way more willing to listen to the 18 year old trying to teach me about life than I was the teachers who shoved their work in my face. Even if he often stated his opinion as fact, or more appropriately fact-based, it was more of an encouragement to go SEEK THE TRUTH and form my own opinions.... as opposed to those who say "this is how this works, follow this or you'll wreck us all."]
In having these conversations, I realize that because I am planning on going into a field of teaching, I need to work on being even more objective and encouraging rather than a preacher. I never want to cause a student to feel offended or embarrassed over a previous subscription to any given belief. As I've just demonstrated above... if you plant the seed of curiousity, the student will go searching. And if you're so damn confident that what you think is correct, perhaps they'll stumble on beliefs that line up with yours in the process.
