Teacher and Student Roles
The teacher calls the shots, runs the show, sets the agenda and the deadlines, informs students of how things will go on in their classroom, and is the person who has the knowledge -- which is to be passed on from his or her mind to the students of the classroom. And this is all usually done through teacher-led discourse and method, within the constraints of school curriculum of course.
The students (in theory) are to absorb all of the knowledge being offered to them, respond diligently and respectfully to the teacher's commands and direction, raise their hands to speak, stand up, use the restroom, etc., turn in their assignments by their according due dates, ask only relevant questions, have outstanding attendance, stand in single-file lines, and so on.
All the while, the teacher and the students are human, have similar brains, and often times have equally capable minds.
The general difference between the teacher and student seems to be the amount of life experience each person has, such as a teacher's higher level of education -- having gone through the public school system, perhaps -- as well as an incredible amount of other experiential processes most any adult has undergone.
Seemingly this experience not only accounts for the teacher student distinction as described above, but also for the general conception of a teacher and student. A general conception being that a teacher has more experience in some regards than his or her student, therefore giving reason for the student's instruction by the teacher.
But why is it that a teacher's higher level experience often produces a learning environment where students are seemingly being dictated to, rather than included in a learning process founded in democratic values?
Why is it the case that experienced adult teachers are teaching in such a way that students might be looked down on, or thought of as lesser, or expected to be capable of not much worthwhile?
Why aren't the students of our nation being more respected, and being expected to be creative and help to lead classroom activities and take part in classroom decisions with their intelligent minds?
Why aren't we teaching our children through a more democratic method when we are ultimately educating them to take part in our society's democracy?
Though it is popularly believed that children have unimportant thoughts, and would mostly choose to spend their time in reckless, wasteful, and intellectually not-stimulating ways, I beg to differ.
I have watched children who have not attended public schools grow. The ones I have known have become smart, creative, funny, exciting, interesting, and functioning-in-society young adults. And they got to where they are through a childhood road of equality among their peers and mentors.
They have been respected and listened to by those who taught and grew with them. They were not held on some lower level than those educating and nurturing them. When important decisions were to be made, the adults were not speaking behind closed doors, but rather including the young people in making those decisions.
The children partook in a community of people who recognized that learning never ends, and that to claim superiority over one another, whether young or old, was only a hindrance to anyone's healthy learning experience. The children were given the opportunity to exercise their voices throughout their education, and their voices were heard, considered, and incorporated into that progression.
So why is it then that many times our public school teachers, among other educators who take on similar standards, treat their students as if they are unworthy of respect and/or equal opportunity, or are incapable of making good decisions?
Why aren't our educators more receptive to the autonomous and intelligent voices of the children they teach?
I do not pose these questions because I have an answer. The truth is that I don't. The history of our educational methodology is long and for some reason has resulted in our popular educational methods today. That is for sure.
But the distinction that often exists today between student and teacher is not a healthy one in my eyes. Searching for answers to the questions above seems to be a step toward reinventing education into a more healthy and functional system. And that is a goal that is most definitely worth striving for.
Posted in Philosophy of EducationTeaching on Nov 20, 2009 - 02:52 PM
Just about anybody who has attended public school has experienced the distinction that seems to often exist between student and teacher.The teacher calls the shots, runs the show, sets the agenda and the deadlines, informs students of how things will go on in their classroom, and is the person who has the knowledge -- which is to be passed on from his or her mind to the students of the classroom. And this is all usually done through teacher-led discourse and method, within the constraints of school curriculum of course.
The students (in theory) are to absorb all of the knowledge being offered to them, respond diligently and respectfully to the teacher's commands and direction, raise their hands to speak, stand up, use the restroom, etc., turn in their assignments by their according due dates, ask only relevant questions, have outstanding attendance, stand in single-file lines, and so on.
All the while, the teacher and the students are human, have similar brains, and often times have equally capable minds.
The general difference between the teacher and student seems to be the amount of life experience each person has, such as a teacher's higher level of education -- having gone through the public school system, perhaps -- as well as an incredible amount of other experiential processes most any adult has undergone.
Seemingly this experience not only accounts for the teacher student distinction as described above, but also for the general conception of a teacher and student. A general conception being that a teacher has more experience in some regards than his or her student, therefore giving reason for the student's instruction by the teacher.
But why is it that a teacher's higher level experience often produces a learning environment where students are seemingly being dictated to, rather than included in a learning process founded in democratic values?
Why is it the case that experienced adult teachers are teaching in such a way that students might be looked down on, or thought of as lesser, or expected to be capable of not much worthwhile?
Why aren't the students of our nation being more respected, and being expected to be creative and help to lead classroom activities and take part in classroom decisions with their intelligent minds?
Why aren't we teaching our children through a more democratic method when we are ultimately educating them to take part in our society's democracy?
Though it is popularly believed that children have unimportant thoughts, and would mostly choose to spend their time in reckless, wasteful, and intellectually not-stimulating ways, I beg to differ.
I have watched children who have not attended public schools grow. The ones I have known have become smart, creative, funny, exciting, interesting, and functioning-in-society young adults. And they got to where they are through a childhood road of equality among their peers and mentors.
They have been respected and listened to by those who taught and grew with them. They were not held on some lower level than those educating and nurturing them. When important decisions were to be made, the adults were not speaking behind closed doors, but rather including the young people in making those decisions.
The children partook in a community of people who recognized that learning never ends, and that to claim superiority over one another, whether young or old, was only a hindrance to anyone's healthy learning experience. The children were given the opportunity to exercise their voices throughout their education, and their voices were heard, considered, and incorporated into that progression.
So why is it then that many times our public school teachers, among other educators who take on similar standards, treat their students as if they are unworthy of respect and/or equal opportunity, or are incapable of making good decisions?
Why aren't our educators more receptive to the autonomous and intelligent voices of the children they teach?
I do not pose these questions because I have an answer. The truth is that I don't. The history of our educational methodology is long and for some reason has resulted in our popular educational methods today. That is for sure.
But the distinction that often exists today between student and teacher is not a healthy one in my eyes. Searching for answers to the questions above seems to be a step toward reinventing education into a more healthy and functional system. And that is a goal that is most definitely worth striving for.
Tags for this entry:
k-12 education,
power,
youth-adult relationships,
autonomy,
student-teacher roles,
authority,
questioning,
discussion,
citizenship
