The more I read the more fired up I
become. Sitting at the kitchen table I
read the Richmond Times Dispatch
Sunday Edition, and I can feel my blood pressure rising. An hour or so later, after great discussion
with my Sunday Morning study group”[1] I
sit down to write this wondering why my state of Virginia, and my country for
that matter, is going backwards in civil rights and common sense thinking. How will I turn this question into meaningful
knowledge and then into power with a positive purpose. What is my purpose? That’s a question that’s often hard to
answer. My purpose in reading, watching
and discussing the local, national and international news is to educate myself
on what is happing in the world around me.
If I educate myself then I can educate others. This leads to inquiry into how what is
happening now is going to effect my way of life, the lives of my children,
students, community and the future of our global existence. The old saying of “what you don’t know won’t
hurt you” is a huge piece of dung flung by a child who has yet to be introduced
to consequences of someone else’s actions or to expectations not met.
So, back to
what is my purpose? My purpose is to
understand what I can change or do something about and what I can’t. What do I, as a lone individual, have the
power to change? Nothing. Except myself. I can only change how I act, interact and
react to any given individual or circumstance.
However, as my Father always told me,
“Evil prospers when good men do nothing, and if you don’t vote, you have
no right to complain.” [2] With that in mind, when one voice becomes
two, then grows to 10, 20, 100, 500, 1,000, 10,000, 100, 000, then that single voice
of change becomes too powerful a force to ignore. How do those voices become informed,
knowledgeable, responsible and effective leaders of change? That answer is simple. Education!
The more you know, the more power tools you have in your toolbox for
building a more just world.
“Knowledge is Power” has been the
slogan for educational institutions for generations, but what qualifies as
knowledge? Knowledge is not simply a
memorized system of facts and figures.
Knowledge is an understanding of the implications and functionalities of
those facts and figures. It is the
recognition and appreciation of cause and effect relationships throughout
history and in contemporary times.
Here’s a question for you. Is it more important to know the exact date
and time of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor or to know the reasons, why, how and
under what pretext it happened and how that affected, and continues to affect,
our families, country and global community?
I vote for the latter of the two.
Then again, I’m one of those people who thinks the answers to the “what”,
“why” and “how” questions are more important than the “when” questions.
Today’s Richmond Times Dispatch front page
was the catalyst of my frustration this morning. Some of the major headlines were “Assembly
passes pension overhaul: Part of the burden shifts to teachers, local employees”(p.A1),
Budget
battle goes overtime as assembly session ends”(p,A1,11), and “20
reasons the legislative session mattered” (p. A10). Then after, numerous paper advertisements and
fire starter materials I find the “Commentary” section and am hit with what has
really been firing up the state citizens.
In sections titled “Inciting Hysteria” and “Twisted Debate” are more
titles designed to grab attention. Abortion
industry pushes blatant misinformation and When
did ‘free’ contraception become a basic right?
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Credit: BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH
Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, presents the conferees' report on the VRS pension reform bill.
I love to read the Commentary articles
but I wish the editor would print more than one side (viewpoint) of the same
issue. Why not give the readers
something to debate? In this 3/11/2012
issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch the conservative readership will be
boosted by what people may all too often misinterpret as “news”. I think this calls for a lesson in the
difference between reporting the news and reporting the opinion of an
individual or special interest group.
“News” and “Opinions” can both be valid statements. The power they carry is held in the reader’s
ability to separate fact from propaganda and opinion.
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Ability to compare, contrast,
infer, combine, separate, utilize and apply are some of the most critical 21st
century skills that need to be taught in any quality k-12 educational
program. Are they being taught? The answer to that question depends on whom
you ask. As a high school teacher I see
so many of my 14-18 year old students who don’t have a clue as to what is going
on around them and who are seriously lacking on the afore mentioned
skills. Who’s to blame for this? All of us!
We (The US Educational System) have taught the way we were taught. We have tested and retested students
expecting better results. We have payed
for more tests and corporate “suggested” remediation resources. We have penalized difference. We have marginalized the student who thinks
differently and constructs knowledge in ways that standardized test can’t measure. We have followed outdated mandates made by
those so far removed from the contemporary k-12 learner that we have left some
children behind. I once heard that the
definition to insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result.
Luckily, there is a light emerging
from the long tunnel. I see it in the
discussions I have with my children. I
see it in some of the work they bring home.
I see it in some of the work my high school students create. There are some teachers utilizing strategies
that require students to use high order thinking skills and apply
knowledge. But that light is still very
dim. It is muted by the mandate to
indoctrinate children with specific “knowledge” with out any relevance to their
own life. If content of instruction
cannot be made relevant to the life of the learner then true understanding of
that content can also not be made. If
teachers were allowed to transform the curriculum so that the essential
concepts were still the main focus of instruction and learning, but the methods
of instruction and evidence of student learning were validated differently then
think of the possibilities it would mean for developing more educated and
empowered generation.
I am thankful every day that I
teach Art. In the art room we discover,
discuss, relate, compare, contrast, infer, combine, separate, utilize and apply
in the process of creating and understanding art. In actuality, it’s all in the process of
constructing our own knowledge on our path of self-empowerment. I say “our” because I learn everyday from my
students. Good teachers are intrinsically
life long learners. Isn’t that something
we all should be?
This is an ongoing topic that I will continue to elaborate on in future postings.
[1] Manolo
and Dale are two close friends who also work in the realms of education and
commercial business respectively. Our
weekly gatherings generate significant personal and professional topics for
discussion.
[2] I
was taught through my parents’ actions and our discussions that if you see
something that you think is wrong, unjust or hurtful, and you do nothing about
it, then you are part of that wrongful force.
I can’t remember when my Father first started talking to me about
speaking my voice through voting, but I do remember that it was often wrapped
around a student government or community vote of some sort.
