School as Domination

School, widely known as the place that helps kids grow, learn, and become the best people they can be is pretty much an image that is set up to cover up the greater motives of the institution. Although it may seem that the students' benefits receive the most attention, the real benefits actually go to the ones who are controlling the system. Schooling is no longer education. Schooling is the institution's way of training us to be brainwashed working fools by stuffing our brains with excess facts and convincing us that by memorizing these facts, we will be awarded with future success.

Gatto divides the concept of being schooled and receiving an education. Schooling teaches us "bad habits" where we are taught obedience and where we never reach the intellectual potential we could have if we had not been schooled. He refers to school as prison cells, where both teachers and students are drenched in boredom because of the rigid structures we are forced to work with. He believes that schooling is there to suppress children so that they can never fully grow up. They are taught to be blind consumers and mediocre laborers. He mentions Inglis who proposes 6 of school's "basic functions" that counteracts the three the government tries to get us to believe (which were making good people, citizens, and helping each be their personal best). To sum it up, students are trained to respond obediently in front of authority. They are trained to conform for better manageability. They are sorted out for social roles, and then are taught the skills for their social roles (but only to a minimum). They make sure that it is made obvious that the "dumb" kids are seen an inferior, so as to improve future natural selection. And last but not least, they train a small portion of these kids to become the ones who look after the 6 functions and make sure they continue.

The system is manipulated in which there is a set limit to how much they teach and how much students can actually learn. This limit is what allows them to have a better control over the masses, because limits prevent students from achieving extreme individualistic views, which in turn keeps them in their place/social role. By keeping students from growing out of their prison cells, these students turn out like one another, each destined to become future workers.

Home-schooling, Gatto proposes, is a way of avoiding the institution. Home-schoolers tend to develop a larger sense of self identity, whereas school students are trained to conform and meet the norms they see in the classroom. Their environment allows them to express their thoughts and address their curiosity more frequently than school children, who sit in their desks as a stranger pours ideas into their minds (the banking approach). But because only the rich are able to afford home schooling, it is hard for the poor to break through the system. Therefore, through homeschooling, the rich acquires more leadership skills which helps them find power while the poor stays in the working class.

Freire explains the concept of the banking approach where teachers are merely there to deposit facts into the students minds, described as the containers. The more deposits these students accept into their bins, the less likely they are to critically think about them. In school these students gradually adapt to their passive roles and soon enough they come to accept the idea that they are merely spectators, not "re-creators." They are not taught leadership skills, just enough that will allow them to work FOR the world and the path the creators are leading.

The solution here is to transform the system. We have to understand that the banking concept doesn't help the students achieve a personal connection at all with the material they are given. We should abandon this concept and somehow have the teachers and students form a relationship where both groups are learning and teaching at the same time. The banking concept looks at its students as objects it can brainwash and exploit. But if teachers become more willing to communicate with their students, the class would have a better sense of reality, one where they can recognize themselves as individuals and as leaders, rather than tools. By sharing ideas, students can finally think critically and be humanized from their forms of containers. Humanization helps students achieve a better understanding of their own individual desires as opposed to the ones they are told to have. It makes them conscience of their personal goals in life. It flips the students' perspective from passivity to a more active view of the world, where they are motivated to go for their dreams, no matter how unusual they seem to the world.

This type of transformation is seen in the Coalition of Essential Schools found by Ted Sizer. The types of schools in the coalition are seen as student centered as much as it is teacher centered. It pays attention to the goals of the students to make sure that along with what the teacher wants to teach, the students preferences are also taken into account. Sizer created this hoping to give students more freedom to think, while the teachers serve as guidance. He says, “Inspiration, hunger: these are the qualities that drive good schools. The best we educational planners can do is to create the most likely conditions for them to flourish, and then get out of their way.” Inspiration doesn't come out of banking concept, rather it is suppressed in it. Sizer's philosophy encourages creativity and thinking out side of the box. This solution provides students with an opportunity to discover their own individuality, thus giving them an edge with other clones.

The teacher in the movie Dead Poet's Society is a great example of such a coach. At the beginning of the movie, the students read off a textbook that told them the strict procedure of measuring poetry. To that, Mr. Keating says is b.s. He tells them that poetry should be made up of raw emotions and truth. He intrigues the students about the subject, yet gives them no specific instructions on how their poems should be written. He gives them plenty of room to write and express themselves. This works so well that one of his students start rebelling his parents. He abandons their expectations for him and pursues his own desire of being an actor. Unfortunately at the end, he was still unable to escape the chains of authority and kills himself. The education Mr. Keating gave them got them to see the world outside of their prison cells. It gave them all an opportunity to figure out who they are as individuals.

The students in Dead Poets Society before their transformation, all pretty much acted the same. The poses they put on are typical and are necessary for achieving success. It might not seem so but there are certain codes, cultural codes that schools and those in power go by (Delpit). These codes include "linguistic forms, communicative strategies, and presentation of self; that is, ways of talking, ways of writing, ways of dressing, and ways of interacting." These boys in the movie are taught to act politely in public, to talk a certain way since childhood. These codes have probably been passed on for generations because their families all come from a line of rich and powerful people. So unless your family teaches you the "right" cultural rules, it's hard to succeed in school because their methods of teaching are usually tailored for kids that come from the Culture of Power. Culture of Power is determined by the upper and middle class. So lower class members usually suffer academically because the strategies these schools are teaching with are not as adaptable for them. This is the system's way of making sure that the "right people win" and the "right people lose".

Again, we need to transform the system. The only way we can change this is to change the school system and change the ways they approach teaching. This reminds me of a song we heard in class that talked about how schools should be teaching how to stay of jail, how to avoid gang violence, and how to keep away from drugs instead of the "useless" stuff they're teaching now. Every culture has to be approached differently otherwise they wouldn't find their education appealing enough. If they're not willing to learn, they're not going to learn, and they're not going to see it as an education. We need to determine the different cultures and the different needs of each, then everyone can have an equal education. It's unfair that the higher classes always remain in the higher position while the poor stay poor, especially when every child has the same potential. It all depends on how they are being taught and how well they are responding to that education. This ensures that the cultures that aren't part of the Culture of Power can have a chance at an authentic education, and not pushed to the back (Gatto's function 5 - "wash the dirt down the drain.")

Schooling is the institution's way of training us to be brainwashed working fools by stuffing our brains with excess facts and convincing us that by memorizing these facts, we will be awarded with future success. We, as students are sorted, labeled, categorized, and basically have our lives secretly planned for us by the government. We are convinced that success means to excel at school, a concept we aren't fully aware of. Freire's banking concept is what students strive to excel at, while people like Ted Sizer try to encourage students to do more free thinking. The institutions primary goal is to suppress individuality and produce clones. Clones are predictable. They're easy to manage, whereas if you have too many critical thinkers, the government would feel challenged. Some of the proposed solutions provided here are home-schooling, humanization of both students and teachers, adapting the Coalition of Essential School's philosophy, and transforming teaching methods to suit different cultures. Only by understanding the institutions can we know how to escape or how to transform these systems in such a way where every child coming into an institution won't come out looking like each other.

HW 50

Gatto divides the concept of being schooled and receiving an education. Schooling teaches us "bad habits" where we are taught obedience and where we never reach the intellectual potential we could have if we had not been schooled. He refers to school as prison cells, where both teachers and students are drenched in boredom because of the rigid structures we are forced to work with. He believes that schooling is there to suppress children so that they can never fully grow up. They are taught to be blind consumers and mediocre laborers. He mentions Inglis who proposes 6 of school's "basic functions" that counteracts the three the government tries to get us to believe (which were making good people, citizens, and helping each be their personal best). To sum it up, students are trained to respond obediently in front of authority. They are trained to conform for better manageability. They are sorted out for social roles, and then are taught the skills for their social roles (but only to a minimum). They make sure that it is made obvious that the "dumb" kids are seen an inferior, so as to improve future natural selection. And last but not least, they train a small portion of these kids to become the ones who look after the 6 functions and make sure they continue.

Gatto's solution to this is home schooling. Homeschooling does seem like a pretty good idea. I think homeschoolers are usually much more confident, and their thoughts are always more interesting. By not having a system forcing the same ideas to them as they do to everyone else, they are able to develop a more individualistic element in their thinking. They certainly won't come out as mediocre or as clones. They won't be diagnosed for social roles or to conform since there's no other child around to conform to. Their environment allows them to receive an education that lets them think more freely, that supports their curiosity, rather than being shot down and categorized/punished for every action they take. When I read Gatto's description of the well schooled student, one that chooses TV over books, that gets bored easily, that are tricked into being consumers, I immediately think of myself. I'm probably already one of those students that have fallen into the trap because no matter how much of this Gatto says is true, I still can't picture another way to "success" other than through college. Yes, I can learn to be insightful through reading and working alone, but society still demands that piece of paper, that "permanent record" that describes you through a list of grades and numbers, in order to let you get anywhere high in life.

Freire explains the concept of the banking approach where teachers are merely there to deposits facts into the students, described as the containers. The more deposits these students accept into their bins, the less likely they are to critically think about them. In school these students gradually adapt to their passive roles and soon enough they come to accept the idea that they are merely spectators, not "re-creators." They are not taught leadership skills, just enough that will allow them to work FOR the world and the path the creators are leading.

The solution here is to break the banking concept and somehow have the teachers and students form a relationship where both groups are learning and teaching at the same time. The banking concept looks at students as objects they can exploit. But if teachers become more willing to communicate with their students, the class would have a better sense of reality, one where they can recognize themselves as individuals and as leaders, rather than tools. By sharing ideas, students can finally think critically and be humanized from their forms of containers. I see a lot of this in SOF. I feel like a lot of schools now are dumping the banking concept. Our teachers are interested in what we have to say rather than clogging our minds with theirs. During discussions, everyone's thoughts are listened to and challenged, even the teachers.

Delpit proposes the idea of Culture of Power. Basically, there are certain rules and codes that schools and those in power goes by. So unless your family teaches you these rules, it's hard to succeed in school if their methods of teaching are more adaptable for some kids and less for you. These codes include "linguistic forms, communicative strategies, and presentation of self; that is, ways of talking, ways of writing, ways of dressing, and ways of interacting." Culture of Power is determined by the upper and middle class. So lower class members usually suffer academically because the strategies these schools are teaching with are not tailored for them but rather the higher socio-economical classes.

Delpit says that "If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier." Does this mean that in order to acquire power, you have to change the way you act and present yourself? Whatever happened to equal opportunity? We are constantly told to be ourselves, yet in reality, the way to success is to conform to the rich. The only way we can change this is the change the school system and change the ways they approach teaching. This reminds me of a song we heard in class that talked about how schools should be teaching how to stay of jail, how to avoid gang violence, and how to keep away from drugs instead of the stupid stuff they're teaching now. Every culture has to be approached differently otherwise they wouldn't find their education appealing enough. If they're not willing to learn, they're not going to learn, and they're not going to see it as an education. We need to determine the different cultures and the different needs of each, then everyone can have an equal education. It's unfair that the higher classes always remain in the higher position while the poor stay poor, especially when every child has the same potential. It all depends on how they are being taught and how well they are responding to that education.

During the interview with Fanning, he tells us about his own personal experiences. He went to college at Skidmore and came out a rocker. After touring and realizing he's too old for it anymore, he turns to teaching. He says the greatest gift of all is education. Cliche but true, he insists. He explains why SOF is so much more different from other schools. Our students are much more diverse in academics and classes that it's much more of a challenge to teach everyone at the same time. Yet, this is why he likes the school so much. He wants to conquer the culture of power, so that not only do the "right students win" but the expected "losers" win too. He's also determined that the school not be fully teacher goal oriented, but also for the students' goals to be considered as well.

This tells me that the school is really looking after the students' interests. Fanning is really genuine about providing SOFers with an education, where no one is left behind. It's too bad I didn't realize it until now, last semester of senior year. Him being a rock star turned principal tells me that no matter what path you choose to take in life, you'll still need an education. Hearing him talk about SOF kind of answers all the question I had over the years. I never understood why the school was so unique, nor did I understand why the best of the best wanted to teach here. But I guess the school's "savior" stance really appeals to the faculty.

HW 49

Our class wasn't able to finish filming our video project. My contribution was that I came up with the idea for the story as well as the script. I also played one of the extras in the "film." But our storyline is basically shot from the point of view of a certain group of students. Faced with a teacher who chooses to play favorites, the group of three underachievers are constantly serving as victims to the teacher's condescending attitude. Finally fed up with the teacher's behavior, Alex the protagonist decides to start studying for the class. At the end, her and her friends ace the finals. The teacher ends up receiving all the credit for the students' improvement.

Citing from today's discussion about Culture of Power, the system (in this case, the school) serves to make sure that the right people win and the right people lose. We see that in the film, Mr. A favors the bright and enthusiastic students over the rebels and non obedient. These so called favorites are exactly the type of clones institutions like to praise, because even though the students don't know it yet, their skills will only be exploited. So what they see as individual success is only an illusion, because the only people who are really benefiting from this is the government. The rebel, Alex, refuses to be categorized as one of them, claiming that she doesn't care for Mr. A's approval. She studies however, to demonstrate that she has the ability to "win." She just chooses not to. If winning meant becoming one of society's "robot sheeps," then she rather not become one of the high profiled students. She aces the test, but ends up tossing it in the trash anyway as a way of telling the school that she couldn't care less for society's expectations. Basically the message trying to be sent out here is that schools get us (the favorites) to work hard by creating the illusion that we will be awarded by doing so. However, the truth lies in the fact that we are not favored out of appreciation, rather than that they see potential exploitation in us (in this case, for the teacher, he's using the students to gain approval from the principal).

Most of the films we've watched in class involved the teachers as the protagonists and also as the savior. In Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating teaches his kids to defy authority and "seize the day." In Freedom Writers, Hilary Swank plays the teacher who saves her economically challenged kids from falling into the hoodlums by having them write journals and stories. Many of these stories are composed of similar story lines. These kids are stuck in these molds they've grown up in (the kids in DPS led structured lives and the kids in Freedom Writers are surrounded by violence and low expectations), a teacher shows up, and somehow changes their lives by helping them find out who they are and the greater purposes they have in life.

In our film however, the student is seen to have "saved" herself. Realistically, a teacher can't change a whole class. Alex's success on the test is no credit of his. She realized that she didn't need his help to achieve her own success. She worked hard on her own just so she can prove to Mr. A that she sees the phoniness behind what we call school (the teaching of obedience and cloning) and refuses to accept their teachings. Rather she learns the material herself while still fully committing to her rebel role by not listening to authority and not accepting their praises, to show that she is capable of learning, but just chooses not to do it their way.

In real life, I see very little salvation attempts in school. Many schools are teacher centered, where curriculum and textbooks are enforced with only one goal in mind. They make sure everyone learns the skills they "need" to learn so they can turn out the way the system wants them to turn out - the clones that will help heighten the economy and the big corporate guys. SOF's philosophy seems to be a lot different though. The school is more student centered. It pays more attention to the goals of the student rather than solely the goals of the school and teachers (Fanning). It encourages free and critical thinking (Habits of Mind). Classes are involved in discussions a lot, where we are able to offer ideas outside of the box and listen to others' as opposed to only hearing the ideas of the teacher's. The school has also replaced Regents with Exhibitions, a much more meaningful experience where we are able to research our own topics and relate them to our own interests. Through this process, we are able to enhance our writing skills, presentation skills, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of our topic. By not suppressing us, and instead encouraging us to speak up, SOF's philosophy can be considered as an attempt at salvation.

HW 48: Treatment for Savior/Teacher Movie

Scene 1:
It's the middle of class. The teacher is walking around the classroom checking on the students as they work on a problem. He gives some a thumbs up, while others a condescending chuckle and a shake of his head. Others, he totally ignores and walks by. It's obvious he plays favorites. As he approaches the front of the room, he asks for volunteers to come up to the board to show their work. A bunch of students raise their hands. He picks a student sitting in the back corner of the room. The kid reluctantly goes up and writes his work on the board. The teacher declares it wrong and has his favorite student explain why it is so. The kid in the back of the room (let's call him Jay) lets out a pissed off sigh, picks up his book bag and leaves the classroom.

Scene 2:
It's lunch time. Jay and his band of underachieving friends get together and discuss the event in class. They're complaining. The teacher's favorite student, Chris overhears the conversation and comes up to them. He tells them that there's no one to blame but themselves for being dumb and uneducated. They get into an argument, almost breaking into a fight, but don't because of security. Chris exits, leaving the group fuming with rage.

Scene 3:
Classroom scene happens again for the next couple of days, where the teacher is repetitively shown to favor some students and ignore others. Jay is leaning back in his chair, peering under his hood. He observes the way his teacher is mistreating his friends. His mind replays memories of the past couple of months in this classroom as well as the past years with his other teachers. He thinks about his family's lack of expectations for him and feels hopeless. But this feeling is quickly run over by the anger he feels for his teacher and himself. He realizes that Chris was partially correct about his underachieving nature.

Scene 4:
Jay gathers up a bunch of his friends and classmates and encourages them to take part in a series of study sessions. Studying montage comes on. They continue to not participate in class despite knowing most of the information now.

Scene 5:
Finals roll around and the group ace it. The teacher and the rest of the class are extremely surprised and bewildered. They suspect that they are cheating. So the group takes a second test and aces that as well.

Scene 6:
The principal praises the teacher for such an achievement. The teacher accepts it and convinces himself that this was in fact his deed. Jay and the group shake their heads and smile as if they were sympathizing for their teachers behavior. They pick up their book bags and exit the last day of school.