Jody Cooper

The Culture of Schooling

You, yes you, when you graduated from high school, were more prepared to major in education than most other majors. This is because you already have 12 years of experience with education under your belt. You’ve been immersed in the culture of schooling for your whole life.

Smagorinsky (2011) presents an elegant explanation as to why teachers continue to employ traditional, teacher-centered, lecture-driven instruction when research recommends more progressive, constructivist, student-centered, experiential pedagogies. He argues, “that the issue of the persistence of authoritarian patterns of teaching and learning is a function of the culture of schooling, a culture embedded in 4000 years of stone and seemingly impervious to real, systemic change” (Smagorinsky, 2011, p. 78).

Here is a brief accounting of Smagorinksy’s thinking about why education is slow to change. (For the full argument read the chapter on The Culture of Schooling in his book.)

…the deep processing of students’ conception of schooling is established early and thus powerfully (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) 83

 A teacher starts learning to be one when they first enter school as a child.

 I approach this problem by going through the process through which people, particularly teachers, become acculturated to authoritarian schooling and questioning the degree to which even the most passionately progressive teacher education program can produce fundamental changes in teacher candidates’ thinking as they transition from their generally authoritarian school and university experiences as students to their brief exposure to alternatives in teacher education courses. From this course work they immediately cycle back, often concurrent with their university preparation in progressive teaching into the very settings that for so long socialized them to authoritarian conceptions of teaching and learning. 80

 It can be very hard to impose newer, progressive ideas of teaching over well-known, often loved ways of teaching.

 Faculties, then, tend to reproduce themselves by hiring people who will perpetuate their values; and the pool from which they draw their candidates is filled with people who are inclined to oblige. 94

 The result for the workforce is a profession more likely to be filled by those who embrace authoritarian traditions than those who seek alternatives. 95

It is hard for new ideas to displace cultural norms. A person has a hard time even waking up to understanding the culture they were raised in; it is so powerful in molding who they’ve become. There’s a very strong desire to hold on to what you know, to stay on the path. This is one reason I’m drawn to alternative ways of educating, rather than trying to change the traditional school.

photo credit: acase1968 Graduate via photopin (license)

Jody Cooper

The Demise of the Nation State

NOTE: My intention for this blog was not to be highly political. However I believe this article provides background to the idea that schooling is suffering and needs to change to meet the needs of the changing world.

On Facebook, today, I read The Demise of the Nation State, published by The Guardian. I had recently come to a personal acceptance that the populist or nationalistic state of our current country is in sync with the state of many other countries and felt very alarmed. This article was long, and mentally taxing at times, but it woke me up to how I accept nation states as a way of life, a way of being. Contemplating the idea that nation states have a lifetime, that death may be part of their journey was alarming. However, this article’s claims seem plausible.

 

If one studies the history of education, one learns quickly that the purpose of most schools has been indoctrination: mainly of ‘country values’ (political), economic needs, or religious ideas. If nation states are failing, then educational institutions, tasked with creating citizens for that nation state, will become obsolete. (I was going to say quickly, but educational institutions never do things quickly.)

 

I am a strong proponent of alternative education. However, I also believe that traditional schooling has played an important role in our nation state. I am deeply interested in exploring ways that traditional educational institutions could be more flexible, change with the times and meet the needs of their growing population. But I can’t say I have any good ideas at present. I fear if I had children to educate today I’d flee to homeschooling or some form of alternative education.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/05/demise-of-the-nation-state-rana-dasgupta

Jody Cooper

What is the Beaten Track

I like a beaten track as a metaphor for schooling. While a beaten track was never planned, it responded to the needs of those traversing it. It took them where they wanted or needed to go through established, predictable territory. Over time, as the trail became more defined, so did the structure of schooling. It found the shortest paths, avoided swamps where possible, forded streams, climbed mountains, but eventually arrived at its destination. Once people followed a trail to a successful end, others followed, hoping for the same success.

The school system has remained a slowly evolving institution, even in a world where globalization and technology are forcing massive change. One educational theorist argued “the persistence of authoritarian patterns of teaching and learning is a function of the culture of schooling, a culture embedded in 4000 years of stone and seemingly impervious to real, systemic change.” However, schooling has grown, one might argue, much as a trail grows as it gets more use. It widens gradually, becoming more clearly defined. The dirt, beneath the onslaught of many feet, is slowly pounded into a harden surface.

I like to think of alternative educational ideas as different paths, different ways to reach a variety of destinations. Alternative approaches to education are less established and predictable. You are less sure where you will end up. You may not follow the tried and true established procedures of traditional schooling. You may search for new vistas, follow new paths or creep through uncharted country. You may run into unexpected swamps, dead-ends, or just get lost. But the possibilities are endless.

I have been hiking a lot lately. Many of the pictures of trails in this blog are from my hikes. And one thing I’ve learned is that the trails are beautiful, as is the environment off the beaten track.