the square life
so if you're like me and you're like most minnesotans, you don't really enjoy telling other people what to do. I don't know if this is a specifically midwestern/minnesotan attitude or maybe just a thing I notice in the people around me. But the general idea is that everyone has their own life to mess up and in most cases you have to let them do it. Don't worry about hours of speculation behind someone's back--everyone does it--but just don't get in someone's face about making changes. Anyways, in most every instance your request for a change will go unheeded or unappreciated. Usually it will be scorned, suspected, and even decisive in ending a relationship. Asking someone to change their behavior is a very delicate operation, and this might be why we reserve it for only our most intimate friends.
As a teacher, you are forced to tell someone what to do on a daily basis. Now nevermind these great ideas about following the etymological meaning of educate--the idea that you open the space and the person being educated fills it in themselves (the opposite of induce or induction where you lead them all the way). Educing only works for 1 out 50 people. The rest of them need to be told what to do on a nearly constant basis, or they will do nothing or do the perceived minimum to avoid further dialogue. This is required also because we are still in the free, primary stage of education--the "necessary" education. This is a much different state from a college class, where the professor is so highly trained that they need merely to speak or do and what the student misses is usually their own fault. At any rate, the college student is paying to be there and they are presumed to be more engaged because of this.
Not so with the high school student. With the high school student, one must poke, prod, cajole, beg, admonish, threaten, and seduce to achieve even the semblance of activity or interest. Failing that you begin to parade what little power you have: their grades. "Billy, do you care if you get an F in my class?" Although you may now have their attention you have lost nearly all else. Once you begin talking about grades, what are you really talking about? Certainly you're not talking about the subject matter or the importance of education. You're offering a trade: you do a little work, I'll give you a little grade. They exit with as few scratches as possible. But once you begin trading with students, where are you?
Failing everything else, you may one day find yourself in a full-on power struggle. You give them a choice, they refuse to take it, thus they must be removed from your class--at least for the rest of the day. Think of it! A free education, space and time to work, free supplies, a talented and enthusiastic instructor, and a relatively fun environment--yet the student cannot find even one nugget of motivation to remain in the class. What a situation that is, the rest of the students looking on ("shit, he's pissed today"), the outed student's friends scorning you. A tense calm invades, eye contact is avoided, you may wonder if you are sweating. Truly no one is winning here. The best one can hope for is a bit more focus for a short time.
Please don't get me wrong. I was sent out of class many times--countless perhaps. But never in a fucking elective! And never in ceramics. That's the strange thing about it though, that's the square life. You may wonder--how did we get to this point? How am I not liked? What happened where this class period turned in to such a bad time for some people? Fear not young teacher. You're just not used to not being able to avoid people who don't like you. In other words--you have to deal with the people that don't like you. It's not that people are just starting to not like you. It's just that for the first time you can't brush those people away, and worse yet you have to serve those people as best you can.
In a way it makes me want to return to a more classic education--one with corporeal punishment perhaps? "Oh, what's that Billy? You didn't throw 10 cylinders 6 inches tall by 3 inches wide as identical as possible? Please put your hands on the desk where I can see them." >BAM goes the ruler! But of course that's not any better and you're actually a worse kind of demon in that situation. The truth is that I'm not actually inflicting too much pain on anyone by asking them to work--even by asking them to work beyond their perceived boundries, which none of them have done yet. Another truth is that this was just one day and it probably will be beneficial in the long term "vibe" of the class. But I thought I would blog after my first full-on day of intentionally being a huge prick.
As a teacher, you are forced to tell someone what to do on a daily basis. Now nevermind these great ideas about following the etymological meaning of educate--the idea that you open the space and the person being educated fills it in themselves (the opposite of induce or induction where you lead them all the way). Educing only works for 1 out 50 people. The rest of them need to be told what to do on a nearly constant basis, or they will do nothing or do the perceived minimum to avoid further dialogue. This is required also because we are still in the free, primary stage of education--the "necessary" education. This is a much different state from a college class, where the professor is so highly trained that they need merely to speak or do and what the student misses is usually their own fault. At any rate, the college student is paying to be there and they are presumed to be more engaged because of this.
Not so with the high school student. With the high school student, one must poke, prod, cajole, beg, admonish, threaten, and seduce to achieve even the semblance of activity or interest. Failing that you begin to parade what little power you have: their grades. "Billy, do you care if you get an F in my class?" Although you may now have their attention you have lost nearly all else. Once you begin talking about grades, what are you really talking about? Certainly you're not talking about the subject matter or the importance of education. You're offering a trade: you do a little work, I'll give you a little grade. They exit with as few scratches as possible. But once you begin trading with students, where are you?
Failing everything else, you may one day find yourself in a full-on power struggle. You give them a choice, they refuse to take it, thus they must be removed from your class--at least for the rest of the day. Think of it! A free education, space and time to work, free supplies, a talented and enthusiastic instructor, and a relatively fun environment--yet the student cannot find even one nugget of motivation to remain in the class. What a situation that is, the rest of the students looking on ("shit, he's pissed today"), the outed student's friends scorning you. A tense calm invades, eye contact is avoided, you may wonder if you are sweating. Truly no one is winning here. The best one can hope for is a bit more focus for a short time.
Please don't get me wrong. I was sent out of class many times--countless perhaps. But never in a fucking elective! And never in ceramics. That's the strange thing about it though, that's the square life. You may wonder--how did we get to this point? How am I not liked? What happened where this class period turned in to such a bad time for some people? Fear not young teacher. You're just not used to not being able to avoid people who don't like you. In other words--you have to deal with the people that don't like you. It's not that people are just starting to not like you. It's just that for the first time you can't brush those people away, and worse yet you have to serve those people as best you can.
In a way it makes me want to return to a more classic education--one with corporeal punishment perhaps? "Oh, what's that Billy? You didn't throw 10 cylinders 6 inches tall by 3 inches wide as identical as possible? Please put your hands on the desk where I can see them." >BAM goes the ruler! But of course that's not any better and you're actually a worse kind of demon in that situation. The truth is that I'm not actually inflicting too much pain on anyone by asking them to work--even by asking them to work beyond their perceived boundries, which none of them have done yet. Another truth is that this was just one day and it probably will be beneficial in the long term "vibe" of the class. But I thought I would blog after my first full-on day of intentionally being a huge prick.
posted by j0eb0t-xj9 at 7:01 PM
1 Comments:
Joe - this is very well thought out discourse on the need to coerce people at certain times for their own benefit. I often think about what one could tell students to enlighten them to the excitement of learning and the freedom and comfort given to them during their high school years, but everything I come up with fails the test of my remembered perceptions, and I was a good kid, but like all other kids fell victim to the damaging idea that somehow, a real energetic, wholehearted pursuit and enjoyment of learning was demeaning. Funny thing, the inspiration for these kids to break paths with the perceived coolness of indifference is within reach, as evidenced by the full on drama/ band/ cc skiing/ swimming/ shop class/ gaming nerds that develop in high school. When did this change occur and it was fun to be different? Did this change mean that being smart and brave enough to take on new challenges despite the chance of failure was OK? Not necessarily, but a few barriers were overcome. What causes this change? Did you/ have you see(n) this change in anyone?
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