The question was asked… how do you feel about the notion or action of politicizing pedagogy?

Time hiking in the mountains looking for geocaches, a favorite hobby of mine, gave me plenty of time to think about pros and cons, time to ponder the what if’s, time to run scenarios through my mind.  If only there was a crystal ball, or some type of way to really be an influencer, maybe this would be an easier question.

Let’s face it Education was politicized long ago and where we have landed at this point in time is not optimal, nor has it been for quite some time.  I can’t help think that politicizing pedagogy, any type of pedagogy – digital or otherwise- would eventually land us in this same undesirable place.  Yes, the intent behind standardizing education was good and it worked for a time, but politics were in a good place at one point as well.  Change is necessary at times and when the rest of the world is changing around us and we, as a society, choose not to see it, evaluate it, and embrace it when needed, the end result is not optimal.  I feel like this is where we have come in education, we have come to not optimal. We are so focused on the system in place and the standards we are missing the bigger picture.  The students.

Is it not politics that already lies behind decisions made and standards set?  My understanding is that the directions schools feel they are driven is often based on funding and the grades/rating schools receive for meeting standards and performance.  Over a period of years our educational system has tried to institute change to drive our students to perform to their best ability.  Teachers were pushed to meet standards for the majority but what works for some doesn’t work for all.  Did we really end up doing what was best for all of the students?  Were decisions really made with the student’s best interest in mind? Or were there ulterior motives?  Or was it maybe a bit of both?  However, where we have landed has turned students into numbers, a room of clay vessels, of the same age, to be filled up with knowledge, at the same time, and in the same way.  The knowledge, of course, is what society wants them to know, the knowledge that adults and leaders feel is important.  Sadly, without focus on engaging them in the learning process, without finding what makes them tick, without helping them find and use their strengths and passions in their learning.  We are remiss if we do not recognize that it is being vested in one’s own learning that teaches us to think, drives us towards what moves us, it is what we remember, it is what fills our souls. 

Once upon a time, at least the universities were about growth, learning, thriving, reasoning, and becoming a better person.  Now, they are a high-tech trade school where the mentality is I have this knowledge that I think you need and I’ll pass it on to you in my way. Now go learn it and show me you did in the way I can most effectively grade you. It sounds harsh, I know, but on top of it all these students are paying a great deal of money for an education many of them questioning the value of.  The bigger question is whether this callous way of treating our students, as numbers or vessels with the expectation to conform and perform, contributed to the follow the leader, frustrated, and it could be argued, the more violent world we live in?

Have we lost track of the fact that giving teachers the freedom to pursue their own passion, teaching, is most productive when they have the freedom to reach students in various ways?   Have “we the people” forgotten that students are, thankfully, all different, unique, and learn different things at different rates?  What would happen if we turned-education on its heads and gave teachers the freedom to get to know their students and guide them through learning.  Would that look like a system where teacher’s followed students over the course of a number of years like the one room school house?  Would the expectation that students should strive to learn a certain amount over a number of years give teachers the time to create the mentor relationships that could help them work together to tap into student strengths as well as help them push ahead in their strengths and pull forward in weaker areas with a teacher guide who actually had time and the ability to learn to understand what drives them.   Yes, among other things, we would likely need to take a deep look at professional development to swing this direction, especially if a shift in a shorter period of time were the goal. 

Ah yes, and that is only one option.  But who really can decide what the learning plan looks like, the politician who sits as I do and ponders?  Or those in the classroom with the ability to grow to understand their students. Teachers armed with tools, options, and know how, who can pull students into their learning and engage them through student centered learning, choice, and tapping into strengths?

There would be much work to be done, including removing the pressure to perform to standards.  We would need to shift to a mindset where that First Attempt In Learning wasn’t frowned upon when things don’t go as planned, a new freedom for both teacher and student.  Giving teachers the time, place, and ability to use, or rebirth, their passion for teaching lies at the heart of it all.   There may need to be professional development, encouragement and incentives, however it is when we are freely working where our passion lies, that we find the strength, power and freedom to do our best.  At our best we will be able to develop those critical relationships with students to guide them into ownership of their learning.  I think that with a shift to a think, consider & grow, mentality we can find our way back to a great nation where people pushed themselves to new things and new heights. Rather than mindlessly following what is expected, looking to be told what to, and how to do it, or blindly following what is placed in front of them.  To find our way there, the power of change needs to be in the hands of the teachers.  After all, they’re the ones in the classrooms.  How is it we have come to think that someone else knows better than they how to reach their students?

It’s a big shift, but I can’t help but think that politicizing pedagogy, digital or otherwise, would result in once again landing where decisions are influenced by the highest bidder, and that my friends, would be disaster.  This needs to lie in the hands of the teachers, they need to take and be given the power to move us all down this new road.

Politicize pedagogy.  I think not.