Teach to the Truth

Chief  Justice Earl Warren in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) famously stated: 

"It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education."

Yet, sixty years after the Brown vs. Board of Ed. decision and personally after a dozen years of teaching I am 98% sure that at least 73% of educators (including myself) are unclear on what an education is. It is also quite apparent by traipsing through the graveyard of pedagogical promises from the past century that politicians and bureaucrats are largely unaware of what an education might be.

People seemingly have an easier time defining or identifying an educated person, but even that can be deceiving in a world of specialization. For example, a person receiving an education in and specializing in the intricacies of global finance, may be completely uneducated in the areas of quantum physics, street level drug dealing, and music theory. So, does that make them uneducated? In a sense, I would imagine so.

With that frame of reference it is hard to imagine anyone being truly "educated" even after receiving "an education". From my experience education in the traditional sense through an institutionalized process has been charged with the seemingly impossible task of preparing students for life-long learning, mastery of standards, global citizenship, proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math(STEM),  and at least twenty-three other skills they will need in order to be successful contributors to society, which raises the next question/conundrum/quandary/contradiction/paradox. 

What is our standard definition for a productive member of society? Furthermore, of what or whose society are we trying to educate students to become productive members?

Because when it comes to what is commonly thought of as modern society, I am pretty sure of the following:

• Society, as we know it, discriminates based on socioeconomic status.
• Society, as we know it, accepts that mainstream media and multinational corporations frame the vast majority of policy and debate in the western world.
• Society as we know it devalues people and instead values material success along with intelligence that can further perpetuate material success.
• Society, as we know it, thrives on greed and selfishness which often times leads to unlawfulness and/or violence.
• Society, as we know it, values convenience and cost-effectiveness over the future of living things.

That is certainly not a society for which I am going to educate my students to become productive members. Teachers are essentially working to educate young minds so that students can be indoctrinated into a system that places little value in what we as educators believe in and what we continually try to achieve; a society where education and equality walk hand in hand.

These issues take on further magnitude when looking at the complete mess in which education is currently mired. When taking into consideration the simultaneous: shift to common core standards, financial, logistical, and professional development challenges of implementing education technology, ongoing corporatization of schools and education, and political divide over the constitutionality, and effectiveness of labor unions in education, it seems to me that teachers are pretty much screwed whichever way we turn.

Unless...we use the tools of the system to flip the script. Common core and technology provide the means to define or redefine what an education is. Together they provide the opportunity to unite people and ideas similar to what we have seen in recent years through political movements across the globe. The same thing has begun happening in classrooms, but not quickly enough. Teachers and students need to more proactively take control of their classrooms, their common standards, and their technology in order to begin defining and shaping the idea of education that Chief  Justice Earl Warren alluded to in 1954.

I have to believe that educators know what the students in their respective classrooms need, more so than the politicians, bankers, and policy makers. I have to believe that most educators and students do not want global society to continue falling into an economic and environmental abyss. I have to believe that most citizens of the globe want peace and prosperity for all people. So ultimately, I also have to believe that educators have the awareness, desire, and courage to tear down the wall, stop teaching to the test, and begin teaching to the truth.

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A song with the sentiment: As  a lover of music I get many ideas and much inspiration from the music around me. As a result, I aim to include a song or video with each blog post that echoes at least some of the ideas shared in that particular posting. So, Enjoy!

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Thanks for reading. Please share your opinions, comments, stories, strategies, suggestions and well articulated criticisms. Follow me on Twitter @teachtothetruth or contact me via email at teachagainst@gmail.com