An Educator in Exile.

An Educator in Exile. The author discusses in this article what it feels like to be inexile because present educational organization has lost meaning for him.He proposes that the model of external education is no longer relevantin the postmodern post��mod��ern?adj.Of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes: world. The author suggests that there is a revolutionhappening in education today and most of us don't want to face it.Mainly, he suggests a curriculum of possibilities for those 1 ike him inexile. I belong to an organization that for all practical purposes isdead; it no longer has meaning for me in this postmodern world. Lessonplans, competency-based testing, goals, objectives, and so on, and soon! The model of the curriculum having the teacher stand in the front ofthe room transmitting information to students by the manipulation ofrewards and punishments ceased to work for me several years ago. Education of the past was one that always seemed to beextrinsically imposed and superficial. To some extent this model ofexternal education is based on the factory model where industries neededworkers with specific skills so that the factory could run moreefficiently. Even though the "cult of efficiency" is whatdrives us in education today, we're losing, and we're losingbadly. There is a revolution happening in education today and most of usdon't want to come to grips with it. This revolution is not thetype where you see people fighting in the streets or throwing bricksthrough windows. It is a social revolution that has created a climate ofuncertainty and discomfort among educators. Basically, we are having anidentity crisis in education and many of us feel disoriented dis��o��ri��ent?tr.v. dis��o��ri��ent��ed, dis��o��ri��ent��ing, dis��o��ri��entsTo cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation.Adj. 1. . And somany educators almost passionately hold onto the tenets of the deadcurriculum because the deterministic 1. (probability) deterministic - Describes a system whose time evolution can be predicted exactly.Contrast probabilistic.2. (algorithm) deterministic - Describes an algorithm in which the correct next step depends only on the current state. and the cult of efficiency-methodare all they know. Yet the recent events that took place at Columbine columbine, in botanycolumbine(kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. High and other schools throughout the country should force us to look atourselves and today's students. In fact, the statistics offered byTime magazine (1999) concerning today's students are almostoverwhelming. For instance, children spend 11 fewer hours with parentseach week as we compare with the 1960s, there is a 721% increase in thenumber of minutes evening news spent covering homicides from 1993 to1996, a child now watches 8,000 murders before he leaves elementaryschool elementary school:see school. , a 300% increase in teen suicides since the 1960s, and finallythere has been a 1,000% increase in depression since the 1950s. (pp.38-39) Of course, we can blame parents, TV, teen music, availability ofguns, unsafe schools; we can blame the neurosis neurosis,in psychiatry, a broad category of psychological disturbance, encompassing various mild forms of mental disorder. Until fairly recently, the term neurosis was broadly employed in contrast with psychosis, which denoted much more severe, debilitating mental of the shooters, butperhaps we may come to realize that huge schools of 2,000 students andthe factory model of schooling is coming apart at its seams along withits "technical rationality" model of curriculum and teaching.Teach the subject and forget the students is what some of this breakdownis about. At the same time this is happening, we are asking schools todo more than ever. Not only are we asking schools to create a safeenvironment today, but we are also asking schools to convey a solid basein the three R's, to beef up the Math and Science programs, to bemore humanistic hu��man��ist?n.1. A believer in the principles of humanism.2. One who is concerned with the interests and welfare of humans.3. a. A classical scholar.b. A student of the liberal arts. , to make students more aware of AIDS, drugs, and on andon it goes! I believe many educators can't take much more and theyseem to be disconnected from their teaching, students, and the worldaround them. They have lost hope, meaning, and feel powerless to doanything about the present state of affairs in education. Sometimes, I feel many have become numbed by the events of the lasttwo years and just pretend it is all part of a bad dream and eventuallyit will go away. But sadly it's not going away, and it may even getworse if we don't do something now. The 90's are an exhausteddecade. For some teachers and students alike, there's nothing tolook for, and nowhere to go. We are lacking a shared vision for schoolsand a solid foundation to stand on. Educators, like me, who are in exile sense that our only hope is tojourney beyond the dead models of education that are based ondeterministic and efficiency methods. If not, we can perhaps for thefirst time envision the dismantling dis��man��tle?tr.v. dis��man��tled, dis��man��tling, dis��man��tles1. a. To take apart; disassemble; tear down.b. of schooling as we presently knowit. We have young people going to schools that were designed forstudents at the start of the century and a European middle class. Thiscurriculum model of the past is very unyielding. We do have somealternative models working like magnet schools magnet schooln.A public school offering a specialized curriculum, often with high academic standards, to a student body representing a cross section of the community. , charter schools, andblock scheduling Block scheduling is a type of academic scheduling in which each student has fewer classes per day for a longer period of time. This is intended to result in more time for teaching due to less time wasted due to class switching and preparation. but for the most part as John Goodlad (1984) pointedout in his book, A Place Called School, things are about the same intoday's school as they were 100 years ago. What is even moreamazing a��maze?v. a��mazed, a��maz��ing, a��maz��esv.tr.1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise.2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex.v.intr. , the American Medical institution which is one of the mostconservative institutions in America, has begun to accept complementaryand alternative types of medicine such as acupuncture acupuncture(ăk`ypŭng'chər), technique of traditional Chinese medicine, in which a number of very fine metal needles are inserted into the skin at specially designated points. , chiropractic chiropractic(kīrəprăk`tĭk)[Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. manipulations, vitamin therapy, food and exercise diets. Joe and TerryGraedon (1999) mentioned on their National Public Radio program,"The People's Pharmacy," that close to 50% oftoday's patients use some type of complementary or alternativemedicine. And yet, the educational institution beat keeps going on andon pretending it is still 1725. I believe we have been grieving grievingMourning, see there enoughfor the curriculum of the past and now we need to move onto a newer andmore viable education institution for the next millennium. Students today are different. They have the Internet, videos,movies, and the social constraints, whether imposed by family, church,or community, are less strong today. Many worship the Gospel of Wealth,looking for Looking forIn the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. instant gratifications shown over and over again in Pepsi orCoke commercials. In a way, they find it very difficult to live with anunfulfilled need. They live in a culture that reinforces the idea thatyouth, carefree times, and lack of responsibility go hand-in-hand. Theyouth of today are moving toward a lonely existence in the name ofnewfound new��found?adj.Recently discovered: a newfound pastime.Adj. 1. newfound - newly discovered; "his newfound aggressiveness"; "Hudson pointed his ship down the coast of the newfound sea" freedom. They gather in cliques or under the guise ofmulticulturalism, separate into "cults" that stay separatefrom the mainstream. In the end there are only isolated individuals andgroups that are not bound together with any kind of shared narrative asNeil Postman POSTMAN, Eng. law. A barrister in the court of exchequer, who has precedence in: motions. (1995) stresses in his book The End of Education. Whensmall loyalties replace larger loyalties there becomes a goodpossibility of social discord DiscordSee also Confusion.Andrasdemon of discord. [Occultism: Jobes, 93]discord, apple ofcaused conflict among goddesses; Trojan War ultimate result. [Gk. Myth. and a breakdown of society as we now seein schools with certain cliques or cults dominating the less powerful.Along with all of this, today's young people face the prospect ofnever making the income that their parents made and thus developing apassive existence, and thus giving up and spending most of their timesearching for a better entertainment. Postman offers the followinginsights, "... The question is not, Does or doesn't publicschooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does itcreate? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless soul��less?adj.Lacking sensitivity or the capacity for deep feeling.soulless��ly adv. ,directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens ..." (p. 18). Educators, like Diane Ravitch Diane Ravitch is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and former United States Assistant Secretary of Education who is now a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education. , feel according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Postman (1995)that technology, the computer specifically, will remake re��make?tr.v. re��made , re��mak��ing, re��makesTo make again or anew.n.1. The act of remaking.2. Something in remade form, especially a new version of an earlier movie or song. today'syouth and their institutions. (p. 38) But Sven Birkerts (1994) in hisbook The Guttenberg Elegies For the poetry, see Elegy.Elegies (エレジーズ, strongly argues against such a society; thatwe must be careful in our new canon of technological-informationalsociety that we don't lose the ability to think deeply andcritically as we read snapshots of information which perhaps will turnthe youth of today into a computer literate computer literacyn.The ability to operate a computer and to understand the language used in working with a specific system or systems.computer literate adj. person but also a shallowunthinking human being. The other reality we must face about the dead educational practicesis that schools have also become our surrogate surrogaten. 1) a person acting on behalf of another or a substitute, including a woman who gives birth to a baby of a mother who is unable to carry the child. 2) a judge in some states (notably New York) responsible only for probates, estates, and adoptions. conscience. Too many ofus let schools take the rap of societal ills while much of society is amassive demonstration in hypocrisy HypocrisySee also Pretension.Alcestejudged most social behavior as hypocritical. [Fr. Lit.: Le Misanthrope]Ambrosioself-righteous abbot of the Capuchins at Madrid. [Br. Lit. . Besides this, our assumption thatthe most important teaching and learning occurs only in schools is anunreal expectation. We need to recognize the other kinds of learningthat goes on, such as in front of the TV, in the family, on the streetcorners, or whatever. Schools are only one of many institutions that areresponsible for learning. It is important to recognize that as we seethe mounting evidence against the present way we educate students, wemust also recognize the untapped possibilities for us in education. Formany of us in exile, these possibilities and our beliefs help usmaintain our existence in the world of a dead curriculum and in a worldof that is to come. A curriculum of possibilities, I believe, must first help teachersbe less concerned with mastery of a subject matter and more concernedwith helping students understand their world around them throughpersonal growth education. It is more than learning skills, it ishelping students understand themselves and the world around them; it isseeing the connection and meanings of their lives; the curriculum ofpossibilities should, in short, move students to a transcendental levelof knowing and wholeness. Ouspensky (1971), a Russian philosopher, saysthat the journey to transcendence is seeing the depth of meaning andpurpose in one's ordinary experiences. This quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby"quest after, go after, pursuelook for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the connections,meanings, and transcendence is not something that needs to be broughtinto or added onto the curriculum. It should be the heart of everycurriculum. Students should be given the opportunity to live withsupport as they ask the questions of Who am I, Where am I going, andWhat is my relationship to love, God, and human beings? They must learnto live with these questions as the answers come from them from time totime. Most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent"above all, most especially in this curriculum of possibilities is the beliefthat knowledge is not passively received, but it is actively built bythe individual as he or she interacts with his inner journey and searchfor meaning. Experiences also in the subject matter should not be staticbut should help students nourish nour��ishv.To provide with food or other substances necessary for sustaining life and growth. their meanings. John Dewey (1944) makesthis point when he discusses his Theories of Morals. There is an old saying to the effect that it is not enough for man to be good; he must be good for something. The something for which a man must be good is capacity to live as a social member so that what he gets from living with others balances with what he contributes. What he gets and gives as a human being, a being with desires, emotions, and ideas, is not external possessions, but a widening and deepening and conscious life -- a more intense, disciplined, and expanding realization of meanings. (p.359) Howard Gardner Howard Gardner, born on July 11, 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a psychologist who is based at Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences[0]. In 1981, he was awarded a MacArthur Prize Fellowship. proposes that we accomplish this not by studying aparticular subject but having the subjects broaden our definition ofeducation. He says: My own answer can be stated succinctly. A dozen or more years of education should yield students who can think well about the essential questions of human life: who are we, where do we come from, what's the world made of, what have humans achieved and what can we achieve, how does one lead a good life? Many people, institutions and experiences can contribute to formulating these questions and the answers. The distinct contribution of formal education is to equip students with ways of thinking, the scholarly disciplines, that have been constructed over the years to allow individuals to think well and deeply about these questions and some viable answers. (p. 11) When we discuss this exile curriculum of possibilities, we shallalso see that teachers need to create what Nel Noddings Nel Noddings (1929– ) is an American feminist, educationalist, and philosopher best known for her work in philosophy of education, educational theory, and ethics of care. (1992) callscaring relations. In a way, she stresses that we must help students careabout their emotional, spiritual, and intellectual selves and to sharethese selves with others. Jane Tompkins (1996) said in her book A Life in School thatteachers need to ask themselves the following: * Do students get the sunshine of love and attention from theirinstructors? * Do they receive the rain of affection and intimate exchange fromone another? * Do they have time and space to grow in? (p. 152) She goes on to say, "What is important is to carry yourstudents in your heart." (p. 152) Likewise, Parker Palmer Parker J. Palmer (born 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. (1998)says that teaching is related to interweaving the intellectual,emotional, and spiritual. By intellectual I mean the way we think about teaching and learning--the form and content of our concepts of how people know and learn of the nature of our students and our subjects. By emotional I mean the way we and our students feel as we teach and learn--feelings that either enlarge or diminish the exchange between us. By spiritual I mean the diverse ways we answer the heart's longing to be connected with the largeness of life--a longing that animates love and work, especially the work called teaching. (pp. 4-5) Further, over my thirty years in education, I have been writingabout the need for educators to recognize their humanness in themselvesand their students. I have written that we must share our love, innervoices, our joys, and genuine feelings in the classroom. In a sense, thecurriculum should be a site for understanding, caring, meanings,connections, transcending, and a place to be loved. The more we discoverourselves through our education and the more we can be free to loveourselves, then the more we are able to share our love with others. In a recent and deeply moving book, Tuesdays with Morrie, by MitchAlbom Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey) is a U.S. novelist and newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, radio host, and TV commentator. He is a graduate of Akiba Hebrew Academy, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. (1997), the author's former teacher is dying and his teachershares his experience by talking about some profound thoughts. Morriesays, "Remember what I said about finding a meaningful life? Iwrote it down, but now I can recite it: Devote yourself to lovingothers, devote yourself to your community around you, and devoteyourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."(p. 127) For the last two years, I have been working with a group ofteachers in a project called TARGET (1999) with a major purpose offinding ways to use drama and other activities in the classroom to helpstudents deal with issues of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. What I havefound is that for the majority of teachers the "cult ofefficiency" curriculum has already died for them. They called itthe "Broken Record" curriculum. In short, telling andlecturing today's students very seldom works. What they see as thenew and changing curriculum is one that is oriented o��ri��ent?n.1. Orient The countries of Asia, especially of eastern Asia.2. a. The luster characteristic of a pearl of high quality.b. A pearl having exceptional luster.3. around"Life-Saving Practices." In this curriculum orientation, theTARGET teachers have developed a faith and commitment to the newpossibilities it offers to us in exile. As Nel Noddings (1992) stresses,we want our new "Life-Saving Practices" to produce competent,caring, loving, and spiritual people. It is important that in order tocultivate a new curriculum, we must be willing to eliminate the need tocontrol each other too. In a way, we all must be willing to die incertain ways so that we can become the kind of person we need to be. Our beliefs are also what sustain us in our exile, and here are afew core beliefs that have helped me recognize my exile as I seek newpossibilities. * All human beings are naturally good. * Love and caring nourishes our spiritual selves. * People learn better in open, affectionate environments. * Without meaning, life cannot be fully lived. * Schools are places to realize potential, not destroy it. * Curriculum is a site where we can be comfortable asking questionsabout existence, God, death, meaning. * Personal growth begins with understanding our inner voices first. * Life has no meaning unless we care for others. * Community service toward social justice is a responsibility forall of us. * All human relationships should transcend toward a higher love,good, or being. * A shared family life, whatever that be, with friends,organizations, and churches, it is needed to survive today. * The more we can have joy in our lives the more we live. * The main activity of teaching is for teacher and student todiscover who they are as human beings. * The most important goal in education is"self-discovery." Many of these core beliefs, I believe, you will also find amongothers who find themselves in exile and our moving to a new and changingeducation. And yet they help us to contend with the curriculum of thepast but also carry within our hearts the curriculum of the future. Eventhough at this time, many of us feel that the curriculum of the past hasdied, and our path to changing education is filled with uncertaintiesand doubts, we must have faith into new possibilities. We must beconfident that our education system will develop morally and spirituallywhile mindful mind��ful?adj.Attentive; heedful: always mindful of family responsibilities.See Synonyms at careful.mind of the evils of greed, drugs, TV, Internet, fear, andviolence will still exist, If we choose to view the world as part of alarger cosmos and something higher then, I believe, education can leadus to a path of spirit and goodness. This is my hope and why we mustmove on to newer visions of education. As Bishop John Shelby Spong John Shelby Spong (born 16 June 1931 in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.) is the retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). He is a liberal theologian, biblical scholar, religion commentator and author. (1998) speaks of a new world for Christianity, his words have meaningfor us in education. ... I do believe that life here is but a limited and finite image of full life, which is limitless and infinite. I do assert that one prepares for eternity not by being religious and keeping the rules, but by living fully, loving wastefully, and daring to be all that each of us has the capacity to be. (p. 218) References Albom, M. (1997). Tuesdays with Mottle mot��tle?tr.v. mot��tled, mot��tling, mot��tlesTo mark with spots or blotches of different shades or colors.n.1. A spot or blotch of color.2. A variegated pattern, as on marble. . New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Doubleday. Birkerts, S. (1994). The Guttenberg Elegies. New York: FawcettColumbine. Cloud, J. (1999). What Can the Schools Do? Time, May 3, 1999. pp.38-40. Dewey, J. (1944). Democracy and Education. New York: The FreePress. Gardner, H. (1999). Toward Good Thinking on Essential Questions.New York Times. Saturday, September 11, 1999. Goodlad, J. (1984). A Place Called School. New York: McGraw. Graedon, J., and Graedon, T. The People's Pharmacy. NationalPublic Radio. Saturday, September 18, 1999. Noddings, N. (1992). The Challenge to Care in Schools. New York andLondon: Teachers College Press. Ouspensky, P. D. (1971). A New Model of the Universe. New York:Vintage Books. Palmer, P.J. (1998). The Courage to Teach. San Francisco San Francisco(săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden : HarperCollins. Postman, N. (1995). The End of Education. New York: Vintage Books. Spong, J. S. (1998). Why Christianity Must Die. San Francisco:Harper Collins. Target Project (1999). Curriculum Guide. West Virginia University West Virginia University,mainly at Morgantown; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; est. and opened 1867 as an agricultural college, renamed 1868. . Tompkins, J. (1996). A Life in School. Reading, Massachusetts Reading is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 23,708 at the 2000 census. History"Reading's original settlers came from England in the 1630s to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Many arrived through the ports of Lynn and Salem. :Perseus Books. Ron Iannone, Professor, West Virginia University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr.Ron Iannone, Professor, 605 Allen Hall This article is about the University of Manchester Hall of Residence. For the University of Pittsburgh, see Allen Hall (University of Pittsburgh). Allen Hall , Morgantown, WV 26505.