As I was reading the "Unemployment Training" article by Martin Haberman I found myself drawing many connections to my student teaching experience. I suppose I always just attributed these things I was seeing as being a part of an urban area, but didn't really think about the role the teachers were playing in this. I totally agree that teachers are instilling these beliefs in their students, even as early as 3rd grade. I think may times they don't even realize it. It really opened my eyes to what was going on, and I thought maybe there were a few times when I let the idea of just showing up count as participating in class. It may be the easier thing to do, but it is definitely not the right or the best for the students. No wonder we have so many problems by the time they reach high school. I wish this weren't a reality in urban schools, but the author's examples seems so prevalent in my student teaching. How can we just set kids up to fail?
I began thinking about the impact this has on science education and how this ideology really puts science education at a disadvantage. As if it wasn't already put on the back burner, but how could one teach science with the ideology of "nowness". I think that science ideas and culture builds on on another. If students aren't expected to remember from on day to another, or even expect they will have to use in the in future Isn't science doomed from the beginning? Science is hard work, we need to be continually using our brains and critical thinking to uncover some of the concepts, "showing up" clashes with this. I feel people keep saying there's no science, but how can science prevail with this culture looming underneath. In leadership class we read an article about how strong the culture of a school is, and how hard it is to change. Perhaps before we can really implement science the way it is intended to be implemented we need to change and bring forth these underlying assumptions that hinder all learning, not just science learning. I think this is the really challenging question. How can one do this? I myself wouldn't know where to start in trying to change this culture if I was teaching in an urban school.
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Even though the discussion in class may not have revealed it, my experiences and interpretations of Haberman's article are very close to what you have described. Certainly there are problems with portraying all urban schools and all urban schoolchildren in the broad strokes used by this author. Yet there is a ring of truth to what he wrote even though it could be regarded as offensive.
Your blog’s title offers a question that is worth examining. I do not know that there are quick answers. Nevertheless, by asking this question you demonstrate that you recognize that the problem exists. In addition, you have framed it in a way that suggests that teachers (maybe not as lone individuals) may have genuine influence. Rather than blaming the community or disputing Haberman's blustering style, you have accomplished quite an amazing feat for someone so early in her career: looking at education from a systems perspective and actively seeking ways in which wrongs could be righted.
I love how you are seeking the answer and not just accepting this as a truth and something that is destined to stay this way. I think too many teachers fall into the cycle of just getting by and not making the extra effort. It is easy to have low expectations because one is never disappointed, one never has to go the extra mile, but one also never sees the joys of accomplishment. While this life and teaching style may be easier, if that is how someone wants to teach I wonder why they bother teaching at all. So many people tell me how naive I am and that 1 teacher won't make a difference, but that is the point. Everyone starts thinking one person doesn't matter and then no one even bothers to try. If every teacher believed they mattered and made a difference then all the teachers would be giving that extra effort and setting their expectations high. While the reality is that no one person will save education for every kid, I think we all just need to set the bar high, keep it there, accept our defeats, but celebrate the successes and keep one teaching.
I agree with Christine. I think it's great that you are looking for answers that were not provided in the reading instead of just accepting the issues in the article as being truths and moving on. I feel that a lot of young teachers are looked at as being naive, but as long as we set realistic goals to be met, I feel we can make a difference. Also, the teaching field is full of questions to be answered and research to be done in order to improve education and if we settle for how things are, we will not be doing our jobs. I think one of the best things about teaching is when you accomplish something, even if it is something small and once that feeling is gone, there isn't much left to teaching.
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