Antagonism

We trouble ourselves about the uses of the young person to society.  As for his own use, what he should be in and for himself, why, what matter?  Because, say we, if we fit him to earn his living we fit him also to be of service to the world and what better can we do for him personally?  We forget that it is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live, -- whether it be spoken in the way of some truth of religion, poem, picture, scientific discovery, or literary expression; by these things men live and in all such is the life of the spirit.  The spiritual life requires the food of ideas for its daily bread. -- Charlotte Mason

For years as a classroom teacher, I could not understand why there seemed to be so much antagonism, suspicion, and undeserved animosity in a classroom.  When students walk in on day one, without the teacher ever speaking a word, you can feel the anxiety and tension.  "I am not going to like this... I am not going to like you."  With many teachers, the feeling is mutual.  "You are all here to make my job hard.  I'll teach you to try to derail my career."  There is suspicion.  Trust left town so long ago that it no longer carries any citizenship in Educationland.  I could not understand why this was.  "What have I ever done to you?  For that matter, what has Abraham Lincoln ever done to you?"

I have found a few answers, which I intend to talk about in the next couple of posts.  The first relates to the quote above.

Ask most any student, teacher, parent, administrator, public official, etc., what the purpose of education is, they will give you a chain of thoughts that culminates in a singular, uninspired answer: "We need to prepare them for the workforce."  Before they've even walked in the door of their preschool class, we've reduced them to a monetary unit.  They ARE their bank account.  We are so fixated on what they are going to do (read, "How they're going to make money") that we've forgotten to address who they are.

Students have recognized this, and they've been quietly rebelling against it for the past half-century.

Who are they?  They are spiritual beings.  Read into that what you want, but what I mean is that there is an intangible element to their being.  This is undeniable.  Their brain (a material element) gives rise to a mind (an immaterial element).  There is no dissecting a thought.  This element must be nurtured every bit as much as their physical body must be nurtured.  In focusing so much on the one, we have starved the other.

They are spiritual beings with a desire to know and to be known.  They are unique beings (though many might debate this), who are deserving of certain treatment.  They are deserving of the freedom that only comes from an inspired mind!

Plutarch once said that the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be set ablaze.  Most minds are capable of inspiration, and once inspired, they inevitably seek freedom.  What we seek to give them is a career.  What we have told them is that freedom is not important.  In fact, it's dangerous, and that they'd better settle for the safety of a cubicle, a boss, and a paycheck.

I am not saying that a job or a career is evil (I have one myself).  What I am saying is that I firmly believe that we do a disservice to our students when we focus solely on their livelihood and not on the development of their personhood through the transmission of, and inspiration by, great ideas.  Who wouldn't rebel against such treatment?  We are not surprised at all, in fact we cheer, when we read stories of people who demand to be treated as human beings after being treated as less than human.  Why are we surprised when they come into class and just want to get it over with?  Why are we surprised when they can't wait to get out?  Why are we surprised that almost half of students that drop out say they do so because their classes were pointless and irrelevant, even though they know they are throwing their economic future away?

Would we stand to be treated like this?  Why are we surpised when they don't?