Education is a Piece of Music

A song is a great metaphor for how I see education. As a concept, both are difficult to explicate how and why they can be effective. But, when they work it is undeniably engaging. It has a way of pulling you in and engaging you on a deeply personal level. The metaphor deepens when you consider the variety of songs and educational philosophies. Some promote social justice while some are just about having fun. Either way, they are always experiences. You react on a personal level and you sometimes can't explain why you like a certain teacher or why a song just gets stuck in your head. On the negative side, it also very easy to get defensive about a belief you have. It's easy to judge someone who like country music or who believes in environmental education. But these arguments overshadow what makes music and education so great. It's supposed to be about a group of people working together to understand or create something. Oftentimes, the process is difficult and requires practice and effort, but in the end it's always worth it when it finally clicks.

In this class I have learned and reevaluated many things regarding my educational philosophy. By reading other people's posts I was able to understand the importance of communication. It is essential collaborate and work on ideas together. Personal experience is something I have unintentionally ignored. Theorizing something is one thing but actually going out and doing it is another. I also realized the importance of environmental education. Since I did not have much of it during my adolescence it is something that I now strongly believe in. Children should not be restricted to classrooms. They should be able to experience nature and learn valuable life skills. But, most of all this class strengthened my belief in social activism in the classroom. Education is not a system to crank out like-minded people who conform to the same beliefs. Children should be passionate and yearn to make the world a better place. That requires action and thoughtful teaching but it is something I hope to achieve.

Thanks for a great semester, Shawn.

Eliminating White Privilege

We want our students to grow and develop into moral and intelligent people. But, in order to do this, it is necessary to eliminate---or, at the very least reduce---the concept of white privilege. You may have noticed an abundance of racist commentary on social networks lately regarding Ferguson and Eric Garner, I sure have. While these remarks are both racist and disgusting, they can be easily dismissed. Their words are hurtful but I believe they only represent a microcosm of a few terribly ignorant people. However, if we want real change to occur we need to start at the root of the cause: education.

The focus needs to be on social justice in the classroom. Specifically, as stated in this pdf, "a social justice curriculum must strive to include the lives of all those in our society, especially the marginalized and dominated." The people who are being mistreated are obviously the focus of social justice, but everyone else cannot be ignored. It needs to be a group effort. There needs to be a collaborative effort to destroy certain ideas regarding white privilege like the Columbus Myth. Students need to not only learn about social injustices but they should also be given the opportunity to actively participate and make positive change. And, this is especially true for Caucasians. Vinay Harpalani in his article "White privilege: a challenge for multicultural education" he states:

"Most of the time, whites are not even aware of these advantages. Many of them are actually things that do NOT happen to whites, such as not being stopped by the police or followed in a store; not being asked to speak for one’s race or treated    as a representative of one’s race; or not being questioned about one’s national loyalty. These “non-experiences” prevent many whites from understanding the everyday burdens that people of color face. As a result, whites usually take their advantages for granted and mistakenly attribute them to hard work and “'merit.'”

This is the mindset that we, as teachers, need to fix. Some may like to claim that racism no longer exists or that we live in a free and equal country; yet, this sort of thinking gets us nowhere. Racism still plays a large role in society and this ignorance can only be quelled through education. It is not an easy process but if this type of awareness is introduced at a young age I think we can see a brighter tomorrow. But, we need to work for it. We need to be socially active and promote fairness and communicate about issues (that are difficult to discuss in the classroom) everyday. Through awareness and communication, we can make positive change.