Stickin' it to the Man
Lately, many of the students in my classes have commented on how much I complain. If I said that it's just because lots of things have gone wrong lately, I'd be lying. (Although lots of things HAVE gone wrong lately!) I am, by nature, a critic. I see things that aren't right, and I try to correct them. When that is not within my power, I rage about them in hopes that someone high enough up the ladder of authority will hear me and make the necessary changes. When that doesn't work, I try to get people angry enough to take unified action. In other words, I just can't ignore things that I know to be wrong. Sadly, there are many people in the world who do. Even more sadly, most of the authority figures in public education are just such people. The administrative offices of most school districts around the country (and the governmental offices who fund them) are full of folks who can look at an overcrowded, underfunded school that clearly is not doing everything it can to help students learn and succeed, and rather than do something that we KNOW would help (lower class sizes, hire better teachers, get more parents involved), they will start another "new program" to heap more responsibilities on the teachers and students who are already failing the requirements of the "old program." There is no chance for the system to succeed under such poor leadership.
Is this problem unique to schools? Absolutely not! In fact it starts at the top: government. And most of the people who have enough money to get elected to public office come out of the business community, which is where they have learned the (poor) leadership skills that they then bring to their public service duties. Part of the problem is that people tend to believe that what works in one place will always work in another. Not true. The methods used to make a billion dollars in industry will not effectively run a school. If you want to read a story that illustrates this, click here. People in all walks of life have a nasty tendency to ignore things that are uncomfortable to think about, and therefore many problems never get solved. This is the root of ignorance. (Ignore...ignorance...get it?) Ignorance, contrary to modern belief, is not the same as stupidity; ignorance is, rather, the result of otherwise intelligent people paying no attention to things that need to be paid attention to...like their children or their co-workers or their customers. Ignorance is the mass of people who can read but don't. (My daughter, who is usually quite bright, said something that made me laugh this morning when I was giving her a hard time about doing simple addition on a calculator instead of in her head: "It's not that I can't use my brain. I just choose not to." That's a perfect definition of ignorance!) Ignorance is the ability to believe that if it doesn't directly affect you, it doesn't really matter. Ignorance is a form of selfishness that thinking people can't abide. (And most of you are thinking people, whether you like it or not, even though a lot of you might agree with my daughter about calculators.)
So here's my thesis: Ignorance is evil, and it is our job as "good" people to fight it. Sadly, there is so much ignorance in high places lately that in order to fight it, sometimes you have to stick it to the Man. You have to mock the Man to show others the dangers of his ignorance. You have to point out how silly it is that we have a "Pajama Day" to which no one is actually allowed to wear real pajamas or slippers, a "Crazy Hair Day" on which no one can have their hair too crazy (or colored), a "Hat Day" on which your hats can't be too outrageous. If the activity is truly a reward for good behavior, why can't we trust students to illustrate their good behavior? Why do we have to heap on the warnings and threats and reminders and conditions? Why do we have to strip all the fun out of what is supposed to be a fun activity?! Is it any wonder only a small handful of people actually participate?
So some of you might be asking, "What are you sayin', Thompson? That we should get rid of all our rules?" No, just the stupid ones. Just the ones that don't really serve or benefit anyone. Just the ones that go against the very purpose they are supposed to serve. Just the ignorant ones! What good does it do to make all these policies about how your hair or your pajamas or your hat can't be too distracting to the educational experience but then to break into classes with 20 million announcements and phone calls every period that prevent students from concentrating and teachers from teaching? Where is the logic in that? Or to make one of those announcements about the technicians in the school who is setting up new phone wiring: "Just ignore him," the Man tells us. But he doesn't tell us how we are supposed to ignore someone who is on a ladder right in the middle of the classroom with a blaring walkie-talkie on his hip while he's running a power drill and little bits of ceiling fluff are falling all around him. It's not a prime environment for silent reading, if you know what I mean.
So, sometimes I have to stick it to the Man. Sometimes when I (as a teacher) am the Man, my students stick it to me. And that is something I'm usually okay with because I know that if everyone just gives up, turns their free will over to the people who proclaim themselves in charge, blindly follows ignorant leaders, then we will be in a world like the one in Anthem. Equality 7-2521 sticks it to the Man, and as a result the Man almost destroys him. But in the end, he is better off for his journey and hope remains for the future because he has the intellect and the freedom to rebuild the world. And none of that hope would have been possible if he had never stuck it to the Man. Consider many of our most well known historical figures: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. (and Martin Luther, for that matter), Gallileo, Abraham Lincoln, all the Founding Fathers of this country. All the most significant characters in world history stuck it to the Man in one form or another. They were the voices of love and reason against the howling mobs. They did what they knew to be right, and they often suffered for it. (One of them was even crucified.) Wouldn't it have been so much easier for them not to fight the good fight? To just leave well enough alone and go on about their lives? Think about it: Why was it so important to them to stick it to the Man? BECAUSE THEY CARED! And while my brand of sticking it to the Man is not even in the same ballpark as what most of them did, I care too. I want us to have a good school in an effective system, and I want to rid the community of the ignorance that will bring us down. So I complain, and I remind my students on a regular basis how nonsensical things seem to be. And someday, maybe some of you will pick up this banner and carry it into the next generation, providing a little hope for those who come after us.
So, while the rest of you turn on the TV and pray that the time passes without pain, a handful of us will be out stickin' it to the Man to make all our lives (including yours) a little better. I hope you appreciate the effort we make on your behalf and the rich tradition in which we work.
Is this problem unique to schools? Absolutely not! In fact it starts at the top: government. And most of the people who have enough money to get elected to public office come out of the business community, which is where they have learned the (poor) leadership skills that they then bring to their public service duties. Part of the problem is that people tend to believe that what works in one place will always work in another. Not true. The methods used to make a billion dollars in industry will not effectively run a school. If you want to read a story that illustrates this, click here. People in all walks of life have a nasty tendency to ignore things that are uncomfortable to think about, and therefore many problems never get solved. This is the root of ignorance. (Ignore...ignorance...get it?) Ignorance, contrary to modern belief, is not the same as stupidity; ignorance is, rather, the result of otherwise intelligent people paying no attention to things that need to be paid attention to...like their children or their co-workers or their customers. Ignorance is the mass of people who can read but don't. (My daughter, who is usually quite bright, said something that made me laugh this morning when I was giving her a hard time about doing simple addition on a calculator instead of in her head: "It's not that I can't use my brain. I just choose not to." That's a perfect definition of ignorance!) Ignorance is the ability to believe that if it doesn't directly affect you, it doesn't really matter. Ignorance is a form of selfishness that thinking people can't abide. (And most of you are thinking people, whether you like it or not, even though a lot of you might agree with my daughter about calculators.)
So here's my thesis: Ignorance is evil, and it is our job as "good" people to fight it. Sadly, there is so much ignorance in high places lately that in order to fight it, sometimes you have to stick it to the Man. You have to mock the Man to show others the dangers of his ignorance. You have to point out how silly it is that we have a "Pajama Day" to which no one is actually allowed to wear real pajamas or slippers, a "Crazy Hair Day" on which no one can have their hair too crazy (or colored), a "Hat Day" on which your hats can't be too outrageous. If the activity is truly a reward for good behavior, why can't we trust students to illustrate their good behavior? Why do we have to heap on the warnings and threats and reminders and conditions? Why do we have to strip all the fun out of what is supposed to be a fun activity?! Is it any wonder only a small handful of people actually participate?
So some of you might be asking, "What are you sayin', Thompson? That we should get rid of all our rules?" No, just the stupid ones. Just the ones that don't really serve or benefit anyone. Just the ones that go against the very purpose they are supposed to serve. Just the ignorant ones! What good does it do to make all these policies about how your hair or your pajamas or your hat can't be too distracting to the educational experience but then to break into classes with 20 million announcements and phone calls every period that prevent students from concentrating and teachers from teaching? Where is the logic in that? Or to make one of those announcements about the technicians in the school who is setting up new phone wiring: "Just ignore him," the Man tells us. But he doesn't tell us how we are supposed to ignore someone who is on a ladder right in the middle of the classroom with a blaring walkie-talkie on his hip while he's running a power drill and little bits of ceiling fluff are falling all around him. It's not a prime environment for silent reading, if you know what I mean.
So, sometimes I have to stick it to the Man. Sometimes when I (as a teacher) am the Man, my students stick it to me. And that is something I'm usually okay with because I know that if everyone just gives up, turns their free will over to the people who proclaim themselves in charge, blindly follows ignorant leaders, then we will be in a world like the one in Anthem. Equality 7-2521 sticks it to the Man, and as a result the Man almost destroys him. But in the end, he is better off for his journey and hope remains for the future because he has the intellect and the freedom to rebuild the world. And none of that hope would have been possible if he had never stuck it to the Man. Consider many of our most well known historical figures: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. (and Martin Luther, for that matter), Gallileo, Abraham Lincoln, all the Founding Fathers of this country. All the most significant characters in world history stuck it to the Man in one form or another. They were the voices of love and reason against the howling mobs. They did what they knew to be right, and they often suffered for it. (One of them was even crucified.) Wouldn't it have been so much easier for them not to fight the good fight? To just leave well enough alone and go on about their lives? Think about it: Why was it so important to them to stick it to the Man? BECAUSE THEY CARED! And while my brand of sticking it to the Man is not even in the same ballpark as what most of them did, I care too. I want us to have a good school in an effective system, and I want to rid the community of the ignorance that will bring us down. So I complain, and I remind my students on a regular basis how nonsensical things seem to be. And someday, maybe some of you will pick up this banner and carry it into the next generation, providing a little hope for those who come after us.
So, while the rest of you turn on the TV and pray that the time passes without pain, a handful of us will be out stickin' it to the Man to make all our lives (including yours) a little better. I hope you appreciate the effort we make on your behalf and the rich tradition in which we work.
posted by MRT at 9:17 AM
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