Alfie Kohn's Book Response

What does it mean to be well educated?

A very good question suggested by Alfie Kohn.  He goes into detail pertaining many different ideas to change the educational system to make children learn the appropriate material, but a few things really stuck out to me.
In the section "Confusing Hard with Better", he says,

"...But how many adults could pass these exams?  How any high school teachers possess the requisite stock of information outside their own subjects?  How many college professors, for that matter, or business executives, or state legislators could confidently write an essay about Mayan agricultural practices or divergent plate boundaries?  We would do will to adopt (Deborah) Meier's Mandate:  No student should be expected to meet an academic requirement that a cross section of successful adults in the community cannot."

While he is talking about certain lessons, lets say a history or geography teacher might teach, I think this can also be applied to standardized testing.  I, for one, am not a big fan of No Child Left Behind.  This may be due to the fact that I am an art education major and NCLB does not help students learn about my field of study and teaching, but also the fact that children are force fed information to keep the school funded, while the studies that they may love, like art, music, foreign language, is pushed to the side.  This coincides with his statement, "Are they trying to get children to memorize a "bunch o' facts (priming them for entry into the vast corporate machine as un-opinionated drones) or are they trying to allow children to explore ideas, learn to love learning, as challenging, difficult questions, and become deep-thinking capable adults."

He also mentions his distaste for private schools.  At first, I thought his judgment was biased or out of line, but after reading what he had to say about them, I began to see it from his point of view.  He talks about how private school can choose from an array of students and pick which ones are their type, so to speak, and can just as easily expel them if they fall from their model status.  I, myself, understand the appeal to private schools.  Private schools are usually filled with children whose parents are very religious or wealthy enough to pay for that type of education.  However, once that child falls below a certain line, the school doesn't have to try and help, they can just expel?  Private school isn't looking as promising as I thought it would be for a child.  They also can set certain rules and standards that not every parent may be too keen on their child following.  But I guess that is the price you have to pay to send your child to an infamous private school.

The rest of the book brought up some interesting topics, like his opposition to the grading system which I agree and disagree with, but these two topics of private school and testing really came to my attention.

Race and Racism Workshop Reflection

With our project, I felt that the most eye-opening and important part was our activity.  We did have videos of how people tend to unconsciously, racially profile people, but the activity is what showed everyone that we are all a little racist.  The stickers had no indication of what race the student was portraying, yet when walking around I heard some very interesting remarks for guesses.  For example, my sticker read "Bad Driver", so people began saying things like, "You must be very good with computers" and "I really love your people's buffets."  They automatically thought I was Asian.  This activity really made the class realize that even if they do not see themselves as prejudice or racist, the world we live in puts certain stereotypes upon different races and we naturally accept that.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before in class, but racism and prejudice always stems from ignorance.  Ignorance to how different people live.  We love to live inside our little bubble and not always look outside of it to see how the rest of the world lives.  It may not be to your liking, but that doesn't mean you should automatically feel anger towards it.  Hopefully the workshop opened a few classmates eyes on how everyone is unfortunately stereotyped against, but how we can choose to not accept those stereotypes ourselves.

Diverse Identities

"When you get bad grades, people look at you really strangely because you are sort of distorting the way they see an Asian."

(Koppelman 2011, pg 164)

We are all taught about racism in school.  We know what it is and how to prevent it from happening to those around us and ourselves.  But what some of us don't realize is that racism isn't just "black and white".  There are other people that get stereotyped and judged on a daily basis that seem to not be as controversial.  I am one of these people. 

I am Asian.  Technically, I am half-Japanese, yet no one could really notice.  To the everyday, average person, I have slanted eyes, so I must be Chinese.  I do not have an accent, yet people assume that I speak perfect Japanese (usually they assume it's perfect Chinese) and/or I may not speak/understand English very well. This assumption is very confusing to me, especially since my name is the very English, Nicole Richardson, not something obviously Asian, like Ling Ochiai.  I have been attending college for 3 and a half years now and am doing well.  Not because I'm Asian, but because I study and try hard to do well.  Yes, my parents pushed me to become this studious and hard working, but never made me study all day, every day.  Though I do wish they made me play instruments for hours during the day.  I've recently started playing the guitar with little to no luck on any musical skills. 

Speaking of my parents, they both work good paying state jobs, not at your local nail salon.  I happen to have nice nails, yes, but that's because I am a girl, not because I get a discount from my parents/cousin/any other family member.  As a family, we eat the same horrible food that every other American eats. This does not include cats and dogs.  Come to think of it, I don't even remember the last time I even used chopsticks.  We all drive American made cars, with a very minuscule traffic violation record I might add.   

Unfortunately, the stereotypes that I hear are some that I have a hard time overcoming.  Being thought of as "automatically" smart by the average person is almost a compliment.  Yet, this "positive stereotype" almost hurts my grades in the classroom rather than improve them.  Teachers tend to automatically assume that I should be turning in high letter grade work, and that results in them grading my work harsher or with higher expectations than others of different race around me.  Racist logic will lead people to believe that I, and others who share the same ethnic background, will attend good schools, like M.I.T., Princeton and others just like it.  Some people even use our "positive stereotype" as a model for other racially diverse students to rise up and meet academically.  (Koppelman 2011, pg 164)  Not only does this reinforce the stereotype, but sets up others for automatic failure.  What happens when I get a C? or a D? or even an F?  Instead of believing that this can happen to anyone, people assume there must be something wrong with me for me to not be excelling academically and still consider myself Asian.  Just because I was born into a race with a long history of stereotypes doesn't mean I have to abide by them. 

Koppelman, Kent L.  (2011), Perspectives on Human Differences.  Boston:  Pearson Education, Inc.

My Art Education Philosophy

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know." 

(Daniel J. Boorstin)

 http://quote.robertgenn.com/getquotes.php?catid=90

Over the past four years I have attended SIUE, I have taken all or are currently enrolled in the art education classes that SIUE has to offer.  Through these experiences, I believe that I have stumbled upon a few ways of teaching that I find important enough to influence how I want to teach in the classroom someday. 

Art education should be about letting students develop individuality and expand their creativity through art making.  It can also be an escape for students who, like myself, would rather be hands on in their work and explore the creative side of their brain rather than always think analytically, like one must do with math and science.  With this type of thinking, a development of an appreciation of art and how it is made begins to blossom.  Many students are unaware of how certain mediums can be used or how different techniques can be applied with familiar tools to create new and exciting artworks.  By making new materials available, like gauche or textiles, and techniques other than the norm, like printmaking or metalsmithing, my future students can have a broader sense of how art can be created. 

I attended a very small school which was more or less located in the middle of a corn field.  For a student who aspired to continue her art education in college, I was not prepared at all.  I hadn't realized how many techniques and materials I had been oblivious of because of what little I was introduced to in school.  This realization drove me to want to open the minds of my future students to the possibilities of art and how it is not limited on how well you can draw or paint. Art is so much more.  

This philosophy of mine, as well as the basis of art education, is related to both the Progressivist theory and the Essentialist theory.  Essentialists believe in teaching the basics, or the essential knowledge and skills, yet accept the idea that the core curriculum may change.  Art has never been at a stand still when it comes to what is popular or now accepted as "fine art", yet no matter what era or art movement we are currently in, the basics are still needed to be taught.  In order to reach a level of professionalism, one must first know and understand the basics of art making, regardless of medium, before than can begin to make their own art through their own experimentation.  This leads me to progressivism.  Progressivists believe in a more hands on approach to learning and to allow the students to ask and possibly answer their own questions.  For me, this is the definition of art.  Art is all about asking questions and finding your own answer.  And without being hands on, how would one be able to create art?

While I have only described on how my teaching philosophy relates to both progressivism and essentialism, I do believe that my beliefs can be related to all of the teaching philosophies and theories available.  All have good points that should be applied to the teaching process, but I believe that some are much more stronger than others.