Education Rant ft. Paul E. Willis

So I read some of Paul E. Willis’ work, namely Culture, Institution, Differentiation. He spoke at some length about the education system, which I have had an interest in due to my mother’s career as a schoolteacher. As I interpreted it, Willis described the education system as an apparatus for conditioning children to the nature of society.

The systems used in institutions of education are metaphoric mirrors of social systems. Respect for whoever sits in the position of authority is particularly emphasized. Every aspect of a typical grade school reinforces the inferiority of the students. The tightly ranked desks set facing the teacher’s vast work surface demonstrate the proportion of wealth and/or power between modern-day proletarians and patricians. Another aspect of grade school is the regimented schedule followed week after week. Bells and timetables prepare students for life in the real world. These schedules are reinforced by the authorities, and stepping outside the line incurs punishment. At recess, students are cleared from the school and expected to go outside. Those who remain indoors must have a reason to do so.

They are deprived private space, nervously knocking on the staff room door. Students are constantly faced with locked doors, or places that are deemed “off-limits”  like boiler rooms, cupboards, and the like. I say let ‘em roam. If they want to know what’s making the noise behind the door, take a class in there, show them the boiler, explain why it makes the noises it does and the role it plays. The “because I said so” mentality is only harming the inquisitive nature of students. I apologize, let’s get back to the point.

In schools, the teachers control all the resources worth having; knowledge, keys and authority. They control when and what to discuss. This social control generates an oppositional mindset in the students. In last week’s post, I mentioned an article called Subcultures, Cultures and Class. In this work, the authors note that in a system where there are dominant and subordinate classes, the relation between them is always oppositional. The subordinate class resents the dominant class for having what they don’t and the dominant class resents the subordinate class for trying to reach their level. So schools are doing a pretty good job of getting kids used to the idea of the class system, but there’s a problem here. Opposition creates a barrier to control. Because of the oppositional mindset, kids feel they should be disobedient. This academic disobedience leads to ignorance when the student values rebellion more than their education. This is a big deal! Kids need to focus on being educated without feeling the need to rebel against their superiors. The current system sets kids up to choose ignorance over education.

The respect demanded by grade school teachers has no foundation. Students do not respect teachers without cause. The best teachers I have ever had are the ones I truly respected, not the ones whose power I feared.