Education for Social Change

What? All three readings portray the importance of an education that encourages critical consciousness. An education that conditions their students to follow the status quo creates adults in the workforce and society that keep to themselves and do not challenge themselves or others. It is not their fault that they were conditioned like this but because they were, their path is almost predictable because of how they received their education. Society wants educational institutions to churn people out like this and “[wants] a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.” Society doesn’t want people to question why there are certain unspoken rules and that there are dominant and subordinate groups and why one is dominant and not subordinate. We need change because our society is beginning to have the characteristics of a dystopian film where everyone has lost their right to ask questions. However, “if a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish” and that could definitely happen to our society unless our school system changes the way we teach upcoming generations. (Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers”, 1). Society needs to teach students about reality and current events and problems and how to solve real world issues so they are better equipped to help change the world when they go out into it. Teachers especially need to teach minority groups that they are allowed to step out of the box society puts them in. Educators need to get away from the “colonizing mindset” (Teaching to Transgress, “Paulo Freire” hooks, 46). There is still a sign system around white supremacy which makes subordinate groups believe they have to present a certain way to be accepted or even consider being accepted by the dominant group. This ideology is implanted in all ethnicities and cultures at a very young age. That is why when children go to school for at least 12 years of their lives, it is so imperative that education teaches them that the ideology is wrong and can be changed eventually. However, students need to be taught, “by a new generation of teachers of educators who must be prepared trained and formed” (We Make the Road by Walking, Freire, 220). Educators need to express to subordinate groups to do things that are not expected of them and to not limit themselves because they think society won’t appreciate a member of a minority doing a specific task. If we do not teach educators how to deconstruct sign systems in our society we cannot expect anything to change.

So What? Baldwin discusses harmful myths about racial inferiority and US history that should be deconstructed by education. He discusses how Afican-American children grow up knowing the world is not theirs without specifically being told that it’s not. These children do not know anything about their history because their school doesn’t teach them. They only discuss the white founding fathers and the elites who made the decisions to make society a certain way and somehow the African-Americans, and the other people of color, ended up on the bottom of the totem pole. Baldwin describes how society has made up all these myths to make us look good and that hide the bad things about us and how any way that isn’t our way is weird and uncomfortable and unacceptable. However, America in the 244 years it has been alive has done many things that would be considered unacceptable. Baldwin believes that people of color need to learn more about their history and shouldn’t believe they are unworthy at a very young age. He thinks education should discuss the reality of these myths instead of continuing to push them. Sign systems surrounding society and dominant and subordinate groups need to be deconstructed for society to survive and keep evolving. This resonated with me because even though there had been so much recent change people still get left behind and still do not get the chance to voice their opinions or what they think can be fixed in the world. This also relates to bell hooks and her discussion on the “colonized mind.” Society has pushed very specific ideals into place such as patriarchy and dominant groups that they are accepted by subordinate groups. It is recently that enough people have become empowered to begin to change this oppressive ideology. People of color need to realize that just because these ideas are pushed onto them that it does not mean at all that the ideology is superior. Many people have a colonized mind that thinks the dominant group who controls society makes the rules and how to conform however people need to stop conforming. They should fight for what they believe in even if it is not within the rules set by society. People should ask questions about why things are the way they are and if it is possible to change them.

Now What? My community partner is with Canal Alliance ESL classes. Many students want to get rid of their accent because they think it is not socially acceptable. However, they should be empowered by it. They know more languages than most of the people in America. In a perfect world, people who speak only Spanish would not be criticized or seen as inferior because of their language. However, because society says English is the dominant language, anyone who doesn’t have English as their first language is inferior. This should not be a preconceived notion we have. Canal Alliance is trying to encourage these kids to go out and change the world because having English as their second language shouldn’t limit them to specific jobs or opportunities. They are breaking the status quo by having the kids dream big and not tell them to fit into stereotypes.