Breaking Free
Everything is flat — one perspective, one dimension. Here, people are bound by standardization and limited by the expectations of what it means to exist. In Unflattening, Nick Sousanis creates a world called Flatland where standardization is key and nothing goes beyond one dimension. Today’s society, specifically its system of education, finds itself trapped in Flatland. Our students are bound to a one-dimensional view of literacy and labeled by that single perspective. This one-dimensional view of literacy limits our students’ abilities to learn and perform their best in various ways. In order for the education system to break free of this Flatland, the definition of literacy needs to be revised: it has to be multidimensional, encompassing multiple perspectives and multiple dimensions.
One overarching theme of Sousanis’ text is this expanded definition: literacy is more than simply words on a page. Unflattening displays the concept of literacy through visual text, standard print text, and a mixture of both. This mirrors the literacy that students encounter everyday. In the real world, literacy goes beyond reading and writing, encompassing various aspects such as print, visual, digital, emotional, mathematical, and so many more. Each form of literacy takes on multiple perspectives. Because literacy is multidimensional, students have multiple ways in which they can prove to be literate. Specifically, there are several ways that a student can show literacy in mathematics alone. One student may perform best when drawing models to demonstrate understanding, while another is best at using text to demonstrate ability. Thus, it is our job as educators to provide differentiated instruction that caters to the students’ preferred modes of learning. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) provides a fantastic framework for creating a multidimensional atmosphere in the mathematics classroom in the text Principles to Actions (2014).
NCTM highlights the fact that in order for students to be successful, educators need to provide the support and resources needed to maximize their learning potential. Mathematics is unique in that a variety of solutions and strategies are possible with each problem. Students need to be given the opportunity to demonstrate their literacy in a personal and creative way. Although educators are urged to put differentiated instruction into practice, our students are simply not tested in a way that measures their ability accurately.
Howard Gardner sheds light on a major concept that is vital to understanding the strengths and needs of the modern student. Gardner introduced his Theory of Multiple Intelligences and with that, demonstrated that there are multiple ways for students to prove their intelligence.
A student could demonstrate anything from visual to interpersonal intelligence. This ultimately changed the definition of what it means for a student to be “smart” in school. However, standardized testing has yet to adopt this view. Literacy remains a one-dimensional view of words on a page and a child’s ability to read it. Thus, a child’s ability is measured based on a series of questions that uses only one mode of questioning, traditional print text. Standardized testing has done nothing but earn its name: it standardizes learning when we know that learning is anything but standardized. Nick Sousanis visually portrays the outcome of standardized testing.The education system tries to produces student after student with “adequate” knowledge that allows them to perform appropriately on a test; however, these scores do not provide accurate information on how smart or literate the student actually is unless the student performs well with traditional print text.
Alverman also describes the implications of putting labels on children in the article Reading Adolescents’ Reading Identities: Looking Back to See Ahead. The article discusses how putting labels on adolescents — such as calling them struggling readers — can force them to take on the identity of that label and become a struggling reader. How can we expect children to have confidence in their ability as a learner when we mark their success based only on a standardized test? We need to find ways to assess students on all different types of literacies that go beyond the traditional academic realm.
Ultimately, education would be easier if we were in Flatland and everything was one-dimensional with only one perspective. However, life, people, education, and literacy are all multi-dimensional — a fact that we should start recognizing. Once that recognition is made, then and only then can we break free of Flatland.
