Ira David Socol: Why “Instructional Tolerance” Matters

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1. Georg says:

   April 9, 2017 at 1:52 pm

   I endorse David’s post. Schools are one of the last resorts of autocracy. Most schools do not meet democratic standards. They teach subordination. They prepare kids for living in an autocracy instead of a democracy. So we should not be surprised that people who went through these schools vote against democracy. They just do not feel prepared. If we want to prepare kids for living in a democracy, schools must provide opportunities for democratic learning, and they must give their students all the freedoms which the constitution guarantees for ALL people, not only for adults. Even if students attend school voluntarily there is no reason to withhold basic rights from them. School can force them under their rule only inasfar as a) these limitations are REALLY for KIDS advantage, and b) all restrictions of individual freedom are avoided which are not justified. Mere pedagocical intentions do not justify limitations of freedom. It must be actually demonstrated logically and empirically that the limitation of freedom by the school are justified. Regular high stakes testing cannot be justified on these grounds. It is a kind of violence against kids in order to maintain discipline. Therefore, high stakes tests violate childrens’ basic rights and should be abandoned. A few well-reasoned and well-designed examinations would do it. From my own teaching experience and many visits in classroom I know that there are better ways to avoid discipline problems: Let kids learn what they need and train the teachers how to teach without oppressing students.

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2. Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

   April 9, 2017 at 3:16 pm

   This is a FABULOUS post. There are so many we have forgotten about whose work inform our practice like Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Kohn. Let’s get back to our principles; we know DeVoodoo has no clue. Taking her advice is doing harm to our students and compromises wha we know.

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3. dienne77 says:

   April 9, 2017 at 3:32 pm

   Since we ended the draft, there is only one other mandated institution that has the kind of control that schools do over what people do, when and how, and even what they wear. But to get into that institution you generally have to commit a crime.

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4. retired teacher says:

   April 9, 2017 at 4:01 pm

   Most teachers today are more concerned with educational survival than having the luxury of a point of view. I lived through several trends in education during my career. When I first came to New York, I did not have a permanent job so I did some subbing. I remember subbing in an open classroom school. I remember thinking,”This is madness,” when students from other groups started to bother my students.” While I am not real authoritarian by nature, I believe in order and rules, which, in my opinion, do not change with teachers’ whims. As budgets are cut and class sizes swell, some form of management system is necessary because anarchy does not benefit anyone. I also believe in allowing students a certain level of autonomy, for as we know, independence of thought and action are essential to a democracy. One of the reasons some students from no excuses charters are not doing as well in college is that their authoritarian background interferes with their time and self management, essential tools in a college setting.

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5. Laura H. Chapman says:

   April 9, 2017 at 6:28 pm

   I am impressed with the link– Teaching the Death of Compromise” and the comment there from Virginia.

   The great temptation of our time is to think that teachers alone and schools alone can and will determine the fate of our nation and the fate of individual students. WRONG.

   The real danger in our time is indoctrination so intense, insistent, and inescapable that children, young people and adults take it for granted that they have no freedom of action, no power to ask questions, no need for empathy…no need to protest or pursue a reasoned and fair compromise.

   Take a look at this wonderful article that illustrates how adults recall and value, their experience as Summerhill students. I think it speaks to the foolishness of predicting the life-long influence of any single method, model, or ideology of education. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/summerhill-alumni-what-we-learnt-at-the-school-for-scandal-2373066.html

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6. LetThemLearn says:

   April 9, 2017 at 10:20 pm

   I lose myself in Ira’s writing on a weekly basis. I often go back and reread posts on speedchange. Amazing and inspirational stuff.

   Agree with the post above referencing cognitive/behavior development theorists. 10 years of teaching and I get blank stares from colleagues whenever I make reference to Dewey, Bruner, Gardner, or Vygotsky. My undergrad/teacher training was full of theory and how it can/should carry into our classrooms. You always hear teachers say undergrad didn’t prepare them enough for their first teaching assignment. Or “I didn’t learn to be a teacher until I became one.” I often think we didn’t learn to be teachers once we found our first assignment. We learned to comply with the incompetent power structure of our schools. We learned to forget our convictions for our own self preservation. You bet I’m guilty of that, too.

   Over and over we say, “just let us teach.” But, when we do “teach,” our students often think, “just let us learn.”

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7. Eleanor says:

   April 10, 2017 at 7:32 am

   Our Title 1 school district has wholeheartedly embraced the authoritarian model. Mandatory uniforms for grades K-12 have been implemented, with draconian consequences. Failure to wear uniforms results in high school students being put back on buses and sent home to change. Repeated offenses result in referrals for insubordination. If a parent chooses to sign a waiver to exempt students from wearing the uniform, that student is automatically excluded from all school activities (prom, homecoming,games, etc.)

   In addition, to deal with the teen pregnancy issue, students were sent to gender-separate assemblies to hear a lecture on respect. No mention of other, more realistic ways to empower students via birth control, PP, outside clinic options. This is making certain local ministers happy, as their authoritarian world view is imposed on our children.

   No mention of engaged citizenry, intellectual curiosity, the need to question authority,etc. It’s obvious that the district is focused on creating a class of obedient workers with enough literacy and numeracy skills to fill low-wage, subordinate positions. The district is focusing on a “cradle to career” pathway, and sees technology as the Holy Grail which will bestow success.

   On nearly a daily basis, we hear students talk about how much they hate high school. Many have said they will never go to college, because of what high school is like. Perhaps this is what the authoritarians in power want – for the masses, subservience and contempt toward learning, for the spawn of the 1 percent, intellectual freedom and total control.

   Such a shame that when we should be encouraging students to pursue intellectual curiosity. we are instead crushing their souls.

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8. Eleanor says:

   April 10, 2017 at 7:34 am

   A must-see: Chris Hedges interviews Nikhil Goyal, on his book “Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice.”

   https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/384088-failing-education-system-nikhil/

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