Chapter 11: The Loving Resistance Fighter
“You must try to be a loving resistance fighter. . .By
‘loving,’ I mean that, in spite of the confusion, errors, and stupidities you
see around you, you must always keep close to your heart the narratives and
symbols that once made the United States the hope of the world and that may yet
have enough vitality to do so again” (p. 182). In this chapter, Postman gives
his “reasonable response” to the problem of living in a Technolpoly. He says
the individual live without going along with the technology-driven society or
the culture can go on without paying attention to the individual. He lists 10
things a resistance fighter might look like or do on page 183-184 and ends by
saying that person is someone who “understands that technology must never be
accepted as part of the natural order of things, that every technology . . . is
a product of a particular economic and political context and carried with it a
program, an agenda, and a philosophy that may or may not be life-enhancing and
that therefore required scrutiny, criticism and control” (p. 184-185).
His final advice is about how to make this change in Technolpoly
occur—through the educational systems. He goes on to list ALL the things teachers should teach or the way teachers should
teach. In the end, his conclusion is to educate students so that they can think
about what is going on and problem-solve. Then they will be able to make
informed decisions or make changes.
I liked this chapter a lot—I liked his honesty in that he
knew his view on Technopoly was a hard battle and that there were no easy steps
to “fix” it. And I liked his ideas—mostly because I see some of them being
used, such as the integration of subjects and subject matter so that students
can gain a better and more complete understanding of the world around them. I
see that happening more and more. At my school, we are working towards designing
Presentations of Learning and by doing so, we are trying to have students help
in designing what we are studying, and tying in as much of the curriculum into
a topic of study so that that learning is student-driven and authentic,
real-life learning. It’s not an easy task, but it makes those connections
Postman speaks of happen a little bit more.
On the other hand, I don’t whole-heartedly agree with him
either. I looked at a lot of what he had to say and thought, “Wow! As teachers
we have to do ALL that?” A little overwhelming! And I don’t think getting rid
of all technology is the answer. His view on educating students so that they
can think and problem-solve and evaluate and make informed decisions and make
changes where necessary—I am 100% behind all that! I think as Christians we
need to be doing that not only for technology’s sake, but also for the fact
that we are Christians living in a secular world and we need to be salt and
light. Technology—and all that goes along with it—is an additional hurdle in
exploring and evaluating all of life under God! But I see so many things that
technology has done for the better, such as giving students without voices or
fluent writing and reading skills the ability to communicate their needs and
wants and stories. But then I need to use technology to allow for that to
happen, and not squelch such a voice via social networking and inappropriate
website usage. All of our words and deeds must be done for the glory of
God—which I think comes through actively learning to think about our world and
our technological influences.
Burning Question: Where have you acted as a “loving
resistance fighter”? Or in what area do you want to start acting like one?
When I read the descriptions of a resistance fighter on page 184 I found myself agreeing with the concept of most of them... but acting on those beliefs is much harder. The one that I would say I have been consciously working at is:
ReplyDeletesomeone who refuses to accept efficiency as the pre-eminent goal of human relations
As a teacher I feel like I am SO busy. I'm sure I'm not any busier than anyone else, but it feels like I even have to schedule time to go to bathroom. This has led my to be very intentional about my time. What I noticed though, was that I would hurry through interactions with students when those very moments were likely the most important interactions of my day! Now, I make it a goal to stop, breathe, and really spend time with those students who seek me out. I want them to know that there is always a time and space for them in my classroom.
Good for you! I think sometimes as a teacher it takes a lot of extra "unproductive" time to have all of those interactions with our students. . .when those are probably the most productive for our students! Its almost as if our culture measures productivity by the output we can see and touch (in school--the papers, the lesson plans, etc.). But maybe the more important things are the conversations and the meaningful interactions. . .
DeleteI made that a goal for myself this last year too--mostly as a result of my own child voicing how his teacher didn't care about a special project he had been working on at home and brought to school to show her. As a teacher I get it--she was probably too busy and didn't see it as a "school thing" so she moved on. As a parent I was crushed for him because I saw how important it was to him. The positive thing I learned from this and figured I could do to change this was to STOP and listen--and ask questions to the students who pass through my doors. . .
Question for you: Do you feel like you are more busy because of the time you took to be intentional about the time spent with students?
I think one of the ways that I am a resistance fighter is to, as Postman puts it, "refuse to allow psychology or any "social science" to pre-empt the language and thought of commone sense." I often myself annoyed with the "experts" or the latest "theory" of the day when it doesn't line up with plain old common, practical sense. I think as educators we often can fall into the trap of doing what the "textbook" says instead of dealing with the humanity in our classrooms in human ways. I have the most joy in teaching when I often throw out the experts and do what comes naturally to me as I relate to my students as fellow people learning together.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must admit, that as I get to be one of the older members of our staff, I could also resonate with Postman's statement that loving resistance fighters "do not regard the aged as irrelevant."
I am right on with Judy. I too get annoyed with the latest "Dr. so and so said" or "Scientist from ..." I too feel that when I find myself teaching textbook I fail my students as seeing them as image bearers of God. God has granted me abilities to teach and I need to use what he has given me. I would also like to start looking into reaching into more subjects and teaching the history of them more. I think it is extremely important to know where we have come from and the thoughts behind the actions and choices that were made to get us to where we are today.
ReplyDeleteI thought the entire list was challenging. I was challenged with "who do not regard the aged as irrelevant;" I know this is true, in my core but it was eye opening to read it like that. I think we can quickly start to focus on this generation and what we are producing and think that our way is better than how our grandparents did things because our ways of life is so different from how theirs were. In reality, we have more in common than anyone would realize and they have a great wealth of knowledge that many of us, including our students, take for granted. It is essential that we teach our students about the previous generations and keep them focused on the past because there are many lessons we can learn from them.
ReplyDeleteI like your observation on generations. I have seen projects emerging lately where students get to go into nursing homes or the like and interview the elderly about their generation or their beliefs. . .something like that was done in the public schools here with middle school students and I think Wheaton college/high school in Chicago did something like that. Maybe some of those teachers are "getting it" already--that our histories and those who have a "different" wealth of information may have a lot to offer us!
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