Ken

Ken Estling is a Teacher Corps teacher that came and spoke to us about the history of education. When we first walked into the room, he handed us a packet. The directions at the top instructed us to sit quietly and read the article until we came to the word "STOP." After we started reading, we were then supposed to turn the paper over and wait for everyone else to finish reading. I haven't had a "lesson"/instructions like this since I was in the 8th grade. The purpose of the demonstration was to show how obedient students are. They simply do what they are told, don't ask questions, don't challenge authority (for the most part).

But I have issues with Ken's views. It seems as if he's annoyed (for lack of a better word) that the kids don't ask questions. But I have to say, if a teacher gave me a textbook and taught from it, I would not think to question the teacher or the textbook either. It is only during a college bound program the summer before my senior year that I even began having intellectual conversations with my peers and teachers that encouraged us to challenge things and ask questions. Even our facilitators who were Harvard grad students and Princeton professors commented that they did not have those types of "question-and-discuss" classroom conversations until they got to college. So I think it's unfair for Ken to assume that these kids even know that there is something wrong with the textbook or that things aren't adding up. As a teacher, you should just tell them and encourage them to ask questions, not assume that they know that they can. Like he said in his talk, many students are amazed that he said the textbook was wrong. From my experiences in public school, it is very easy to accept what you are taught without questioning it (unless of course your teacher is a complete moron and anybody can see that he/she doesn't know what he/she is talking about).

Towards the end of our conversation Ken asked what we thought the second paragrapgh of the Declaration of Independence does;

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

I think this quote is used to legitimate social institutions. We have to maintain the idea that all men are equal, have the same rights, and the same opportunities to succeed. If you fail, it's by your own faults and not the fault of anyone else. In this way, those who fall short of success blame themselves and do not question who runs the nation because we all have the same opportunities to achieve, therefore we all had the opportunity to get these high importance jobs.