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By Gary DeLashmutt and Roger
Braund, Contributors | posted 7/16/2001
"African
Americans, Asian Americans, Puerto Ricans/Latinos, and Native
Americans have all been the victims of an intellectual and
educational oppression that has characterized the culture
and institutions of the United States and the European world
for centuries."
This statement
begins the report recently generated for the state of New
York by a task force commissioned to revise their history
curriculum. The report was entitled: "A Curriculum of
Inclusion, Report of the Commissioner's Task Force on Minorities:
Equity and Excellence."
The report
goes on to say that
"[This]
systematic bias toward Europe and its derivatives . . .
[has had] a terribly damaging effect on the psyche of young
people of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent
. . . [this] European-American monocultural perspective
. . . [explains why] large numbers of children of non-European
descent are not doing as well as expected."
Statements
like these are manifestations of postmodernism as it impacts
public education.
Key Postmodern
Educational Concepts
A key
word to learn when trying to understand postmodern education
is constructivism. Constructivism is the main underlying
learning theory in postmodern education. The basic idea is
that all knowledge is invented or "constructed"
in the minds of people. Knowledge is not discovered as
modernists would claim. In other words, the ideas teachers
teach and students learn do not correspond to "Reality,"
they are merely human constructions. Knowledge, ideas and
language are created by people, not because they are "true,"
but rather because they are useful.
Reality
is a story. All reality exists, not objectively--out there--but
in the mind of those who perceive it. Nobody's version of
reality can claim to have more objective authority because
all versions are merely human creations.
No, we're
not kidding.
The implications
of this view of knowledge are staggering, as Ruth Zuzovsky
points out:
"Another
major feature of this tentative, relativist, and instrumentalist
[pragmatic] concept of knowledge is the equal worth
of knowledge constructed by the learner, the teachers, or
the scientists." [emphasis ours]
If no
one's knowledge is necessarily true, everything changes. Now
the question of what counts as "knowledge" to be
taught in the schools is not a matter of objective evidence
or arguments, but rather a matter of power. Those
who have the power can make sure their constructs are the
ones that dominate the curriculum, while other opposing viewpoints
are at least partially suppressed, ignored or "marginalized."
Teachers
Since
the focus of the classroom, in postmodern education, becomes
the student's construction of knowledge, they shift away from
a teacher-centered classroom to a more student-centered environment.
Grayson Wheatley explains,
"Rather
than identifying the set of skills [and knowledge] to be
gotten in children's heads, attention shifts to establishing
learning environments conducive to children constructing
their mathematics and science in social settings."
A student-centered
classroom in this context is likely to have minimal structure.
It usually involves opportunities for social interaction,
independent investigations and study, and the expression of
creativity, as well as provision for different learning styles.
There, students create knowledge, and are no longer forced
to bow to the subjugation of traditional objective "knowledge."
As Everhard explains,
"School
knowledge disables to the extent that it silences students,
usurps their minds or at least demands acquiescence . .
.[such knowledge] usually places boundaries between emotion
and knowledge; students do not control knowledge, but rather
'must write their student roles and scenarios in conformity
to the teacher's master script.'"
So, Selase
Williams, and others argue that AAL (African American Language)
is a regular language like Spanish or Japanese. He shows that
statements like, "Shanita bin pass dat tes," means
"Shanita passed that test a long time ago." The
difference, he argues is that AAL arises from an African
linguistic base. Therefore, inner city kids should be
taught in AAL as their mother tongue, with English as a second
language. ("Classroom Use of African American Language:
Educational Tool or Social Weapon?" in Christine E. Sleeter,
Ed. Empowerment Through Multicultural Education, p.
205-207) Anything less would be sheer exploitation.
Likewise,
Glasersfel explains that in other areas of knowledge,
"The
teacher would come to realize that what he or she presents
as a 'problem' may be seen differently by the student. Consequently,
the student may produce a sensible solution that makes no
sense to the teacher. To be then told that it is wrong is
unhelpful and inhibiting . . . because it disregards the
effort the student put in."
Here,
then, we see postmodern relativism at work in a menacing fashion.
Children not taught right from wrong, even in areas like science
and social studies. Will their employers be so tolerant?
Teachers
in Postmodern Education
At least
under postmodern theory we aren't guilty of an even worse
crime according to postmodern scholar, Johnella Butler, who
warns that "the colonization of minds is characteristic
of American education."
In other
words, when dominant culture calls on minorities to speak
classroom English, do math, history and science the white
man's way, they have acted in the old colonial role, just
like earlier Europeans who believed it was their responsibility
to colonize non-white cultures and lands, imposing European
standards, dress, religion and language on those cultures.
Values
Okay,
so they don't want to impose the teacher's "reality"
on students, why go to school?
Actually,
they have a definite set of values they hope to inculcate:
- striving
for diversity-- guarding, unchanged, the existing values,
tastes and way of life of each subculture in our society.
- equality--In
postmodern ideology, equality means equal in terms of power
relationships
- tolerance
and freedom--tolerance has a new meaning: roughly, never
negating or criticizing oppressed groups. Freedom for cultures
and communities to express themselves
- the
importance of creativity--Creativity is clearly allied
to the postmodern emphases on the construction of knowledge
and diversity. Stimulating and affirming creativity in students
is important in constructing knowledge and values, particularly,
if diverse viewpoints are to be encouraged
- the
importance of emotions-- Affirmation of emotions follows
along with the importance they place on self-esteem. They
believe that any time children's emotions are challenged
(even hate or selfish jealousy) the child is being disabled
by having the teacher's reality imposed on her
- the
importance of intuition--intuition gains in importance,
because rational thought has lost its authority as a means
for dealing with ideas. Modernists tend to suppress intuition
and feelings, according to postmodernists, even though they
are just as legitimate and perhaps even more important than
rational, conceptual (or "linear") thought
The Rest
of the Story
From this
description it should be clear that postmodern educational
theory is a radical departure from what we are used to in
education. In The Death of Truth, you can see
all these and many other points in postmodern educational
theory, all backed up with material from the leaders of this
movement in their own words. Also read our book to discover:
- How
much progress have postmodernists made in public education?
- What
is the prognosis?
- How
would their agenda stack up to the biblical world view?
- What
are the good parts in postmodern theory?
Copyright
© 1996 Xenos Christian Fellowship.
All Rights Reserved.
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