Humanistic Awakening: Appreciating the Value of Student Happiness

This coming Saturday will be the first ever Soka Education workshop (to my knowledge) in Denver, and I am honored at having been asked to be a part of the planning committee. So, in the true spirit of a blog, I take a break from my Lost Apple Core series of posts and begin reporting on the event now. To be honest, I am feeling more than a little stressed. The whole thing is being put together in a very short order of time.  Optimally, there should have been weeks for planning, rather than days. The overall event will consist of multiple workshops related to peace, culture and education. Our workshop is specifically related to Soka philosophy. Rather than prepare a lecture style program, my team felt it would b better to involve participants directly in a Soka, or value-creative learning process. As a result, we are preparing a genuine workshop rooted in dialogue, and with plenty of opportunities for questions and answers.

One of the first questions people ask when introduced to Soka Education is whether or not it is a curriculum. How do you teach in a Soka style? For better or worse (I think better), there is no easy answer. Soka is not a curriculum, but it is a pedagogy. How it can and should be applied varies by time and place. Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the creator of Soka, developed a complete philosophy of education, but did so in the context of early twentieth century Japan. What is remarkable in reading Makiguchi is just how applicable his views are to contemporary American education, but an approach, or method of instruction is something American Soka educators are just beginning to develop. It is my hope that our workshop will further these efforts that much more. In the meantime, please enjoy the links embedded herein and look forward to reports throughout the conference weekend.

Lost Apple Core, Part II: Mice Squeaking Before the Feet of an Elephant

I find myself asking the question: why do we, teachers and parents, education’s direct stakeholders, accept standards in the first place? Isn’t doing so akin to accepting monarchy on the premise that a king unites and protects people while getting things done without a lot of wrangling? Americans’ disbelief in the tenability of this political system resulted in creation of the United States. Self-reliance and democracy are our heritage. Yet we quietly accept the CCSS authored by a few individuals on behalf of monolithic corporate entities.

Imagine if there were no Common Core Standards? What if every local school district had to decide what to do to ensure literacy and numeracy? One might snicker at such an anachronistic idea in this post-A-Nation-At-Risk era, but pause and think. Why is it so easily assumed that standards written at the national level are necessary? How easily we have bought into the notion that the country must be aligned (to borrow popular education verbiage) in order to compete effectively against other nations. Our children are more than resources, they are weapons in the economic war against China and India.

In simplest terms, public schools teach kids to read, write and count. Acquiring these skills is necessary for all sorts of things in a complex society. People know this and they’ll make sure it happens if left to their own local devices. National standards (and national mass education systems) do not exist for the sake of improving education quality any more than grocery stores exist for the sake for feeding people. Standards are about establishing control over the focus and direction of education. Any skilled group of educators, working closely with the community they serve, could author meaningful and valuable standards, if they even had need to do so. But that is what the proponents of The Core want to prevent for the purpose of economic social engineering. In itself, this is nothing new. If it’s a problem for you, keep your kids out of public schools, that’s what the wealthy do; it’s their engineering program after all, and there’s no point in sending their own kids to school with the future help.

The more immediate problem we face is not The Core itself, but the effective shutdown of dialogue that its proponents have achieved.  There is no balanced discourse on education in the U.S. today, any more than there is balanced political discourse. Instead we have a corporate propaganda machine that effectively drowns out any voices contrary to its own. It is this machine that must be quieted if education activists are to be anything more than mice squeaking before the feet of an elephant.

Lost Apple Core, Part I: Nagging Doubt

“The Dame School”, 1887. Frederic George Cotman (1850-1920), British landscape, portrait, genre and history painter. Oil on canvas.

Recently I was sitting down with a fellow educator discussing the Common Core State Standards and what affect we thought they might have on public schools. I have been on the fence regarding The Core for a while now, not wanting to pass judgment prematurely. My questions to my colleague: Do you think CCSS will simply be a continuation of NCLB policy? Do you believe it will stifle the workshop model of instruction that both you and I are promoting? His response was that since the only way to achieve these standards is to teach in an authentic, learner-centered manner, that the CCSS will ultimately support such teaching practices.

At the moment I felt relieved by his view. I want to believe this as much as the next educator. Who wouldn’t after the destructive, retrograde Bush years? Yet I maintain a nagging doubt.

I find myself in the somewhat odd position of being affiliated with the anti-corporate reform movement, while at the same time teaching in a school district that is managing CCSS as well as can be expected. As the new standards are being implemented in my building, my district is placing an emphasis on workshop model instruction and critical thinking (this year I have had the opportunity to be part of year-long training in workshop instruction). My district is promoting authentic teaching practices based on The Core, and, if anything, it has been a refreshing change. After teaching a mandated curriculum for the past seven years, one that I have detested from the moment it was initiated, the advent of CCSS has been a relief. Standards are, after all, not curriculum. They are open to interpretation and multiple means of implementation.

Yet in the realm of anti-corporate activism, I am being continually informed of the Orwellian nature of these new national standards, of how they are being used to abuse teachers, dumb down instruction, and stifle creativity, all the while fueling a profit-mad test publishing industry (I am halfway through Kris Nielsen’s just-released Children of the Core, and more on that to come in future posts). Some of the complaints I read by educators are petulant knee-jerk reactions. Others are well-researched, critical commentaries. Generally I lean toward the agitators. But the sensible implementation I am seeing my district complicates my thinking. Is it possible to do CCSS right? Could these standards be used in a value-creative way despite the union-busting, privatizing intentions of their creators? For the moment I will leave the question hanging, just like my doubt.

My Year in Review: Teacher is the N of the World

 If you define ‘nigger’ as someone whose lifestyle is defined by others, whose opportunities are defined by others, whose role in society is defined by others, the good news is that you don’t have to be black to be a nigger in this society. Most of the people in America are niggers. — Ron Dellums, U.S. Congressman, former Mayor of Oakland, California

John Lennon as a school boy

In my last post I said I was going to avoid these education social policy postings, but I had to get this off my chest before the end of the year.

After Chicago and Newtown, 2012 gave me renewed cause to reflect on the attitude toward teachers in American culture. Since I am not everywhere at once, nor carrying out a research project, I can only speak from my daily life experience as both a public school educator and an American at this time in history. That being said, my hope for the future is continually tempered by the hammer of reality. I watched (and posted here and here) the Chicago teachers’ strike with great interest. During those days in September, it seemed that a movement was finally coming about. And who is to say that it is not? The hiatus of the moment is hopefully just that, a hiatus. On the other hand, I’ve seen in my time Americans reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the trauma of the moment without developing any consistent follow-through. We make social change in agonizing jolts that quickly fizzle into oblivion (e.g., will we be worrying about gun control in six months?).

With Chicago, I saw two processes at work. First was the expected backlash from the corporatists, their supporters and large numbers of the duped public. Reading through comment threads on major news sites, I read attack after attack on school teachers who had the audacity to go on strike. It seems that we are perceived by far too many as over-paid, spoiled and lazy government employees. I was appalled not so much by the misinformed arguments against us, as by the intensity of the vitriol; as if it is utterly unconscionable that a teacher would complain about his/her lot. The second process that I say at play during the strike was growing respect for a nascent force to be reckoned with. After Rahm Emanuel was put on notice by common teachers, Chicago became a bit of a game-changer. I will admit I had fantasies of all the mini-Mubaraks behind corporate ed reform being put in check one after the other, like toppling dominoes.

In contrast, the Newtown shootings, and the selfless heroism displayed by the teachers who gave their lives for their students seems to have stuck a primal chord with many. But it is a primal chord, something very intrinsic to our make up as loving, protective and social animals. It is tempting to suggest that Newtown has earned teachers respect for their compassion in the same degree that Chicago has earned them respect for their power. Both of these events have undoubtedly helped toward this twofold end, but it is naive to think that there is a tipping point here. Teachers will remain as the kicking dog of money and politics, and as a dismissed class of semi-professionals by the public for some time to come. I am not implying that we need more Chicagos (although I think we do), and I am certainly not implying that we need more tragedies–the most fallacious argument in all historical thought is that things need to get worse before they’ll get better. Rather, I am suggesting that in order for a fundamental shift to occur in public opinion toward public education (and education in general), there needs to be a fundamental shift in our values as a people. The starting place of this fundamental shift is in changing our root orientation toward money and its role in educational purpose. Until this happens, I am afraid that, in one form or another, teachers will remain the N’s of the world, continually subject to the shifting winds of a spiritually bereft and paranoid society.

Hmm…looks like I’ll be posting again on this topic.

My Year in Review: Escaping the “Lymbo of Vanity”

R. H. Quaytman, Limbo of Vanity (2004)

I haven’t done nearly as much blogging as I imagined I would this year, especially after the publication of Lost Apple last summer. I have had my surges of posts, but then long periods of quiet. I would like to chalk it up to being busy, and while that is certainly true, I think there is more to it than that. Specifically, it is the sense that I am throwing writing out into the cyberverse where it is being lost. Like messages in bottles tossed into the sea, I am not seeing much return. I also seem to have lost a bit of my drive regarding education reform and the place of Soka Education in relation to it. My oft-stated purpose in writing this blog has been to share the ideas of Tsunesaburo

Makiguchi, Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda, placing them in a modern American context, as well as share interesting education stories from history, and other educatiana. Well I’ve done the latter two, but I’ve slipped from my main purpose, a socially relevant Soka perspective. I have allowed myself to get caught up with being a voice like many others out there, all of whom are doing a good job being the voices that they are. I have not been authentic to myself; not really, not fundamentally. As a result, this blog languishes in a sort of Miltonian Limbo: “Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find/ Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds” (Paradise Lost, Book II, ll. 453, 454).

The Lost Apple Blog, has been largely a reflection of my ambivalence and reticence in tackling my education concerns wholeheartedly. This must change in 2013. When I consider the nascent, no, embryonic knowledge of Soka Education in the U.S., I realize that I am one of the only voices blogging about it for a K-12 audience. If there are others out there, I am not aware of them (and would surely like to connect!). I will henceforth be getting away from commenting so much on education policy. With activists like Kenneth Bernstein out there, Diane Ravitch, Deborah Meier, Susan Ohanian, Stephen Krashen, Chris Janotta, Fred Klonsky, Leonie Hamison, and many, many others, there is little need for me to reproduce a less-informed version of their work. My objective is to bring Soka Education into the sphere of public schools discourse, with an eye to philosophical comparison, and informed by history. I’ve said all of this before, but I am reaffirming it now to get my bearings for the new year.

My Year in Review: Lost Apple

School ended yesterday and I am able to breathe and reflect before the end of the year. Foremost in mind is the progress of Lost Apple, my debut novel released in June this year. Six months have passed during which time I have realized many things about myself and about the life of writing. For fear of becoming mawkish, I will refrain from sharing my frustrations and jump to the heart of the matter: I have chosen a difficult path to follow. Self-publishing means just that, self-publishing. It is up to me to get this book noticed, and I have done a poor job of it so far. Writing a book is a far different matter than selling it, and far easier. I have sold few in half a year because of a combination of this learning curve and my available time commitment. But this does not concern me as much as certain misconceptions I have encountered with potential readers. Some of those misconceptions I would like to identify and respond to, especially those I have encountered with fellow educators:

Your book sounds learning interesting, but I don’t have a lot of time to read.

Well, there’s nothing I can do about this. Either you make the time or not. Reading, however, is a vital part of life, especially for teachers. If we are going to ask kids to read and become “life-long learners” it only makes sense that we model this lifestyle ourselves. Yes, I want you to read Lost Apple, but even if you don’t, you should be reading, and reading fiction as a regular part of your life. I counter the argument that there isn’t time to read with my own example. I am a middle school teacher. I have three kids of my own and I am very active on a weekly basis in my religious organization. And yet I plow through books like a blade through soft loam. How? By always having my reading material with me, whether in printed or electronic form. All those quick trips to the grocery store, where the wife runs in and grabs one thing, that’s 5-10 mins. of reading time. Riding buses and trains, standing in lines, sitting in coffee shops, etc., etc., I am always reading. You would be amazed at how much can be read in brief increments throughout one’s day. It’s really a matter of one’s priorities.

I am looking to read about education, but this is a novel and I don’t read a lot of fiction.

If you don’t like reading fiction, the Lost Apple may not be for you. However, if you like reading about education this novel approaches it in a way that may just be far more satisfying than reading pure theory and methodology. Education, especially the history of is philosophical development is one of the most fascinating subjects one can pursue, but most education writing is as dry as the plains of Mars. I wrote Lost Apple as a sort of primer, or door into the fascinating process of how and why we pass on culture to our offspring.

I don’t like science fiction.

Lost Apple is not science fiction. It is literary fiction, or better yet, just fiction. There are few, if any implausible or fantastic elements in the novel at all. On the other hand there is a great deal of metaphor and references to Western mythology and philosophy. When I have encountered this bizarre misconception, I have chalked it up to a general misunderstanding of genre and an aversion to fiction on the part of the given person.

I don’t have an e-reader, so I’ll have to wait until it comes out in print.

This is by far the biggest misconception out there! I published Lost Apple as an e-book, but I don’t have an e-reader either. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and all the other companies marketing e-books want them to be bought. They all have free apps and cloud drives available for that purpose and Lost Apple is available on all of them. If you have a Kindle you can read Lost Apple. If you have a Nook you can read it. An iPad? An iPhone? Any other tablet or Android device? You can download and read Lost Apple on all of them. You can also download a PDF file to read on your laptop, or print out if you are so inclined. With e-books the formatting possibilities are such that the book is as accessible as print, perhaps even more so. And concerning print, I do not have plans to bring the book to print at any time in the foreseeable future. Even with today’s new print-on-demand technologies, that will cost me more than I can presently afford. Yes, I too prefer the feel of a printed book in my hand, but I am learning to enjoy e-books too. The ground has shifted beneath our feet and we need to move with it. To reject e-books as somehow lesser than paper books is as silly as saying a song recorded on a vinyl LP is more real than the same song downloaded and played on an iPod.

So I will close with this, my last big plug of the year: please download and enjoy Lost Apple this holiday season! And all the best to you and yours for the New Year!

“Teacher Heroes”

Yinzercation: someone I should have been following long ago.

Teacher Heroes.