bell hooks claims that “education can only be liberatory when everyone claims knowledge as a field in which we all labor” yet education often attempts to strip intellect from expression, resulting in education feeling more like imprisonment than liberation (14). This disconnect, so well emphasized by hooks, results in “Education… becom[ing] an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositorees and the teacher is the depositer” and instead of education being a radical act of exploration and discovery, it becomes a form of programing (Freire 72).
In removing agency from students, education becomes a form of brainwashing as opposed to providing a framework for interest and exploration. Dave Cormier highlights this in his article “Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum” through the juxtaposition of the modern definition of knowledge with the original understanding of intelligence. Cormier describes modern education as “expert-centered pedagogical planning” as opposed to the described rhizomatic system in which knowledge is “constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process”.
By placing emphasis on discovery of answers through exploration and thought rather than reccieving answers from pre-determined “experts” we can encourage engaged thought and self- proccessing as opposed to imitation. Students will not be capable of transferring their knowledge to other frameworks if learned through mimicry. A level of self-processing must be present in order to obtain transference, and self-processing can only occur if a student is engaged or interested in their education.
Audrey Watters suggests providing students a sense of ownership over their work in order to engage their individuality in her article, “The Web We Need To Give Students”. By providing students with their own web space in which their work can live on despite the end of a semester or course, a larger sense of care can be developed. With this, students can recognize an audience larger than just their teacher and acknowledge their writing as a representation of them, thus forming a sense of identity.
Leave a Reply