Awake & Curious

I don’t really watch T.V. very often. Last night I saw two pieces that made me reflect on the state of censorship in the U.S., controlling content that is fed to kids. I conclude perhaps I should watch T.V. more often.
“The people who are reacting to that word are not reading the book as a whole,” she said. That’s what censors do — they pick out words and don’t look at the total merit of the book.”

That is a quote from a NY Times articles about a book “The Higher Power of Lucky,” by Susan Patron, this year’s winner of the Newbery Medal. The book uses the word “scrotum” on the first page. Seems many Librarians across the country have decided that maybe another word, maybe lets say the word “pee pee” would have been more appropriate for 8 or 9 year olds so they are banning the book across the country. This piece was on the news.

OK so I flip the channel to a wonderful show Independent Lens and they are discussing the politics/sexism/homophobia of hip-hop music. The filmmaker Byron Hurt did a riveting piece on the state of the most popular music in the land, you know the music all the white and yes even some “black” kids love. (Hip-Hop).

Hurt starts the documentary by saying he loves Hip Hop and then deconstructs Hip Hop’s deconstruction devolving over the years to a violent, misogynist, homophobic cultural phenomenon.“The more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me,” he says. “And I began to become more conflicted about the music that I loved.”  This young man created a wonderful hop-ummentary (for those of us old enough remember the use of the made up word rockumentary) HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes ,that effectively takes on the issues of hyper-masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture.

The film examines some of Hip-Hop’s biggest sellers, saying and acting out some pretty wild stuff.
• Nelly using the crevice of a woman’s backside during a video to swipe his credit card
• 50 cent in all his slicked armed glory seeming to declare himself a target and an assassin, a force to be reckoned with, and not for the emancipation of a black man, but for cash-money and lots of it.
• The depiction of women as less than objects, kind of like the bling the rappers wear with casual disregard on their necks, larger than life, plentiful, glitzy, naked and extreme, but never really objects of beauty.
• women are repeatedly referred defined as whores, (I refuse to spell it hoe) and bitches. In one particularly memorable segment one of the artists sings about “getting his rape on”.

While I can’t recall the last time I used the word scrotum or for that matter pee pee in class with my 9, 10, 11, or even 12 year olds (I also don’t use the word Bitches or whore) I know that “all” my kids have seen these videos and by the way, they love this stuff. Admittedly I teach poor inner city kids, but as the film stated their audience is largely white and under 16. So that includes lots of kids out of the “inner-city” and probably many kids who will not thanks to some diligent librarians be reading the word Scrotum on the first page of “The Higher Power of Lucky”.

I am not a fan of censorship. Like the republicans, I usually am opposed to intrusive measures of government that dictate or control culture (that was sarcasm for those who don’t pick up on it), but it seems to me we are censoring the wrong things as a teachers. While it would be accurate to say I don’t want my 9 year olds listening to some oiled, muscular fool rapping about getting his “rape on “, it would be equally accurate to say that as a citizen of this country I don’t want anyone to have the power to stop him.
You see it is more complex  and Hurt’s film makes the point clearly as he speaks to many rappers including the legendary Chuck D who plainly states “if you want to get signed to any recording deal, there is a prescriptive narrow element to what is salable and it does not include, socially thoughtful or reflective rap, like Fight the Power.”
My point is we are trying to control things we cannot, at least not through censorship.

Now why did I bother writing this post? I mean I mainly talk, and sometimes (whine) about edtech stuff in the classroom. This is a little off the mark from that.Well, censorship, plain and simple. It is not that it is always wrong, (though I am pretty opposed to it having read and understood the first amendment), it is just that when it comes to profit, it is never effective or applied. You can’t censor Nelly or Snoop Dog because they are too profitable. So maybe you can keep your kids from reading the word scrotum, but if they flip on BET or MTV well they will hear and see things more potent than the innocuous word scrotum.
Now for the tie in if thiere is one, to how this relates to the attempted ban on social-software in the classroom. Maybe you can ban blogs/social-software in schools but kids live outside the classroom most of the time. They will be exposed. They will be in chat rooms and on myspace/youtube/googglevideo/MTV whether you like it or not. Better to start thoughtful discussions (with kids) about how culture defines us, about just what is some rapper is saying, while he cradles his glock, or refers to some scantily clad women as a bitch, we better start talking about potential predators on the web, and a whole host of things that are dangerous and uncomfortable.

Perhaps it is time we talk to our kids rather than to pretend these things do not exist. Our approach to so many things in the classroom that are unplesant and controversial has been to block them out. This is certainly true of  violent rap music and it is still a pretty potent cultural influence on young kids whether we discuss it in class or not. Lets stop blocking and start talking with and to our kids, or we could just let them figure it out for themselves, either way they will be exposed.

A post by Chris Lehman was referenced by Rob Mancabelli at his blog which discusses how much control is necessary for schools to I suppose maintain, well the levels of control and safety they now enjoy.

Wow, is not this an old debate?

(Above a piecie of revolutionary technloogy that transformed society)

I think this gets to the heart of the matter of an age old dilemma in public education, what is public educations ultimate concern in a capitalist democracy? Creating controllable citizens that will help the social-political mechanism continue to function, or creating free thinkers who may challenge in disruptive ways the power structure albeit make great advances for society?

Since this is black history month lets take a look at the history of the evolution of equality in Black America in light of educational controls. Well to begin African – American’s were denied access to Gutenberg’s momentous technological invention of the 15th century, (movable type) the book.

This amazing piece of technology had the ability to connect people, and their thoughts managing knowledge in a new a profoundly efficient way. No wonder It was illegal to teach slaves to utilize this piece of technology. No reading or writing.

Then of course came segregation and the “separate but equal folly” which while a step up from no educaton still proved to be a powerful way to control knowlege and just what race would would have it.

I always find it fascinating how truly ” careful and fearful” we are that free thinking may one day enter into k-12 education.

Education and control, how much? Who owns knowledge? It reminds me of something an uncle of mine would always say.

I had an Italian uncle who was a piano maker. Uncle Dan (Cortaza) he was not much fun. He was pretty ancient when I was a kid, made wine, fought in World War I for Italy, and did not smile that much. One thing that I always remember was what he said every time I visited him without fail and in a commanding voice laced with a thick Italian accent ” Meridith the one thing no one can take from you is your knowledge, it the only thing you ever really own and it is the most powerful weapon. Read, and learn it is all you have and it may save your life” Dower words to say to a 7 year old. They however stuck with me my whole life. Uncle Dan taught me that knowledge is power and who controls it is an important question in any society.

So back to Chris and Rob’s problem, however you phrase the question, how high the walls? how much freedom? Who controls what is taught and learned, the government? the schools? the teachers? the parents? the students?

The read-write web is indeed shaking all of this up just about as much as Guttenbergs invention did 500 years ago. After the book life was never the same, and yes it was better. The book offered a dramatically increased ability to manage, and share information. This had a profound effect on the world and ushered in the Renaissance, the scientific revolution and led to the Age of Enlightenment. So the quesitons are old ones. How much control, perhaps that is not the question that teachers should be concerned with. Maybe the question is in an increasingly connected and yes transparent socieity is control possible the way it was tradtionally enjoyed?

Let me tell you before the book in feudal society a few Kings and religious elders controlled everything, and that was that. It was an autocratic world where power was closely guarded. The advance of the book began to organize men around ideas, and indeed eventually killed feudal society . After the book it was almost impossible to contol people as they had been before.

Pol Pot knew this in Cambodia when he attempted to recreate feudal society, and the controls it had by making the population leave the cities and forcablly recreating peasant farm life. Education had no place in Pol Pot’s plan and in fact an infamous school the former, Tuol Svay Prey High School, was used as a place of draconian torture known as S-21.

Back to the question of control in our world. Rob makes a good point when he says “Online interaction between students, parents and other members of the community have already started and will continue whether the school provides space for it or not. At this time, schools are not deciding if their students and parents will be online, they’re just deciding whether they will be central or peripheral to the online experiences of their community members”

I have no answers Moodle, or some other “safe, controlled service to manage the read-write web in the classroom” is probably beside the point. The issue is one of control and just like with the invention of the book, with the read-write web there has been a dramatic shift in who controls knowledge and it’s access. This is a revolutionary change. and I don’t expect anyone to be too comfortable right now, or”know what to do”. History teaches us that no one is very comfortable during a revolution.

This video I found where all good things are found on, Will Rich’s Blog. It is rather intense and in 5 minutes clearly communicates the essense of Web. 2.0. Something that many of the blogospheres sharpest pontificators attempt to do on a daily basis, but fall somewhat short in comparison.

Quick update, and a webcast from FETC . Our school has purchased the November blogging service. We will roll this out formally in the next few weeks. The interesting thing is that we have a few teachers who have already started their own blogs. Like new bloggers they seem excited. Our kids have also started their own Kidsnewsblog, which is just in its infant stages. The idea here is I make them blog about what I want and here they can blog about what they want. I was showing them how to navigate Wordpress dashboard yesterday and most knew how to use this technology because they all have My Space accounts. Not really surprised but again it brings home the point these children in my case ( 4th, 5th, and 6th graders) are using Web 2.0. technologies outside of the classroom. Now to try and get my colleagues to use them inside the classroom.

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Now the tie in between us beginning to blog and what Will and Rob have to say about Web 2.0. technologies . The podcast is interesting they take a look at some creative classrooms that are using blogging and pod-casts to connect students to the larger world. Valuable stuff. What struck me is the points that Rob makes about how to apply this stuff to a larger audience, systemic change whole school districts etc….

I can’t help but think we need leadership on high level for real change to happen. Something Will said about presidential hopeful John Edwards (not that he is a John Edwards fan) , using his blog to run his election in a participatory manner where he responds directly to bloggers queries made me think we need a president who understand this stuff. Elect a president who understands social technologies and their untapped power in education and creates a NCLDC ( No child left disconnected) act.

Rob makes it clear that a Field of Dreams approach will not jive here. The “if you build it they will come” approach to change will lead to nowhere.

He retorts “if you build it but do not convince, A.P.’s principals, Superintendents, etc…of its importance, if you do not make Web 2.0. technologies standards based with quantitative standards, nothing will happen. You will just be left with a green field populated by a few teachers, isolated silos of educational excellence, but no system change.
I can apply this to my own school, things are changing not as fast as I would like perhaps. I would love if our administration would make blogging a requirement, or at least reward bloggers, but things are changing. In part this is due to one of our A.P.’s is in the know about Web. 2.0. technologies, and he is dedicatd to bring about change in this area to our school culture.
Anyway click on the pic below to listen for yourself and post a comment if you like.

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