Awake & Curious

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.