"Is the current education system empowering the students to pursue their full potential?" Essay
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Schools are institutions embedded in their sociocultural environments. They develop in particular conditions and as a consequence of people’s actions, such as the establishment of policies and procedures. Over time, many of these become so well accepted that they become norms. Many actions and procedures become ‘hidden’ in the sense that they are taken for granted and understood to be the ‘right way’ to do things (Bourdieu, 1990; Foucault, 1980a). Most people in Western nations will have similar conceptions of what schools are, what distinguishes them from other institutions. Despite broad ideological differences and heated discussions over the features of these components, most people will agree that schools are institutions where children learn knowledge and skills from trained individuals. They will agree that students should be grouped together using criteria such as age, and that they will progress through various ability levels. Many will also agree on some other broad processes. For example, they will consider learning to encompass the acquisition of knowledge and skills through various subject areas. Student progress, many will agree, should be evaluated regularly using a variety of possible means. These features of schools became reified when public schools were established in the 19th century, and they drew from business practices (Broom, 2011; Callahan, 1964; Foucault, 1980a). They are socially constructed and are, thus, contestable. They were implemented at a time when ‘modern’ societies also became bureaucratized (Weber, 1978).
As public schools were established, a hierarchy of authority was established, with final authority vested in the state. We see the increased rationalization of procedures, the development of written policy books, the training of a specialized teaching force, the movement of students through the grades by achievement, and a focus on efficiency (Callahan, 1964; Weber, 1978). Students came to be seen as objects to fill with knowledge and to compare to others and to benchmarks in order to rank and classify them (Foucault, 1980b).
Teachers, as key individuals within these constructs, often ‘buy into’ these conceptions. As a result, they can end up teaching using traditional methods that developed during the time when public schooling was established. These more traditional teaching strategies can include teaching within discipline boundaries, seeing knowledge as a good that is consumed by students, and viewing students as ‘empty vessels’ to be filled with knowledge. This conception can lead to a form of teaching in which students are treated as impersonal ‘objects.’ Students are dehumanized as they become objects to whom things are done (they are researched, written about, compared, ranked, labeled, and to be filled with learning).
Freire (2000) has described this conception of teaching as the “banking” model of education. This traditional form of teaching has many drawbacks. One of the major ones is that it can destroy students’ enthusiasm and love of learning. By applying Ford’s factory model to schools and seeing students as objects to whom techniques are applied, students can be disconnected from their learning. This approach can end up disempowering, rather than empowering, students, particularly as the behavior that is usually rewarded by teachers is passive, such as following of the teachers’ instructions, doing homework, learning class content, and completing work on time. This focus on compliance, with the aim of making classrooms “manageable,” can squash the development of students’ sense of empowerment. This article will argue that one of the main goals of teaching, particularly for social and civic studies teachers, should be to empower, rather than disempower, students. After discussing how empowerment is understood, the article will provide recommendations for social and civic studies teachers to try in their classrooms. These methods aim to empower students and address traditional, modernist teaching practices.