week 14

Apple’s article talked about pedagogy, patriotism and democracy by using the example of 11 September 2001. The author said that it is important to place what happened in the wake of 11 September in a context of the ‘American’ psyche and of dominant American understandings of the roles the United States plays in the world. And the author mentioned some teachers ignored the horror by simply resorting to normality as a defence against paralysis. In other classes, days were spent tin discussion of the events. Sadness, disbelief and shock were registered. 

When I read about this, I was wondering what kind of class I will choose to have if I were one of the teachers. I think I probably would choose the latter one. I want to lead the class to talk about the events, let the students sharing their feelings about it. I agree with the author that pedagogical work needed to be done. But it wasn’t a simple issue. On the one hand, pedagogical can brings people together and unity for a country. 

But on the other hand, will pedagogical make people feel panic and questioning their country sometimes?  When teachers decide to bring that kind of topics in classroom, there are many things that should be considered. Such as students’ religions. I read an article before. After 9/11 event, many students who were from mid-east were judged by others when they were walking on the street or going to the class. Some people think that their showing in public will cause panic of people. I think that hurt. The event was not their fault and I think they didn’t want it be happened too. So I think if pedagogical can be shown correctly is important.

Question: Will you lead the class to discuss it when some events happened?

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 18, 2019 at 3:11 PM

    First of all, thank you very much for your sharing.
    In a sense, education is also a means of government's political domination. We should face up to this influence, because it is a common phenomenon. As a teacher, what we can do is to teach students the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Patriotism and firm political beliefs are formed in the process of students' social life, which we should encourage but not force.
    As for your question, I don't think it's bad to discuss the current events objectively, which can enhance students' ability to distinguish right from wrong.

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  2. AnonymousApril 18, 2019 at 5:45 PM

    Thank you for sharing! In terms of the worries as you mentioned, "will pedagogical make people feel panic and questioning their country sometimes?", "many students who were from mid-east were judged by others when they were walking on the street or going to the class. Some people think that their showing in public will cause panic of people". I read a book about the author choosing phenomenology as her research method to investigate how Muslin students went through in their universities after 9/11 event. She found that all her participants experienced embarrassed and shamed situations about their Muslin identity, because other students made prejudice and discrimination on them, sometimes even regarded them as potential terrorists like Osama bin Laden. These hurtful experiences played lifelong psychological shadow on them. Another real example in history for focusing on patriotism is Japanese educational purpose during the World War II. The Japanese government told their citizens, their children to join the army to aggress China by a good name of justifiable defense. So it needs much considerations to apply such topic into pedagogy and fully take into account of the benefits of all related persons.

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  3. AnonymousApril 22, 2019 at 2:57 PM

    I think there is value in students being able to react to and discuss a current event in real time but it also leads a lot of room for carelessness and insensitivity. I think as teachers we could all use some professional development and strategies for approaching this type of instruction and serving as a guide or facilitator rather than a "teacher" during these times. It also pushes us to be more informed on current events, but also willing to learn as we go. That is something that is typically frowned upon in the field. Lastly, it is extremely hard to remain unbiased in different scenarios as adults some events hit home and it is critical that we allow students to analyze and not just pick up on the side we are in favor of. THAT IS THE HARDEST PART.

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  4. AnonymousMay 6, 2019 at 1:03 PM

    Hi. I agree with you that teachers should give students to speak out of their voice and create a safe place for them to talk about current events, because they will enter into the “real world” one day. In order to prepare for that, students are supposed to develop critical insights toward the outside world. Therefore, teachers could combine the current events into their discipline so that the course and students will keep space with the time.

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