Learning + Teaching = Leaching? Tearning?
In Czech, the verb "to teach" and the verb "to learn" are the same word. I like that, actually. I agree with it so much that this morning when a student said, "When you're in school, you teach so much, you become really educated..." the statement didn't register in the "that is incorrect" sector of my brain. It only did so when another student corrected him.
Being a teacher, I have learned far more these past few months than I ever did as a student. Teaching a subject matter really forces you to know all sides of it, so you can be properly prepared to respond to students' questions. Of course, plenty of learning happens after students ask their questions, when you go back and research the answers.
Along these lines, while doing some research for some lessons on Communism and its effect on the Czech Republic, I came across this op/ed article from the Washington Post written by the Latvian President about Latvia's participation in the Russian celebration of its victory over Germany in World War II. A great read.
A very interesting consequence of "learning" about many discussion topics is realizing the weight of the perspective of the teacher (or the organization he represents) has on how material is presented. Talking with different students about World War II (and then with their contemporaries on the other side of the Atlantic), it is pretty amazing the "facts" readily accepted by students. Here, during Communist times, it was taught that Stalin was a ruthless, but benevolent, leader. That he once killed 1,000 men in one day, but that he saved the Czech Republic (and other eastern European nations) from the dreaded Germans. One middle-aged student exclaimed, "Everything I was taught in school about WWII was a lie." On the flip-side of that, one friend in the States (about the same age as this student) wrote me that in his class "the lion's share of the credit for defeating the Nazis" went to the US, and that "the Soviets...somehow STOLE East Germany."
They say history is written by the winners, but it's worth realizing who considers themselves to have won.
Teaching the words "proud," "pride" and "regret" this morning, I asked my students to write down a couple sentences of things they are proud of, and things they regret. One student, misunderstanding the directions, said, "I am proud of my pride." What is your first impression upon hearing that statement? How would you think to correct it? Would you correct it?
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I have done a bunch of lessons this week on racism, centered on American history, as many people here are ignorant of the race-based events which have taken place in the USA since its inception. I posed this to one class, and I now pose it to you - Are you racist?
As you pause to think about that, take a moment to think of any race-based stereotypes you may have in your head. What comes to mind when you read the following words: White, Black, Russian, Japanese, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Jewish, Catholic, Irish, British, gypsy, French, German, Arab?
After thinking about that, and noticing your thoughts, reconsider the original question. Are you racist?
Are stereotypes a natural result of us trying to sort out and classify the world around us? Or do our stereotypes signal something fundamentally deeper with how we judge others on spec?
We only need to put our hand in one fire before we recognize that all fire is hot, and it burns painfully. If we have a bad experience with someone of a particular denomination, how can we learn that that experience is for that one person only, and is not indicative of all people of that denomination? (also, how can we know that every fire will burn us equally painfully?) Put another way, what separates fact from stereotype? What separates what we assume from what we know?
Being a teacher, I have learned far more these past few months than I ever did as a student. Teaching a subject matter really forces you to know all sides of it, so you can be properly prepared to respond to students' questions. Of course, plenty of learning happens after students ask their questions, when you go back and research the answers.
Along these lines, while doing some research for some lessons on Communism and its effect on the Czech Republic, I came across this op/ed article from the Washington Post written by the Latvian President about Latvia's participation in the Russian celebration of its victory over Germany in World War II. A great read.
A very interesting consequence of "learning" about many discussion topics is realizing the weight of the perspective of the teacher (or the organization he represents) has on how material is presented. Talking with different students about World War II (and then with their contemporaries on the other side of the Atlantic), it is pretty amazing the "facts" readily accepted by students. Here, during Communist times, it was taught that Stalin was a ruthless, but benevolent, leader. That he once killed 1,000 men in one day, but that he saved the Czech Republic (and other eastern European nations) from the dreaded Germans. One middle-aged student exclaimed, "Everything I was taught in school about WWII was a lie." On the flip-side of that, one friend in the States (about the same age as this student) wrote me that in his class "the lion's share of the credit for defeating the Nazis" went to the US, and that "the Soviets...somehow STOLE East Germany."
They say history is written by the winners, but it's worth realizing who considers themselves to have won.
Teaching the words "proud," "pride" and "regret" this morning, I asked my students to write down a couple sentences of things they are proud of, and things they regret. One student, misunderstanding the directions, said, "I am proud of my pride." What is your first impression upon hearing that statement? How would you think to correct it? Would you correct it?
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I have done a bunch of lessons this week on racism, centered on American history, as many people here are ignorant of the race-based events which have taken place in the USA since its inception. I posed this to one class, and I now pose it to you - Are you racist?
As you pause to think about that, take a moment to think of any race-based stereotypes you may have in your head. What comes to mind when you read the following words: White, Black, Russian, Japanese, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Jewish, Catholic, Irish, British, gypsy, French, German, Arab?
After thinking about that, and noticing your thoughts, reconsider the original question. Are you racist?
Are stereotypes a natural result of us trying to sort out and classify the world around us? Or do our stereotypes signal something fundamentally deeper with how we judge others on spec?
We only need to put our hand in one fire before we recognize that all fire is hot, and it burns painfully. If we have a bad experience with someone of a particular denomination, how can we learn that that experience is for that one person only, and is not indicative of all people of that denomination? (also, how can we know that every fire will burn us equally painfully?) Put another way, what separates fact from stereotype? What separates what we assume from what we know?
posted by David at 1:29 PM
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