THE PARADOX
How do we encourage the wandering and seeking mind to continue in childlike curiosity, while still preparing a person for the possibility of a structured, regimented and non-curious world?
Right now, in classrooms and schools across the nation, students are still given concepts and definitions by a person “in power” and told to remember, regurgitate, think, connect. Yes, we hear about STEM and project based learning about traveling schools and outdoor classrooms and many other innovative approaches that are thriving in pockets, and have the potential to evolve the system. However, none of them, on their own, remove the age old mechanism that spurred institutionalized education—oppression for progression. And, the majority of them require money, time and changemakers—all of which are not readily available, especially in public sectors. So, how do we disrupt traditional modes of education? Especially in schools, districts and networks where standards and requirements, assessments and feedback, are coming from folks whose jobs depend on the traditional and who don’t represent the populations they are affecting? How do we deactivate the systemic oppression that exists within the larger entities of education and therefore within individual school communities? And possibly one of the biggest questions—the paradox educators and leaders are consistently grappling with—how do we encourage the wandering and seeking mind to continue in childlike curiosity, while still preparing this person for the possibility of a structured, regimented and non-curious world— a world that in many ways, especially in Western cultures, is driven by capitalist pursuits, work, family and thus monetary responsibility and awareness of socially normative ideas?
DENY THE SUPERFLUOUS
We believe the first step is denying the superfluous—anything that is not driven by philosophy, logic, intuition and intellectual exploration; anything that does not allow students to explore the world around them; anything that does not ignite the existential crisis – why am I here? What am I supposed to do? Does life have any meaning? The work becomes creating learning experiences and atmospheres that embody freedom of choice, autonomy, liberty and independence. To be able to make better decisions, problem solve faster and more keenly than you would without the learning experiences provided in educational atmospheres, is the imperative. If you encounter conflict, which is part of the human experience, then you must be able to diffuse the conflict. When you are faced with options for diffusing a conflict you must know how to eliminate options in order to choose the one that most suits the scenario. The human experience is all about decision making and cognition. The human experience is not about rote memory and there is no longer a place for being told by someone who doesn’t know your culture, your background or your mind what you should or shouldn’t memorize; what you should or shouldn’t study; what you should or shouldn’t practice; what you should or shouldn’t know.
EVERYTHING IS RELATED TO ALL OTHER THINGS
Through a cognitive approach we work to eliminate this power dynamic by utilizing analogical reasoning and problem solving. Everything is relational to all other things. So, even the opinion of the educator cannot be seen as the definitive answer but only as a clue or perspective on the subject. Ultimately, it is problem solving and decision making which become the purpose of education and all parties in the classroom and school community must engage in these processes openly—without hierarchy. Traditional learning utilizes memorization and an us vs. them mentality pitting those who know against those who don’t. Cognitive learning is driven by philosophy, logic and intellectual exploration. The former reinforces systemic oppression while the latter empowers idea makers and problem solvers. The former extracts obedient or servile citizens, who abide by the expected procedures and trajectories, while the latter unhinges the mind allowing for an assimilation of diverse perspectives and the problem solving it takes to unleash them. If cognitive learning is engaged the education system doesn’t have to work within the confines of a binary approach that mimics economic or political structures.
EMPOWER REFLEX INTELLIGENCE
Memorization is necessary but memorization without cognition is an assault on the human mind. There is not one definition of memory. Memory is the power of the brain to recall past experiences or information (Encyclopedia Britannica). Memory plays important roles in many areas of philosophy. It is vital to our knowledge of the world in general and of the personal past in particular. It underwrites our identities as individuals and our ties to other people (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Synonyms for Rote are automatically; unthinkingly; mindlessly. Yet we have allowed rote to define memory in our classrooms. We have allowed unthinkable and mindless to become a staple in the creation of state tests and the fundamental standards of education. This faulty practice of mindless memory sends the message that if a student memorizes, but doesn’t know or understand the conscious intellectual activity of a concept, theory or name, they can still get a high score on a test, get a job and ultimately be better than other people. It sends the message that if you jump through the right hoops and prove to the teacher that you can follow directions, accept ideas, mimic what the books or the lecture says you get a good grade. This form of education, whether admitted or not, promotes binary and oppressive attitudes of right v. wrong, good v. bad and successful v. unsuccessful. This form of education promotes oppression for progression and even the most alternative schools, who have worked tirelessly to eradicate outdated modes of learning, are met with the heaviness in which this form of thought has become ingrained in our countries educational footprint. .
So, how do schools who know this shift is necessary truly make this shift? We know that in order to fully conceptualize the phenomena being learned you have to utilize the tested content. However, the focus is the deep understanding of the phenomena which by consequence leads students to knowing the things necessary for any evaluation. The focus can’t be the information needed for a test that underserves the human. To make this more transparent and accessible we have to redefine thinking and the ways in which the brain works when confronted with new information. In the past cognition has been reduced to thoughts and language and somehow wit, how humans respond to unexpected phenomena when confronted, has been dismissed. We call this response to unexpected phenomena reflex intelligence. Our brains are not just vessels we fill with information, not merely working tools we use to do paperwork, not servants to intellectualism. Instead of looking at the human brain as a receptacle for knowledge that needs to be filled or as the epitome of the natural world. Instead of believing the reason you should learn is because it makes you somehow better than others, instead of thinking if you are smart, you can control others—we believe the human brain is a prediction engine. It is our reflex intelligence—how humans respond to unexpected phenomena when confronted— that needs to be exercised and acknowledged in the learning process. It is this reflex intelligence that will also get us the scores we need on required exams.
CONNECT THROUGH THE UNKNOWN NOT THE KNOWN
The first step in approaching concepts and creating learning experiences around these concepts with young people is admitting we don’t have the answers to questions of why we are here and what we are supposed to do and what THIS even is. The question becomes—how do we explore not knowing? How do you find out where we are? Not necessarily geographically but even with geography—who created the map? Who defined boundaries? Who gets to enforce those boundaries? Simple first level questions most people tilt their heads at. They tilt their heads, because most adults never learn the answers to these questions in the first place. Some adults, the ones who were given the gold stars—approved to fulfill the expected procedures and trajectories, have memorized the states and the capitals and the countries and the continents but never discussed who created them, who defined them, who gets to enforce them and to what end. Take a minute to sit with that. Why do we allow students to retain knowledge we ourselves never even began to understand the root of? Why do we assume these philosophical, logical, intellectual explorations are unnecessary? Why do we omit the exploration of the world and the existential crisis that is a part of who we are and who our children become?
During one of our many experiences at a school in Brooklyn we asked students—How do you experience the world? How do you make decisions? What guides action? They immediately went to a physical explanation and we realized they were dealing with a stimulus response of thinking and being. So our next question was around the actualization of self—how do you know you are alive? That’s when we introduced them to the term cogito ergo sum—a Latin philosophical term coined by Rene Descartes. It translates to I think therefore I am—Descartes proof of self existence. I can’t prove others are alive, they could be figments of my imagination, but that in itself is proof that I am alive . The only thing we can ever prove is our own existence. Five minutes into the conversation we were discussing college level material thirty year olds struggle to understand yet fifteen year olds are getting into it. So, what happens next? We let the questions and decision making begin—How do we know we are here? Where are the documents? How do we backtrack information exchange to understand where “here” comes from? It starts as a philosophical quest and the underpinning of it is philosophical not anything rote memory or that you are able to approach with information you just observed off hand. It’s an esoteric study that is both functional and pragmatic. This allows room for teenagers who are going through anger, frustration or confusion to contribute to the conversation because that is part of the cognitive experience. This opens up a discussion around subjects like—Why do you believe what you believe? How do you come to believe anything? The metaphysics, the epistemology, the logic, the axeology, the ethics and so basically you start teaching a philosophy class without telling people. If you have to teach English or literature without getting people to read novels that are written by old dead people—philosophy provides your best options for still inculcating the necessary dates, concepts and theories while not being limited in scope to one perspective or one angle of analysis. Philosophy is the only field where they force the logical process of writing but don’t limit the scope of discussion. In history they limit how much math you can get into, in math they limit how much history you can get into, in english they limit how much science you can get into. In a philosophical exploration there is no limit and math, science, english and history are all explored deeply. Once the philosophical exploration is well underway teachers use what they observe from the minds and behaviors of students to start creating interdisciplinary projects that focus on cognition over acquisition, that empower a negotiation and shared responsibility in directing methodology, pedagogy and the fluidity for it to be customized to all the participants involved. That navigates problem solving and decision making, that eradicates the idea of oppression for progression and illuminates the abilities of the human mind and life as an emblem of wisdom.
While ruminating on these ideas let’s go back to the point. What about this change in mindset disrupts the systemic institutionalized isms that exist within the larger entities of education and therefore in our school communities? As Paolo Freire states in his seminal philosophy around education The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, “Education either functions as an instrument to…bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
February 1, 2024