The Personal and the Political: Part IV

 

Schoolhouse in Ripon, WI.
Birthplace of the Republican party.

I'll be up front. Every lesson taught in a public education classroom is political. Every last blessed one.

I cannot even conceive of any possible lesson that isn't planned, housed and implemented with political signification. School itself is a political institution and education has always been a political function with a political purpose, so to suggest that it should be free from political implication is equivalent to saying a professional football game should be free from competition. The very definition of oxymoron. 

Let me present a few oversimplified observations: 

• History classes are selective narrative. 
• Science classes instruct the "Scientific Method", a particular and limited method of observing and describing the world as well as the descriptions it produces. 
• English classes and the national tests that go with them reinforce hegemonic linguistic patterns of privilege and power. 
• Gym class reinforces conceptions of athleticism, beauty and appeal. 
• Foods classes privilege the "modern" industrial kitchen. 
• Music classes privilege Western forms of music writing and production. 

These are not judgements. These are observations.

• ACT and class rank emphasize competition as the driving force of success. 
• Music classes and team sports emphasize teamwork as the driving force of success. 
• No cheating policies endorse closed source over open sourced production. 
• Student council and prom votes politicize the student body.  

Even lessons that at first glance appear apolitical have to be understood in a context of privileging acculturation, citizen or consumer education or economic preparation. 

There are inherent politics in the industrial model of education, in the militaristic Prussian ordering of education by age, in the grading and testing processes used to rank the investment risk for employers and universities of students as they leave high school, in the way we connotatively separate "administrators" from "teachers" and "teachers" from "students." 

As such, it seems like a great idea to recognize the public space of schools in democracies as political spaces in which ideas are expressed, supported, challenged, argued, grown and, sometimes, laid to rest. In that process, students, parents and school employees will sometimes be disturbed. There are no guaranteed protections in life from being disturbed. As the saying goes, "there is no way out but through." 

The ridiculous accusations media personalities and politicians throw at public education are click bait, sound byte attacks on the institution itself. Occasionally these talking heads say something true, but there usually isn't much substance connecting that truth to the next true thing they say. Their accusations lack substance the way the vacuum of space lacks substance. Sure, there are the occasional Jupiters or Saturns, but mostly, there's just emptiness. A vast, freezing vacuum of emptiness. 

The fact is that any time there is a community, there is politics. Any time there are people together, words and actions become political. It isn't something to be scared of, to fear monger or to be angry about. It is something to be aware of in the way we are aware of closest exits, the temperature outside, the trees leafing, or the smell of a crowded subway. It is the reality of the life we navigate.

Let me give you another example of the political nature of a shared space:

I remember being a kid in church watching small groups of men and women working together to set up tables and chairs for Wednesday night youth activities, Lenten potlucks and coffee hour. There were always plenty of jobs to be done and people coming to the church to utilize and enjoy the fruit of the labor. I think it was seeing this over and and over that created in me the impulse to jump in and help. I see this impulse in many people. If there is work being done, and I don't have a reason not to help, I should help. I won't say I'm perfect with this, but the point is that this cultural behavior is also a political behavior. It's about shared space, division of labor, decision making, living together, helping the needy (or not so needy, too) and living out values.

Here's my point: living in and serving the community is deeper than a political agenda or legalistic protocol. It always has been. Its about assuming good intent, finding places to help, and understanding before condemning. Its about listening to and learning from each other. We have to assume we will encounter difference in life and that our students will encounter difference in life. We have to help them recognize that the person cannot be separated from the politics. And the person always has to come first.