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  1. Aug 2019
  2. truthout.org truthout.org
    Henry A. Giroux | Thinking Dangerously: The Role of Higher Education in Authoritarian Times
    2
    1. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      classroom as a space that ruptures, engages, unsettles and inspires. Education as democratic public space cannot exist under modes of governance dominated by a business model, especially one that subjects faculty to a Walmart model of labor relations designed “to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility,” as Noam Chomsky writes. In the US, over 70 percent of faculty occupy nontenured and part-time positions, many without benefits and with salaries so low that they qualify for food stamps. Faculty need to be given more security, full-time jobs, autonomy and the support they need to function as professionals. While many other countries do not emulate this model of faculty servility, it is part of a neoliberal legacy that is increasingly gaining traction across the globe.

      We have this business model - so what do we do with it?

      Retention as tagged to meeting revenue.

      Sessional teachers need to be included in the Critical Pedagogy model.

      Practices of care - refusing to mis-treat students.

    2. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      At its core, critical pedagogy raises issues of how education might be understood as a moral and political practice, and not simply a technical one. At stake here is the issue of meaning and purpose in which educators put into place the pedagogical conditions for creating a public sphere of citizens who are able to exercise power over their own lives.

      What are the mechanics of teaching?

      Challenging the idea that education is apolitical.

      Sometimes it is dangerous for people to speak out, but it's helpful to model that for students.

      Personally philosophies can be exclusionary and harmful.

      Modelling being a person of ideas, not necessarily of strong convictions. Modelling changing your mind about something.

      Where is the line? What beliefs can you not model in the classroom?

      Let's think about the ideas presented here before we discuss our personal opinions.

      Is discussion different from dialogue? Should we aim to have a discussion without coming to a consensus?

      Dangers of a Single Story as a good way to get students to think critically about single narratives.

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    truthout.org/articles/thinking-dangerously-the-role-of-higher-education-in-authoritarian-times/
  3. www.alfiekohn.org www.alfiekohn.org
    The Case Against Grades (##) - Alfie Kohn
    4
    1. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      Portfolios, for example, can be constructive if they replace grades rather than being used to yield them. 

      The problem is, in our current educational system, schools and universities try to have their educationally progressive cake and eat it too. Portfolios are used to show how much a school values the process, but then they continue to play the traditional game by grading the product.

      #camp-critped
    2. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      It’s not enough to replace letters or numbers with labels (“exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” and so on).

      Report cards are simply not a progressive tool - using labels rather than numbers attempts to mask the authority of the report card with progressively-themed measurements.

      #camp-critped
    3. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      To address one common fear, the graduates of grade-free high schools are indeed accepted by selective private colleges and large public universities — on the basis of narrative reports and detailed descriptions of the curriculum (as well as recommendations, essays, and interviews), which collectively offer a fuller picture of the applicant than does a grade-point average.

      And good old SAT scores too, I imagine. I do think it's important to question the level of privilege and understanding of how to self-advocate within a system that is necessary in order to break rank from the traditional gate-keepers. That's why I mention the SAT scores above - students can go to a gradeless school - which makes them look progressive, innovative and motivated - and still get all the private tutoring to pass SATs and have the traditional cache needed for elite institutions.

      #camp-critped
    4. JamFell 03 Aug 2019
      Even a well-meaning teacher may produce a roomful of children who are so busy monitoring their own reading skills that they’re no longer excited by the stories they’re reading.

      I am concerned by the use of "monitoring" in this sentence - the author seems to be suggesting that "well-meaning teachers" are training students to compare themselves and wonder "how good they are" as they read. In fact, monitoring as a reading skill is a strategic element of metacognitive regulation. (Flavell, 1979, 1987; Schraw & Dennison, 1994, in TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 4, Metacognitive Processes, Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education) Readers are taught to occasionally monitor their understanding of a text as they read (Do I still understand what's going on?) to ensure overall comprehension. Kohn worries that students will monitor themselves out of their reading enjoyment - but students can't enjoy what they are reading if they can't understand the text.

      #camp-critped
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    alfiekohn.org/article/case-grades/