Hey! Teacher! Leave Them Kids Alone!
Turning our backs on hierarchical teaching behaviors through self-directed learning
I wouldn’t consider myself a massive fan of Pink Floyd. I like them well enough, will sing along when they come on the radio. “Another Brick in the Wall,” though, is on my life playlist. I relish the slow-paced condemnation, “We don’t need no education/ we don’t need no thought control/no dark sarcasm in the classroom/Teacher, leave them kids alone.” I know many of us from our generations and certainly our parents’ generation were cut to the quick by a teacher’s dark sarcasm or condescension. There are some moments that still bother me forty years on. And, yet, that behavior still exists in the public school system. I deployed sarcasm myself from time-to-time; I only hope it wasn’t too dark or damaging.
Today during our regular community meeting at the Hedge, some of us — students, parents and teachers — were talking about how entrenched our behaviors are that we learned from the public school system. I was expressing the shock I feel when that training rears its head still today, in the school I created and run with the intentionality to turn away from these hierarchical behaviors. Like when I demand a student pay attention, or I ask them to repeat back to me what I just said. I often put myself in check before doing so these days, yet the urge still lingers—the urge to control the room, control the learning or learning style, or, simply, to control the other person.
One of the more interesting dilemmas I have had in my teaching career has been when to push a student to try harder and when to back off. With self-directed learning, this question becomes even more pronounced. A parent today commented that what we are doing here at Hedge is playing the long game. It is not about test scores or “Great Books,” but about learning how you, as the learner, learns. It’s about implementing that skill set with your continued pursuit of knowing.
That led me to thinking about the real value of…xyx…and the value of the learner being able to be in control of their own learning pace, style, and progression—including the freedom to say no.
If a student is able to convey the reason they are abstaining from a lesson, question, or prompt, that conveyance is easily more valuable than any essay.
How many adults are able to express aloud that, for example, a page with forty numbers on it or a game with constantly changing rules is too overwhelming to tackle in front of everyone else? That they need to take a step back, study it on their own and come back to the problem/game when they have a better understanding?
How many public school students would have the courage to tell their teacher that they are not interested in “xyz” but they are willing to discuss alternatives, or even offer a preferred alternative themselves? Perhaps they might; but how many of those students would then be deemed as a “discipline problem” by the staff?
We see students with this courage as engaged learners. None of us are “just another brick in the wall.”
The Hedge School Cooperative is not producing any “bricks.” We are interested in tearing down the wall. Our learners are autonomous beings who deserve to be respected as such. I, or any teacher, am not the end all, be all in the room. I’m a guide, a coach, a sharer of knowledge, and, equally, a learner. And, sometimes the best thing I can do with a fellow learner is to leave them alone.
And in their aloneness, they may discover XYZ — and so may we. Giving each other space with the reassurance that we are close at hand if needed is powerful gift. Isn’t this something we could all benefit from? Let me know what you think yourself. Do you enjoy being left to your own devices when learning or pursuing new things?
See you in class,
Doc Flynn