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Jabiz Raisdana
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Jabiz commented on the article |
Just wanted to add this to the conversation:
http://greenlagirl.com/2009/05/13/an-anti-capitalist-video-guide-to-happiness/ -
Jabiz commented on the article |
Clay, I completely agree with you when you say we should be looking for models beyond Marxism. We have somehow been forced to understand the discussion in the middle of a continuum, which places Capitalism on one side and Marxism on the other. This outdated Cold War mentality still polarizes opposing parties and does nothing for creating a sustainable economic system that will help alleviate the strain on our planet.
Having said that, I think there is no way to move toward this new system without first taking a critical view of capitalism, and no honest view can be achieved without at least first understanding Marxism and its most basic critiques of Capitalism.
In short, teachers cannot be afraid to tackle both isms in order to move beyond them. -
Jabiz commented on the article |
Great post Clay. Side note before I start- how cool is it that as our webs get more tangled our connections start to intersect more and more. The teacher you mentioned from Portola is actually becoming a pretty good friend of mine, although we have never met. We exchange ideas through Twitter, Facebook, gmail, and each other’s blogs. He is on the board of a school in Kenya which I have very close ties to as well.
I just wanted to mention that because I think you two would have a lot to gain from each other.
Now onto dismantling capitalism in the classroom! Like religion, sex, and other taboo classroom topics, capitalism has become a sort of given truth that both students and teachers are forced to assume is the only option. To doubt the free market, globalization, and the state of the new world order is tantamount to heresy.
In the US to even mention words like Socialism and communism is to render yourself a pariah. I am not hear to expose the virtues of proletariat revolution, but I do feel it is vital that students are given opportunities to question our wasteful ways of living and try to create alterative economic systems that may help to create a planet where my daughter will be able to live.
We don’t have a choice but to question capitalism, because it is lead us toward extinction. It may seem like taboo now, but in 50 years our children will as why we didn’t do anything sooner. -
Jabiz commented on the article |As a teacher who has been fired for stepping outside the box and teaching his kids how to think critically, I have often wished that I did have some kind of protection at the time. Having said that, I was surprised to see that neither @clay or @adreinne mentioned anything about what it is like working in the international school system, seeing that you are both members of this tiny community.
I have often dreamt about having an International School System union, because I feel working for private and often corporate clientele, we are often at the mercy of the parent and business communities that run our schools, and no matter how much the mission statements and school values try to promote a progressive critical curriculum most international schools are nothing more than a place to train and educated the next batch of corporate movers and shakers.
So what is a progressive teacher to do in this type of an environment? I know many teachers who are terrified to guide their students to question existing power structures, because they know that their students’ parents are the very structures they are challenging.
I made a stupid mistake by posting an art project that I shouldn’t have and that is why I was fired, but I am pretty sure that many of the topics we discussed in class such as: globalization, wealth, race, class etc…were frowned upon by the conservative, religious, clientele at my school. I had no protection, no larger group to fall back on to prove that I was doing my job above expectations. A union would have been very helpful in a situation like that.
On the other hand, I have worked with many terrible teachers in the NYC system that should have been fired, but were allowed to stay because they had been teaching for 50 years. So I see where @adrienn is coming from.
One idea could be to have a set of teaching standards, which could include things like: level of professional development, 21st literacy skills, education level, parent survey forms, observations etc… and if a teacher meets these benchmarks they can be eligible for tenure subject to review every few years.
That way teachers who are just passing time will be challenged to stay knowledgeable and effective or face losing tenure.
I think that organizing and collective bargaining are powerful tools for any group and teachers should be allowed to organize too.
In closing, I got into education because I feel that a truly advanced, "open" education, unbothered by parents who insist their children be closed is what education is supposed to be!
So although I was fired, I am still not afraid to carry on!
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