What
do I really want in the college classroom? As an instructor, it really boils
down to equality. The system constrains me to be the source of knowledge, the
light of motivation and the shepherd for the sheep. While smart and educated,
I’m not that knowledgeable. While motivated, I don’t have that much inner
light. While caring, I just don’t have that much love to give.
I
long for students to enter the classroom and give their education direction
without being prompted and prodded. There’s a certain pack mentality in the
classroom. The teacher must be the Alpha Dog. This social structure may work
for dogs, but it is entirely insufficient for learning—particularly if that
learning is creative.
Imagine
for a moment the ideal creative team. Such a team would function far
differently from a classroom. Roles wouldn’t be hierarchal. They would be fluid
and vary from situation to situation. Each person would be talented, have input
and be driven to fulfill the team’s mission. Each person would have the
self-knowledge and self-control to know when to become the leader and when to
become a follower. Each individual would be intrinsically motivated and
extrinsically focused on the team.
Our
education system is the exact opposite of this ideal team. Students are
extrinsically motivated and internally focused on themselves. The prime
motivator is the points one earns. From a student’s perspective, it’s a
psychological version of capitalism without any customers. From my perspective,
it feels like a one-man hunger for democracy. Certainly, students may want
democratic procedures in the classroom, but what few want is the selfless
desire for collective good that is a requirement for a fully functioning
democracy.
This
desire for democratic equality extends to how I fit in the system as a whole.
My voice has little to no say in the real decisions concerning education. My
voice is underpaid and underappreciated. Quite simply, those above me do not
want democracy. They want the status quo, because it protects their profits,
prestige and power. They want all the benefits of capitalism, but want their personal
accountability to the system’s successfulness shielded behind hegemonic
buttresses. This doesn’t just apply to for-profit education. The corporate
selfishness of get-mine-even-if-others-suffer permeates.
My
students view me through a subordinate-to-superior relationship. Such
relationships always weaken the subordinate, because the driving force is
seldom internal—the true wellspring of creativity and fulfillment. Such relationships
have two possible effects on the superior. If the superior cares, it leads to
burnout, because the intrinsic motivation of one is insufficient to meet the
extrinsic motivation of many. If the superior doesn’t care, it sets up a
situation where abuse occurs.
Those
above me view me through a superior-to-subordinate relationship. If someone
thinks they are superior to another, it leads to callousness, ignorance or
often both.
These
thoughts bring a sadness to my heart. I see within my students an entire
universe of talent, drive and creativity that the system has blinded them to
see. They are more (much more) than they think they can be. It also brings
sadness, because I realize I am more (much more) than the system allows me to
be. People are ground to the point of being over-burdened or under-utilized,
because the system puts us into over and under relationships. What we need is
more equality.
