A Classroom of Equality

            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.