Monday, April 19, 2010

HW - 51

Everyday we complain about school, we see it as some burden that we have to do just to get it over with. We complain that the teachers are bad, or there is too much work or that we have to take a test and in all honesty these things do suck. The thing is that even though we do have to wake up early to go somewhere we don’t like, we would still be lost without it. What would we do everyday, we would wake up and watch TV and eat. We wouldn’t really know anyone because most of the people we know through school in one-way or another. We may go to school for 13 years (if you go to college) and it may only lead into a job and more responsibilities, but that sounds like its total fun right? Our only time in life of almost no responsibilities and worries, we spend in school. I mean the later we start the later we get started being individuals with out own responsibilities. Everything we do in school all leads up to the point where we apply for a job. Hopefully this job will make us happy and pay the bills, and maybe along the way if you found the time you met someone who you like or love and then marry and reproduce with, THAT it the American way of life. That is the life we are all supposed to be living. By going to school and doing what they tell us, we will achieve that life and be happy. School doesn’t teach us how to be happy. It teaches us how to learn something else that will help us get a job that will make happy. The Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

School is a governing body, it governs the students up until a certain age and they enter another governing body. School is there to uphold our values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It promotes the pursuit of happiness, but it doesn’t secure it. It makes you believe different things will make you happy, then what you originally had in mind. School doesn’t make you into sheep, but it doesn’t make you into an individual either. What is the reasoning behind taking away our individuality?

It is a mix of hope and fear. The powers at be think that by putting us into groups that determine who we are and what we know and what our intelligence is, then we will be a safer but more successful society. If we all have the same strengths and weaknesses then we will all be the same. The lower intelligence groups can end up in the lower positions which involve grunt work and manuel labor. The middle groups end up in cubicles filing and selling to the other middle class people. The upper middle class can end up managing the middle class and govern them. The higher classes are the ones who run the businesses and they are the ones who control it all. They have the money and therefore they have the power. Not much has changed from the days of the Kings and Queens, only now the lower class at least have opportunities to become part of the higher class and have their voices herd. We all want power and money and to be happy, but how many people think of a job in an office doing something like telemarketing and thinking back and saying “you know what, this is what I always wanted to do.” They spent 9 to 13 years of their learning things that would never really help them when they became this telemarketer that they always dreamed about being. But here they are, they spent that much time in an institution that they hated to they could be happy now. Is it a fair trade, Freedom and youth for responsibilities and money? There was a movie called Big starring Tom Hanks. He played a kid who wished he was an adult and suddenly he was one. It was scary and overwhelming, but he was happy because he got to design toys for a company. He made money and got to buy all the cool stuff he could ever want. He even got his best friend in on the ride. Soon he became romantically involved with a woman who saw his potential and wanted to use him to boost her own career. Things started to become overwhelming though. He was afraid of the responsibility and we went back to the fortune teller machine and wished to become young again.

He bypassed his whole childhood and he wasn’t really ready to be an adult. He wasn’t ready for the responsibility and the competition to be successful. He wanted to have fun like any child would, but that just isn’t the same when you are an adult.

That is the whole point of school. It is there to get you ready to be an adult. Whatever you do or don’t do with your adult life is for you to decide. School is there to mature you by putting you with other people who are just like you and making you realize that you need to either sink or swim. They give you the choice, whatever you decide is what makes you happy and successful or not. We are all given Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness from going to school, its how we decide to take it and what we do with it that really decides it. We are given the ability to pursue our happiness, it is up to us how we go about actually achieving it.

HW - 50

John Gatto:
He believed in the deconstruction of a person so they could be rebuilt as the system they were put into chose. He wanted students to be able to really do anything. He wanted to have complete control over their lives by splitting them up by learning ability, have them be able to switch from one learning mode to another and not care too deeply about anything. He wanted them to be submissive to their superior, and that their superior is solely in charge of what they will learn. He wanted to be in charge of how the students viewed themselves and based on what he said they would determine their own self worth. Finally he wanted students to learn that they are always being watched and because of that they should learn to act accordingly. He wanted to be able to transform students into respectable members of society by taking away anything that made them an individual. He wanted to turn the school system into a machine.

I have to say i completely disagree, or maybe i am conditioned to disagree. It sounds like it would work but it would be used for all the wrong reasons, although there really aren't any right reasons for using it. By making each student the same as the next, he would have successfully removed any creativity and productive thinking from our society. The ideas and inventions would be severely limited and possibly even stop. Ideas like these are equivalent to those of a monarchy. It gives the power to the single person and everyone below him holds practically no power. Change and progress go hand and hand and by limiting one you limit both. He never thought about the impact of his actions.

Freire:
Freire was the exactly the opposite of Gotto. Friere believed that children were blank slates and that it was the teachers jobs to fill them up. He believed that the student should be able to teach the teacher as well as the teacher teaching the students. He believed that by going to school and teaching but keeping an open mind to the students, then the students will react in a more open and accepting way to their ideas and feel open enough to come up with their own. He wanted students to still understand that the teachers were more powerful and were still superior to the students, but they should be able to talk to the students.

I thought that by giving the students an equal chance to make points and by giving them the freedom to understand what the teacher is saying and maybe make their own points, they will have more confidence and have more respect if they do it right. By talking to the students as human beings and by teaching them as human beings, they will be able to be individuals and contribute more to society in terms of ideas and inventions. Things they couldn't come up with if they were conditioned by the schools and the teachers. If they were brainwashed and treated like cattle being herded through a system, then nothing is really learned but to listen to the higher power and do as they say. I don't think that is a very productive way of learning.

Delpit:
Lisa Delpit believed in looking at what the students know and what they are being taught at home and then working with them from there. She works with first graders. She said that many lower income families aren't teaching their students simple things like the breakdown of the words and what they mean. The teachers were just assuming that the students knew that stuff and because of that they weren't able to ever really learn as much as they could. Because of that they had a severe disadvantage and started behind the other students who were taught that stuff at home. She proposed 40 lessons for children who wouldn't normally understand the work. It was a slow pace, but it was meant for the children be able to understand what was going on at a deeper level.

I thought she had some really strong ideas. She wanted all students to have an equal and fair chance when it comes to learning and succeeding later on in life. She knew that not all children got the same support at home and because of that she wanted to make sure that they would get the same education at school. She wanted them to be able to look at words and not just understand them, but know what they mean and how they work. She wanted to start at the root of the problem so measures like John Gatto's don't have to be taken. She targeted the lower income families where the families taught the kids how to survive instead of how to contribute in a conversation. She wanted teachers to be able to understand this and because of that she wanted them to be understanding and patient and have faith in the students.

Manley:
He said that his teachers kept his students in line by humiliating them and forcing them to do things that they wouldn't be comfortable with so they would learn it better. He made him stand under the flag for 30 seconds while everyone would stare at him if he made an error. He then went on to work at another John Gatto school where the students did exactly as the teacher asked and never had any ideas except for the answer. He was told to not be personal with them and not say anything about himself and not expect the same in return. He didn't like that of course though. He believes that there is a sense of equality and fairness between the students and teachers. He wants the students to participate and actually enjoy the class.

I personally like that idea. I feel that school isn't about equality among teachers and students at all. But i feel there should be a certain open mindedness to it. The teacher should be open to listening to students when they are trying to contribute ideas, not when they are trying to correct them with their own ideas. Total control is never a good idea because it only leaves room for rebellion, and brain washing students only leaves them the way you want them and usually without creativity or anything really special or important to contribute to society. They just kind of get by on the mediocre jobs. Manley enjoyed giving that length of freedom because he knew what it would do to a students self esteem and just overall attitude towards class and school. Its the little things that always make the difference.

HW - 49

In total honesty, i didn't contribute much to the production of the film. I really wanted to be a director, but as esther did help write it, it was much better that she did it. I saw myself in the corner of the film for a couple parts of it. I didn't have that many lines, nor did i interact with any character that did. I just didn't fit for any of the roles that were written. I would have liked to be more "in it," but there wasn't much i could do. I would say definitely next time, but i doubt there will be a next time, but if there is i would like to participate more i guess.

The tone of the film was mostly self destruction, for the most part. It drifts in and out of anger, regret, and a drunken rage. If you look at the movie as though will isn't a student but a teacher, you can see him trying to relate to the students when he puts them down. You see a level of power that he is trying to attain and needs the students to see him as equal, then he steps above them so he can have his power. The message he the film is trying to send is that humans are humans no matter what their job is and just because they have power over people doesn't give them more power over themselves. By loosing power over themselves but being in a position of power, they tend to fall apart even more, such as the teacher did in our film. He had a tragedy at home and lost a part of himself. He resorted to drinking and because of that he lost even more of himself and it started to show in how he treated his students.

I thought our film really had a violent and dark undertone when compared to the "savior" films. There is no savior. It doesn't follow normal movie standards where it has a conflict and a resolution. The closest it gets to a resolution is when the teacher makes fun of the three different groups of students and therefore is equal with them for when they were demeaning him before. In the savior films the teachers needed to reach the students and make them feel special and therefore want to participate in school and succeed. In this film the teacher doesn't like the students and doesn't care if they succeed or not. He has to deal with his own demons.

So the common conception is that education is the path to salvation. By going to school and participating and doing well then you can go to a good college and good job ect. I can't say i disagree with that because that is how i have been living my life and it is too late to change my course now. The way it works out is to socially mingle us while conforming us to each other's styles and the format of being pushed through a system. The reason this is viewed as a form of salvation is because it helps you get better jobs, which means more money and that in turn means happiness and salvation. To be able to understand the world around you is just to look at it the way the people around you tell you too. To be able to say you have a revolutionary view isn't always the truth. Unique is a much better way to be able to look at the world because we form our opinions from the people and books around us. We need to be able to take them and then mix them with our own and other people's perspectives to be able to see this world. To see things without a bias is really a form of salvation. To not be inclined to one side or another but to understand both sides perfectly and argue them both is to have reached nirvana, that is at least what i think. School does help you get there because it helps you establish other people's POV's and see things as they would, but the vice is that it can over take your own. It is meant to. Who need individualism when we can brainwash the masses? Making one mold is a lot easier then making millions.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

HW 48 - Treatment for Savior/Teacher Movie

The teacher wakes up, he has a slightly scruffy beard and he lives alone. He wakes up with a hacking cough and immediately lights a cigarette. He sits on the edge of his bed and smokes while the the cloud like vapors build up around him. His apartment is a disaster, there are magazines everywhere, as well as old pizza boxes and beer bottles. He has dirty clothes everywhere. He gets up and showers, finds clothes that seem clean, grabs his bag and a banana and walks out the door.
He takes the train to work. Its 7 in the morning and the commute is starting. There are men in business suits everywhere as just people going to work. They all seem to be awake and clean and have a purpose. He felt left out yet again. He gets out of the train and has a cigarette on the way to work. He puts it out and walks into his building.
Its 7:30 so the school is still pretty empty, he has an hour to set up before the kids get there. He goes and sits at his desk and looks at the notes he wrote last night, they wont be of help, the writing is eligible and there are some weird stains on them. He needs to cut down on his drinking but he wont. He is verbally disheveled when his students arrive. He has been teaching for 10 years and because of that he knows all the excuses to not do something. But for some reason he can never convince himself to ever change and step up and forget about her.
He sits down at his desk and waits for his class. He dreams about his wife and how much he really missed her.
Since she died his life has been on a real downturn. He drinks and still tries to teach. The students know how smart he is and how good of a teacher he is, but very few of them know what really happened to him. They just know that he isn't the same person who he used to be. His eyes have lost their twinkle and his face has lost a smile. Its like a big part of him died with her. Everyday he wishes he had her back but he never will.
His students walk in and he jumps up. They all go to their seats silently and get out the work. Not one student talks and they all do their work silently and the teacher stands and watches. He doesn't want to say anything and doesn't need to either. He helps the students if they need it but otherwise he doesn't talk. He stands at the front of the room and watches the students. Everyday he does this and everyday he sinks more into a depression. The students begin to notice when he stops talking in general and everything slowly falls apart.
They try to help him, but there is nothing they can do. He is a lost cause but he is still their teacher and he can't afford to retire just yet. Slowly the students come to him one on one after school and begin to talk to him. They talk about school, the students home lives and things like that. He beings to see what they are getting at and tells them what they want to hear, but is still unable to move on. He keeps teaching, but every day he is haunted with his wife's death. He finds a new love in teaching and is slowly able to move on and become the person who he used to be.

Extra Credit Opportunity - "The Class"

I heard about the movie The Class about 5 months while watching movie trailers online. I then ordered it on Netflix and watched it. What really shocked me about this movie was how no one came out ahead of where they started. It was a school for the kids who didn't have many other choices.
What i didn't understand is why the kids didn't try to help themselves. They all just brought each other down. The reason for the failure among the students is that the teacher was doing his best to teach the students but unlike the movies we saw there wasn't just one protagonist. Most of the students were protagonists and the teacher couldn't win over all of them.
The best example is with the student Souleymane. He was a smart kid but he was also trying to fit in and be cool. He refused to do the work and when he did do it, it was above where everyone thought it would be. None of the teachers liked him because he didn't try and brought the other students around him down too. That is why the teachers wanted to kick him out. All but the "lead teacher" or "savior."
Everyone has given up on these kids already and if these teachers give up on them too then they wont ever rise above the situations that they are in. The school and the teachers want to do what is best for them which is keep the class in line and kick out anyone who refuses to obey. They don't care all that much if they do the work or not. They just want to be able to show that the teachers were at least trying.
There isn't much that can be changed. The students don't care and the teachers don't care. There isn't much that can be improved. Even if the teachers cared, they couldn't make their entire class care. They are all the protagonists and because of that not much can get done.
When compared to SOF, there isn't really much of a resemblance. Our school is hands on and there is a small form of effort from every student. Students who don't care are usually asked to leave. It doesn't need to get physical like in The Class. Although we are lucky that our school isn't like it is in the movie. There is still a lot that can be done to improve our own situation.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

HW 47 - Class film preparation 1

1. Have the whole movie shot through different students cellphones to make it more through the student's point of view.
2. Have the opening scene where the teacher quits and a student tries to take over the class and is somewhat successful.
3. Have really motivated students but unmotivated teacher and the students try to save the teacher.
4. School deteriorates instead of improving.
5. Try the whole dangerous minds thing except in a college setting, so they are trying to get them jobs, not into high school,
6. Shoot the entire movie outdoors but still have desks and a formal looking set up with the teacher desk to show level of commitment but lack of funding
7. Have a Feed like scenario and make Violet the teacher and she is trying to get them to refuse the system so they can lead more successful individual lives that is free of any form of government control. It has to be set in the future or a third world country so that they actually have something to rise up against, not like the american government.