In Which Collection Was Claiming An Education Included?
‘Claiming an Edu- cation,’ a talk given at the Douglass College convocation in 1977, was first printed in the magazine The Common Woman in 1977.
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Contents
- 1 What does Adrienne Rich mean by claiming an education?
- 2 What is the purpose of claiming an education?
- 3 Who is the poet mentioned in the speech claiming and education?
- 4 What did Dewey mean by his saying that education is life itself?
- 4.1 What are the 3 purposes of education?
- 4.2 Who founded the academy an institution of higher learning which was the first of its kind in the Western world * 1 point?
- 4.3 Who is the poet of the poem where do all the teachers go Class 6?
- 4.4 What is the definition of education given by the writer in the first paragraph?
- 5 What is Emerson’s claim in Self-Reliance?
- 6 What is the title of collection of Emerson’s lectures?
- 6.1 What does Emerson say about education in Self-Reliance?
- 6.1.1 What is the meaning of education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire?
- 6.1.2 What is the difference between to claim an education and to receive an education?
- 6.1.3 What does my education was left to the street mean hear?
- 6.1.4 What does my education was left to the streets mean here?
- 6.1 What does Emerson say about education in Self-Reliance?
What does Adrienne Rich mean by claiming an education?
A defining moment, for those fortunate enough, is one’s college career. It is a time of self-discovery, new experiences, independence, but above all, the time to work toward a higher education. Adrienne Rich, in her convocation speech “Claiming an Education,” highlights the vital importance of higher education,
Moreover, Rich seeks to empower the young women in the audience to seize control of their education. In her speech, Rich explains that it is not only important for women to attain a college degree, but to take command of their education (and their lives in general) by resisting society’s traditional view of women.
Moreover, Rich illustrates what individuals can do in order to benefit the most from their education. In describing how show more content She urges the audience to “claim” their education by making their goals and aspirations their top priority. Here, Rich’s logic is that the future of individuals’ lives lies in their dedication to themselves and their education; thus, each individual must take a responsibility to maximize their education.
- This difference between “receiving” and “claiming” an education implies that individuals must resist becoming passive during their schooling, and rather be proactive to meet Rich’s conception of the future of education.
- Furthermore, Rich is targeting this advice toward the young women in the audience who she feels must be particularly vigilant by resisting gender stereotypes which portray women as second to men.
Rich states that the audience needs to be “taking responsibility toward yourselves. Our upbringing as women has so often told us that this should come second to our relationships and responsibilities to other people” (298-299). Here, Rich is further emphasizing that nothing should stand in the way of one’s education.
- Rich encourages her audience to dismiss preconceived notions of women being inferior to men.
- Instead, they should focus on themselves and their personal goals instead of fulfilling stereotypical imagined responsibilities of women.
- The argument that one’s educational aspirations should always be the top priority is where Rich grounds her show more content In her book, hooks explores the theory of teaching, or pedagogy, and how her personal learning experiences have influenced her pedagogy.
Hooks argues that an essential part of the classroom is that “the professor must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes” (8). This argument is inspired by hook’s personal experience of transitioning from a segregated to non-segregated school.
Due her continued exclusion even in a non-segregated setting, hooks has a strong belief that in the classroom, everyone should be treated as the equals they are. By hooks’ logic, equality entails equality of influence in a group. Hooks’ argument can be related to Rich’s beliefs that women should continue to be integrated into education, in that both value the necessity of inclusive learning environments.
Additionally, hooks argues that the problem in education is that “students often do not want to learn and teachers do not want to teach” (12). While hooks and Rich view education as a right for all and support diverse, dynamic learning environments, hooks identifies the problem in education to be that there is a lack of eagerness to teach and learn.
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What is the purpose of claiming an education?
In Adrienne Rich’s essay, “Claiming an Education”, the author speaks about the female experience against the male-dominated academic scene. Despite the fact that this essay was written in 1979, a number of Rich’s points seem timeless. Rich encourages young women to insist on a life of meaningful work.
As a seventeen-year-old student, I have often heard from my female companions that they anticipate a higher education as an opportunity to hunt down a spouse. The frequency and zeal of this conclusion, seeing education only as means of marriage, strikes me as particularly pitiful and archaic. Adrienne Rich’s thesis in “Claiming an Education” aptly expresses the array of roles women hold in societies, the benefits, and weaknesses of our education system, as well as the struggles that women are exposed to.
She successfully develops her thesis statement by the effective use of a variety of methods of development and various literary devices to improve her writing quality and to help readers interpret her message. I agree with Rich’s thesis statement because education entails being responsible for oneself, not just for women, but for all students.
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In which college did Adrienne Rich deliver the speech claiming an education?
In 1977, poet and scholar Adrienne Rich delivered a remarkable convocation speech at Douglass College (a women’s residential college at Rutgers University).
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Who is the poet mentioned in the speech claiming and education?
‘Claiming an Education’ by Adrienne Rich Speech delivered at the convocation of Douglass College, 1977.
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What is Emerson’s claim in education?
Emerson believed that human beings should learn to think on their own, rather than solely acquire the craft of imitation or conformity by repeating the speech of their teachers. A liberating education, to Emer- son, gives students the ability to challenge those in power when necessary.
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What did Dewey mean by his saying that education is life itself?
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John Dewey once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” He is conveying the idea that learning is an active process, that should occur to enhance one ‘s living and understanding thereof. When one only views education as a temporary matter, that person misses the big picture and fails to grasp what life genuinely is. Paulo Freire believes in having the opportunity to discover for oneself all that the world has to offer, with the slight guidance from a teacher. He “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” If one accepts the quote by John Dewey to be true, then depriving someone of their education is depriving them of their life. Throughout the centuries, human beings have sought educational freedom. The United States of America has become a symbol for all who seek life, or education rather. Millions of people come to the United States, from less privileged countries, each year in hopes for a better education that is coupled with a “Education is not preparation for life; Education is life for itself.” These are the words of John Dewey, which have led an everlasting impression on my mind. It relates to the idea of lifelong learning, and the knowledge that education is much more than what lies within the curriculum. Whenever I pause by to reflect on my ken of knowledge, I feel that how little I have learnt and that an enormous, unknown and fascinating wealth of knowledge lies before me, yet to be explored. Education is like an Education: The Key to Success “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” If one accepts the quote by John Dewey to be true, then depriving someone of their education is depriving them of their life. Throughout the centuries, human beings have sought educational freedom. The United States of America has become a symbol for all who seek life, or education rather. Millions of people come to the United States, from less privileged countries, each year in hopes for a better education In the words of John Dewey, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself, (2017)”. John Dewey was a revolutionary, a transformer, and a pioneer ahead of his time. In this character analysis John Dewey’s ideas of education and democracy will be scrutinized. In the YouTube videos referring to John Dewey, it was discussed that in the not so distant past society viewed “education in a sit and get mentality, (2012)”. Educators put it in their student’s head that recalling facts rapidly Lines in Education”. This primary source provides information on different programs that were established to improve teacher preparation programs throughout the United States. The information provided allows the reader to gain a better understanding of how programs were changed to support pre-service teachers to ensure they are successful. Gutek (2013) discusses how clinical experiences and practice teaching, orginated in normal schools and they are crucial components in teacher preparation programs The purpose of college differentiates from person to person, the purpose of college for me is to not only shape me into a productive citizen but to prepare me for my future career and life in the real world. Like most students, I think a portion of college should be devoted to career preparation to ensure the move from college to career is an easy one and to make sure I’ve gained all college has to offer. Throughout my college career, I will take many courses I don’t see the purpose of yet they about. As I cover the different areas of preparation, keep in mind that these are just a few that must pastors follow. You will not get far if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit and seeking grace and mercy daily. A spiritual preparation is a must when pastoring. McCarty, D. (1997). Leading the small church, says “A call to preach is a call to prepare.” He also says “Spirituality is personal and not mechanical and rote exercise.” This spiritual preparation is an interaction with God and God alone Analysis This research paper has looked into various views on the role of counselors in Special Education Needs student’s preparation for transition. Most researchers feel that the counselors have a huge role to play when it comes to preparing learners for transition (Milson, 2002, Geddes, 2015). The research is pointing out to some important features that will help improve the transition. First the counselors should be well trained on their role in guiding learners with disability for post secondary The current trend in lack of Latina/o students attending college combines a lack of college readiness with a deficiency in resources to prepare this student population. More and more higher education scholars are accepting these deficiencies as roadblocks to college access, and are looking to preparation programs and parent educational resources as a subject worthy of consideration. There are many different challenges being faced by this population, a population that is according to Oliva and Nora
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Who claims the education credit?
Who can claim an education credit? – There are additional rules for each credit, but you must meet all three of the following for both:
- You, your dependent or a third party pays qualified education expenses for higher education.
- An eligible student must be enrolled at an eligible educational institution,
- The eligible student is yourself, your spouse or a dependent you list on your tax return.
What are the 3 purposes of education?
What is the purpose of education? The question came into stark relief when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently tried to quietly change the century-old mission of the University of Wisconsin system by proposing to remove words in the state code that command the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.” Walker backed off when the issue became public and sparked intense criticism from academics and others, but the issue remains a topic of national debate and of the following post.
It was written by Arthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. The ideas expressed in this article are his alone and do not represent Stevens Institute. His other writing can be found at www.arthurcamins.com,
By Arthur H. Camins Debate about the purposes of education never seems to end. Should young people become educated to get prepared to enter the workforce, or should the purpose of education be focused more on social, academic, cultural and intellectual development so that students can grow up to be engaged citizens? Over the last 50 years, anxiety about competition with the Soviet Union, Japan, and China for global economic, military and political dominance have supported periodic calls for more effective workforce development.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recently tried to change the mission statement of the University of Wisconsin to focus exclusively on workforce development. With each new workforce development or economic competitiveness demand on our K-12 schools, there has been push-back from those who want greater emphasis on a broader view of education.
But it doesn’t have to be either-or. Education should prepare young people for life, work and citizenship. Knowledge of the natural and engineered environments and how people live in the world is critical to all three purposes of education. Critical thinking, creativity, interpersonal skills and a sense of social responsibility all influence success in life, work and citizenship.
For example, unhappy personal relationships often spill over into the work environment, while a stressful workplace or unemployment negatively impacts family life. Uninformed disengaged citizens lead to poor policy choices that impact life, work and citizenship. To paraphrase the verse in the old song, “You can’t have one without the others.” This multiple-purpose perspective has practical implications for both day-to-day instruction as well as education policy.
What classrooms features support education for life, work and citizenship? The key is to identify the learning behaviors in which students should be engaged. The National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education provides some good examples.
- The framework describes the practices that scientists and engineers utilize to build new knowledge and designs, but also the student engagement that leads to learning.
- To be clear, the framework starts from the premise that science is a means to develop explanations about how the natural world works, and engineering is a means to develop solutions to human problems.
Both are intended to improve our lives– a strong motivator for all learning. With a little tweaking, the practices are surprisingly applicable to various school subjects and as vehicles to address our multiple purposes. (1) Ask questions about phenomenon (causes of cancer, climate change) and define problems that need to be solved (designing cancer treatment drugs, low-impact energy generation).
- In classrooms, students can ask questions about how living things get energy to live and grow.
- They can design prototypes of robots to clean up an oil spill.
- An educational focus on asking productive questions and defining meaningful problems isn’t just an academic skill.
- It is an important disposition across life, work and citizenship.
(2) Develop and use models. Models represent relevant testable features of scientific explanations or design solutions. In classrooms, teachers engage students to surface, clarify, refine and advance their understanding. Done well, this means that teachers don’t just present already established ideas but engage students in examining and advancing their own ideas.
It means that students are challenged to reflect on what they already think they know and when appropriate research what others know in order to develop a preliminary testable model. One key modeling idea, applicable to life, work and citizenship is that most problems worth contemplating are complex and that seeking to understand that complexity is a better approach than a rush to simplicity.
Another important idea is that models, or our initial ideas, should be subject to systematic investigation. Knowing whether or not those models comport with reality is critical, lest we make poor uninformed choices with unintended consequences. (3) Plan and carry out investigations.
- The goals of investigations are to test, refine or replace existing or hypothetical explanations or design solutions.
- For example, in high school biology classrooms, students may design investigations to determine what kinds of algae and what conditions are optimal for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
In doing so, they need to anticipate what data would support or challenge their initial ideas or design choices. Developing students’ abilities to examine data systematically, is yet another multipurpose education outcome. Taught well, students learn three basic premises: The questions asked frame what data is available for inquiry.
- The questions not asked may be just as important.
- In addition, in an active classroom with plenty of time for discussion, students learn that different people look at the same data and reach different interpretations.
- Not a bad life skill! (4) Analyze and interpret data and (5) Use mathematics and computational thinking.
Data does not speak for itself. Investigations to test explanations or designs yield data that must be interpreted. In classrooms organized around these eight practices, students learn that answers to important questions are not preordained. Instead, answers come from examining whether, when, under what circumstances, and how things work in the world.
- Students learn to use both traditional and modern interpretative tools.
- Especially in examining complex systems or designing complex solutions, mathematical representation and computational analysis are critical.
- Students learn to see mathematics not as procedures to be memorized, but as tools for making sense of the world– yet another multipurpose skill.
(6) Constructing explanations and designing solutions and (7) Engage in argument from evidence. The framework says: “The goal for students is to construct logically coherent explanations of phenomena that incorporate their current understanding of science, or a model that represents it, and are consistent with the available evidence.
- There is usually no single best solution but rather a range of solutions.
- Which one is the optimal choice depends on the criteria used for making evaluations.” However, the framework goes one step further to say that in addition to developing logical evidence-based arguments, students should practice defending or revising their explanations or solutions in the light of competing ideas.
Think about the power of depersonalizing arguments and making them about evidence. That sure could improve addressing the inevitable conflicts that are part of the fabric of life, work and citizenship. (8) Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information.
- The practices of science and engineering are forward-looking, knowledge- and solution-directed and always seeking improvement.
- As such, there is a premium on communicating with others.
- As a result, classrooms that engage in these practices are characterized by collaboration, reflectiveness and openness to alternative ideas.
Once again, great skills to nourish for life, work and citizenship. What policies promote education for life, work and citizenship? First, across multiple traditional subject areas, teaching to develop students’ expertise to apply these practices implies substantial shifts in instructional emphasis.
- These shifts will require the development of new curricula and professional development.
- That should be a high funding priority.
- Second, because substantial engagement in these practices is a significant cultural change, time and patience are in order.
- No quick fixes or short-term measurable results can be expected from current formative or summative assessment instruments or practices.
Third, teaching through these practices demands content that has personal and social relevance for students so that they are intellectually and emotionally engaged in their own learning. This implies that teaching for test success is an insufficient, if not undermining, motivator.
- As a result, current policies that give priority to consequential assessment need to be severely curtailed.
- Fourth, since our social and technological context is constantly evolving, education for life, work and citizenship cannot just focus on what is already known and how we live now.
- Therefore, teaching and assessment that privilege rote learning should give way to preparation for future learning.
No matter what progress is made to shift the practices and content of daily classroom instruction, inequity will continue to be a substantial limiting factor. Application of the systems thinking that characterizes progress in science and engineering to education policy means that real sustainable improvement depends on addressing inequity in areas such as well-paid employment, health care, food, and housing security.
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What is the difference between to claim an education and to receive an education?
In September of 1977, months before the publication of her exquisite Dream of a Common Language and exactly two decades before becoming the first and so far only person to refuse the prestigious National Medal of Arts in an act of remarkable political courage, Adrienne Rich stood before the graduating women at Douglass College and delivered a convocation speech that belongs among the greatest commencement addresses of all time, Adrienne Rich at age 22, 1951. Photograph by Peter Solmssen (Schlesinger Library) What does it mean to “claim” an education, exactly? Like time, which is not something we make but something we find, Rich begins by arguing that education requires an element of active personal initiative: The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.
- One of the dictionary definitions of the verb “to claim” is: to take as the rightful owner; to assert in the face of possible contradiction,
- To receive” is to come into possession of: to act as receptacle or container for; to accept as authoritative or true,
- The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon, and for women it can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Rich considers the gendered nature of academia’s substance, a lament that seems dated only if we choose to remain blind to the hidden currents still sweeping society, She captures this with devastating succinctness: One of the devastating weaknesses of university learning, of the store of knowledge and opinion that has been handed down through academic training, has been its almost total erasure of women’s experience and thought from the curriculum What you can learn is how men have perceived and organized their experience, their history, their ideas of social relationships, good and evil, sickness and health, etc.
- When you read or hear about “great issues,” “major texts,” “the mainstream of Western thought,” you are hearing about what men, above all white men, in their male subjectivity, have decided is important.
- And yet Rich is careful to counter any misperception that taking more “women’s studies” courses is the solution to this cultural imbalance: While I think that any has everything to gain by investigating and enrolling in women’s studies courses, I want to suggest that there is a more essential experience that you owe yourselves, one which courses in women’s studies can greatly enrich, but which finally depends on you in all your interactions with yourself and your world.
This is the experience of taking responsibility toward yourselves, Our upbringing as women has so often told us that this should come second to our relationships and responsibilities to other people Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
It means that you do not treat your body as a commodity with which to purchase superficial intimacy or economic security; for our bodies to be treated as objects, our minds are in mortal danger. It means insisting that those to whom you give your friendship and love are able to respect your mind. It means being able to say, with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: “I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all the extraneous delights should be withheld or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.” Responsibility to yourself means that you don’t fall for shallow and easy solutions — predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking “gut” courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work, marrying early as an escape from real decisions, getting pregnant as an evasion of already existing problems.
It means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short, simply to avoid conflict and confrontation It means that we insist on a life of meaningful work, insist that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. It means, therefore, the courage to be “different”; not to be continuously available to others when we need time for ourselves and our work; to be able to demand of others — parents, friends, roommates, teachers, lovers, husbands, children — that they respect our sense of purpose and our integrity as persons. Adrienne Rich, 1970s Lamenting the institutionalized biases of the academy — an academy that only a century earlier refused to grant women access and even today has a severe gender bias — Rich urges: Too often, all of us fail to teach the most important thing, which is that clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work,
Sometimes, perhaps in discouragement with a culture which is both antiintellectual and antiwoman, we may resign ourselves to low expectations for our students before we have given them half a chance to become more thoughtful, expressive human beings. We need to take to heart the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a poet, a thinking woman, and a feminist, who wrote in 1845 of her impatience with studies which cultivate a “passive recipiency” in the mind, and asserted that “women want to be made to think actively : their apprehension is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the most part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities.” Note that she implies a defect which can be remedied by intellectual training; not an inborn lack of ability.
Returning to the central notion that education is something we claim rather than receive, Rich turns to the student’s own responsibility in the equation — an assertion essential to the education and empowerment of women, but also one whose foundation applies to all genders across all fields of personal growth: The contract on the student’s part involves that you demand to be taken seriously so that you can also go on taking yourself seriously.
This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for you is demand that you push yourself further, show you the range of what you can do It means assuming your share of responsibility for what happens in the classroom, because that affects the quality of your daily life here.
It means that the student sees herself engaged with her teachers in an active, ongoing struggle for a real education. But for her to do this, her teachers must be committed to the belief that women’s minds and experience are intrinsically valuable and indispensable to any civilization worthy the name: that there is no more exhilarating and intellectually fertile place in the academic world today than a women’s college — if both students and teachers in large enough numbers are trying to fulfill this contract.
- The contract is really a pledge of mutual seriousness about women, about language, ideas, method, and values.
- It is our shared commitment toward a world in which the inborn potentialities of so many women’s minds will no longer be wasted, raveled-away, paralyzed, or denied.
- More of Rich’s inextinguishable mind can be found between the covers of On Lies, Secrets, and Silence,
Sample it further with Rich on the dignity of love, then complement this particular gem with more spectacular commencement addresses, including Anna Quindlen on the essentials of a happy life, Bill Watterson on not selling out, Debbie Millman on courage and the creative life, George Saunders on the power of kindness, David Foster Wallace on the meaning of life, Neil Gaiman on the resilience of the creative spirit, Kurt Vonnegut on kindness and the power of great teachers, Patti Smith on life and making a name for yourself, and Joseph Brodsky on winning the game of life,
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Who said that education is the mirror of society?
Education for Social Change: From Theory to Practice – Alan Singer Michael Pezone 1.1 More than a century ago, Emile Durkheim rejected the idea that education could be the force to transform society and resolve social ills. Instead, Durkheim concluded that education “can be reformed only if society itself is reformed.” He argued that education “is only the image and reflection of society.
- It imitates and reproduces the latterit does not create it” (Durkheim, 1897/1951: 372-373).1.2 Most mainstream proposals for improving education in the United States assume that our society is fundamentally sound, but that for some reason, our schools are failing.
- Different critics target different villains: poor quality teachers, pampered, disruptive or ill-prepared students, the culture of their families, unions, bureaucrats, university schools of education, tests that are too easy, or inadequate curriculum.
But if Durkheim was correct, a society has the school system it deserves. Denouncing the poor quality of education is like blaming a mirror because you do not like your reflection.1.3 The first step in improving education is to recognize that the problems plaguing our schools are rooted in the way our society is organized. violence in sports, movies, video games, and on evening news broadcasts that celebrate the death of others through hygienic strategic bombings. It is a society where no one feels obligated to pay taxes for the broader social good and where welfare “reform” means denying benefits to children if their parents cannot find work; a society that promotes the need for instant gratification and uses youthful alienation to sell products; a society where those who do not fit in are shunned (Bowles & Gintis, 1976).1.4 Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that our school system is designed to sort children out and leave many uneducated.
To legitimize the way our society is organized, its schools teach competitive behavior and social inequality as if they were fundamental law of nature. Just as with the economy, some are rewarded in school, others are punished, and both groups are taught that rewards and punishment are the result of their own efforts (Kohn, 1999).1.5 As a teacher educator and a public high school social studies teacher, we try to avoid being overwhelmed by pessimism during debates over school reform.
Even though we believe that education will not be changed in isolation, we recognize that efforts to improve schools can be part of a long term struggle to create a more equitable society in the United States. We also believe that students, especially high school students, must be part of this struggle and that an important part of our job as teachers is to help prepare them to participate as active citizens in a democratic society.1.6 Should teachers encourage high school students to work for social change? Thomas Jefferson believed that, in a democratic society, teachers do not really have a choice.
According to Jefferson, freedom and republican government rest on two basic principles: “the diffusion of knowledge among the people” and the idea that “a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” Jefferson supported the right to rebel because he recognized that the world was constantly changing.
The crucial question was not whether it would change, but the direction of change. Education was essential so that ordinary citizens could participate in this process, defending and enhancing their liberties.1.7 In the United States, there has frequently been a close connection between advocacy for mass public education and demands for expanding democracy, social equity, and political reform.
For example, in the mid-19th century, Horace Mann championed public education because he believed that the success of the country depended on “intelligence and virtue in the masses of the people.” He argued that, “If we do not prepare children to become good citizen.then our republic must go down to destruction” ( The New York Times, 1953).1.8 John Dewey (1939) saw himself within this intellectual tradition.
He believed that democratic movements for human liberation were necessary to achieve a fair distribution of political power and an “equitable system of human liberties.” However, criticisms have been raised about limitations in Deweyan approaches to education, especially the way they are practiced in many elite private schools.
Frequently, these schools are racially, ethnically, and economically segregated, and therefore efforts to develop classroom community ignore the spectrum of human difference and the continuing impact of society’s attitudes about race, class, ethnicity, gender, social conflict, and inequality on both teachers and students.
In addition, because of pressure on students to achieve high academic scores, teachers maintain an undemocratic level of control over the classroom. Both of these issues are addressed by Paulo Freire, who calls on educators to aggressively challenge both injustice and unequal power arrangements in the classroom and society.1.9 Paulo Freire was born in Recife in northeastern Brazil, where his ideas about education developed in response to military dictatorship, enormous social inequality, and widespread adult illiteracy.
- As a result, his primary pedagogical goal was to provide the world’s poor and oppressed with educational experiences that make it possible for them to take control over their own lives.
- Freire (1970; 1995) shared Dewey’s desire to stimulate students to become “agents of curiosity” in a “quest for.the ‘why’ of things,” and his belief that education provides possibility and hope for the future of society.
But he believes that these can only be achieved when students are engaged in explicitly critiquing social injustice and actively organizing to challenge oppression.1.10 For Freire, education is a process of continuous group discussion (dialogue) that enables people to acquire collective knowledge they can use to change society.
The role of the teacher includes asking questions that help students identify problems facing their community (problem posing), working with students to discover ideas or create symbols (representations) that explain their life experiences (codification), and encouraging analysis of prior experiences and of society as the basis for new academic understanding and social action (conscientization) (Shor, 1987).1.11 In a Deweyan classroom, the teacher is an expert who is responsible for organizing experiences so that students learn content, social and academic skills, and an appreciation for democratic living.
Freire is concerned that this arrangement reproduces the unequal power relationships that exist in society. In a Freirean classroom, everyone has a recognized area of expertise that includes, but is not limited to, understanding and explaining their own life, and sharing this expertise becomes an essential element in the classroom curriculum. experiences and struggles for social change belongs to the entire community; as groups exercise this responsibility, they are empowered to take control over their lives.1.12 We agree with Freire’s concern that teachers address social inequality and the powerlessness experienced by many of our students.
- We also recognize that it is difficult to imagine secondary school social studies classrooms where teachers are responsible for covering specified subject matter organized directly on Freirean principles.
- Maxine Greene (1993a; 1993b;1993c), an educational philosopher who advocates a “curriculum for human beings” integrating aspects of Freire, Dewey, and feminist thinking, offers ways for teachers to introduce Freire’s pedagogical ideas into the classroom.1.13 Greene believes that, to create democratic classrooms, teachers must learn to listen to student voices.
Listening allows teachers to discover what students are thinking, what concerns them, and what has meaning to them. When teachers learn to listen, it is possible for teachers and students to collectively search for historical, literary, and artistic metaphors that make knowledge of the world accessible to us.
In addition, the act of listening creates possibilities for human empowerment; it counters the marginalization experienced by students in school and in their lives, it introduces multiple perspectives and cultural diversity into the classroom, and it encourages students to take risks and contribute their social critiques to the classroom dialogue.1.14 Greene’s ideas are especially useful to social studies teachers.
Just as historians discuss history as an ongoing process that extends from the past into the future, Greene sees individual and social development as processes that are “always in the making.” For Greene, ideas, societies, and people are dynamic and always changing.
She rejects the idea that there are universal and absolute truths and predetermined conclusions. According to Greene, learning is a search for “situated understanding” that places ideas and events in their social, historical, and cultural contexts.1.15 Greene believes that the human mind provides us with powerful tools for knowing ourselves and others.
She encourages students to combine critical thinking with creative imagination in an effort to empathize with and understand the lives, minds, and consciousness of human beings from the past and of our contemporaries in the present. She sees the goal of learning as discovering new questions about ourselves and the world, and this leads her to examine events from different perspectives, to value the ideas of other people, and to champion democracy.1.16 During the Great Depression, striking Harlan County, Kentucky coal miners sang a song called “Which Side Are You On?” (lyrics available on the web at www.geocities.com/Nashville/ 3448/whichsid.html).
- In a book he co-authored with Paulo Freire, Myles Horton (1990) of the Highlander School argued that educators cannot be neutral either.
- He called neutrality “a code word for the existing system.
- It has nothing to do with anything but agreeing to what is and will always be.
- It was to me a refusal to oppose injustice or to take sides that are unpopular” (p.102).1.17 James Banks (1991; 1993), an educational theorist whose focus is on the development of social studies curriculum, shares the ideas that “knowledge is not neutral,” and that “an important purpose of knowledge construction is to help people improve society.” Although Banks is a strong advocate of a multicultural approach to social studies, he argues that a “transformative” curriculum depends less on the content of what is taught than on the willingness of teachers to examine their own personal and cultural values and identities, to change the ways they organize classrooms and relate to students, and to actively commit themselves to social change.1.18 The main ideas about education and society at the heart of the philosophies of Dewey, Freire, Greene, Horton, and Banks are that society is always changing and knowledge is not neutral—it either supports the status quo or a potential new direction for society; people learn primarily from what they experience; active citizens in a democratic society need to be critical and imaginative thinkers; and students learn to be active citizens by being active citizens.
Assuming that we agree with these ideas, we are still left with these questions: How do we translate educational theory into practice? What do these ideas look like in the classroom? 1.19 In Alan Singer’s high school social studies classes before becoming a teacher educator, he promoted transformative goals through direct student involvement in social action projects as part of New York State’s “Participation in Government” curriculum.
- In New York City, periodic budget crises, ongoing racial and ethnic tension, and the need for social programs in poor communities provided numerous opportunities to encourage students to become active citizens.
- Class activities included sponsoring student forums on controversial issues, preparing reports on school finances and presenting them as testimony at public hearings, writing position papers for publication in local newspapers, and organizing student and community support for a school-based public health clinic.
One of our most successful programs was organizing students across the city to struggle for a condom availability program in the high schools.1.20 During each activity, social studies goals included making reasoned decisions based on an evaluation of existing evidence, researching issues and presenting information in writing and on graphs, exploring the underlying ideas that shape our points of view, giving leadership by example to other students, and taking collective and individual responsibility for the success of programs.1.21 Singer now works with a number of teachers who are part of the Hofstra University New Teachers Network and who share a commitment to empower students as social actvists and critical thinkers.
- Michael Pezone is a high school social studies teacher in a working-class, largely African American and Caribbean public high school in New York City where many of his students have histories of poor performance in school.
- Pezone is a former student in the Hofstra University School of Education and Allied Human Services, a cooperating teacher in the program, and a mentor teacher in our alumni group.
Virtually ever social studies teacher education student in the Hofstra program at one time or another visits Pezone’s classroom, where he has involved his students and the pre-service teachers in exploring the possibility of political action.1.22 During the Fall semester of 2001, in response to the destruction of the World Trade Center, the New York City Board of Education required all public schools to lead students in the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day and at all school-wide assemblies and school events (Pezone, 2002).
- Pezone’s students were confused about the law governing behavior during the flag salute and concerned with defending the first amendment rights of fellow students.
- They contacted the New York Civil Liberties Union to clarify legal issues and learned that participation was not required by law.
- They decided to monitor both compliance with the directive’s requirement that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited each day and freedom of dissent.
They also circulated a questionnaire in the school that asked students about their opinions on the issues, encouraged students to behave respectfully and responsibly during the pledge, informed them of their legal right not to participate, and asked them to report violations of the law.
- The results of the student survey and student comments were later distributed in the school’s magazine.1.23 The next year (Fall, 2002), New York City initiated a new metal detector program that made students up to one hour late for class every morning.
- Pezone’s students organized to petition fellow students while they were waiting for admission to the building.
As a result of their efforts, the problem was highlighted on a television news broadcast and finally addressed by district administrators.1.24 At the center of Pezone’s pedagogy is a project he calls the democratic dialogue (Pezone and Singer, 1997; Pezone, Palacio & Rosenberg, 2003).
- It has been adopted by a number of colleagues in the New Teachers Network who first participated in the project when they visited Pezone’s classroom.
- Pezone believes that the success of the dialogues depends on the gradual development of caring, cooperative communities over the course of a year.
- To encourage these communities, he works with students to create an atmosphere where they feel free to expose their ideas, feelings, and academic proficiencies in public without risking embarrassment or attack and being pressed into silence.
He stresses with students that the dialogues are not debates; that as students learn about a topic the entire class “wins or loses” together.1.25 The student dialogues are highly structured. Pezone believes that structure maximizes student freedom by insuring that all students have an opportunity to participate.
- It also helps to insure that classes carefully examine statements, attitudes, and practices that may reflect biases and demean community members.1.26 Pezone uses dialogues to conclude units, however, preparation for the dialogues takes place constantly.
- At the start of the semester, he and his students decide on the procedures for conducting dialogues so that everyone in class participates and on criteria for evaluating team and individual performance.
Usually students want the criteria to include an evaluation of how well the team works together; the degree to which substantive questions are addressed; the use of supporting evidence; the response to statements made by the other team; whether ideas are presented effectively; and whether individual students demonstrate effort and growth.
- These criteria are codified in a scoring rubric that is reexamined before each dialogue and changed when necessary.
- Students also help to define the question being discussed.
- After the dialogue, students work in small groups to evaluate the overall dialogue, the performance by their team, and their individual participation.1.27 During a unit, the class identifies a broad social studies issue that they want to research and examine in greater depth.
For example, after studying the recent histories of India and China, they discussed whether violent revolution or non-violent resistance is the most effective path to change. On other occasions they have discussed if the achievements of the ancient world justified the exploitation of people and whether the United States and Europe should intervene in the internal affairs of other countries because of the way women are treated in some cultures.1.28 The goal of a dialogue is to examine all aspects of an issue, not to score points at the expense of someone else. either opening, rebuttal, or concluding speakers. During dialogues, teams “huddle-up” to share their ideas and reactions to what is being presented by the other side. After dialogues, students discuss what they learned from members of the other team and evaluate the performance of the entire class.1.29 An important part of the dialogue process is the involvement of students in assessing what they have learned.
In Pezone’s classes students help develop the parameters for class projects and decide the criteria for assessing their performance in these activities. The benefit of this involvement for students includes a deeper understanding of historical and social science research methods; insight into the design and implementation of projects; a greater stake in the satisfactory completion of assignments; and a sense of empowerment because assessment decisions are based on rules that the classroom community has helped to shape.1.30 Pezone uses individual and group conferences to learn what students think about the dialogues and their impact on student thinking about democratic process and values.
Students generally feel that the dialogues give them a personal stake in what happens in class and they feel responsible for supporting their teams. Students who customarily are silent in class because of fear of being ridiculed or because they are not easily understood by the other students, become involved in speaking out.
For many students, it is a rare opportunity to engage in both decision making and open public discussion “in front of other people.” 1.31 From the dialogues, students start to learn that democratic society involves a combination of individual rights and initiatives with social responsibility, collective decision-making, and shared community goals.
They discover that democracy frequently entails tension between the will of the majority and the rights of minorities and that it cannot be taken for granted. It involves taking risks and is something that a community must continually work to maintain and expand.
Another benefit of the dialogue process is that it affords students the opportunity to actively generate knowledge without relying on teacher-centered instructional methods.1.32 Pezone finds that the year long process of defining, conducting, and evaluating dialogues involves students in constant reflection on social studies concepts, class goals, student interaction, and the importance of community.
It makes possible individual academic and social growth, encourages students to view ideas critically and events from multiple perspectives, and supports the formation of a cooperative learning environment. He believes that when students are able to analyze educational issues, and create classroom policy, they gain a personal stake in classroom activities and a deeper understanding of democracy.1.33 A number of the teachers related to the Hofstra New Teachers Network consider themselves transformative educators, yet none of them, including either of us, has created a model transformative classroom.
- It may simply be that, although the educational goals discussed above provide a vision of a particular kind of classroom, transformative education, like history, is part of a process that is never finished. Banks, J. (1991).
- A curriculum for empowerment, action and change,” in Sleeter, C.
- Ed.), Empowerment through multicultural education (pp.125-142).
Albany, New York: SUNY Press. Banks, J. (1993). The canon debate, knowledge construction, and multicultural education. Educational Researcher, 22 (5), 4-14. Bowles, S. & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America, Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life,
- New York: Basic Books. Dewey, J. (1939).
- Freedom and culture,
- New York: G.P.
- Putnam’s Sons.
- Durkheim, E.
- 1897/1951).
- Suicide, A study in sociology,
- New York: Free Press.
- Freire, P. (1970).
- Pedagogy of the oppressed,
- New York: Seabury.
- Freire, P. (1995).
- Pedagogy of hope,
- New York: Continuum.
- Greene, M. (1993a).
- Diversity and inclusion: Towards a curriculum for human beings.
Teachers College Record, 95 (2) 211-221. Greene, M. (1993b). Reflections on post-modernism and education. Educational Policy, 7 (2), 106-111. Greene, M. (1993c). The passions of pluralism: Multiculturalism and expanding community. Educational Researcher, 22 (1), 13-18.
- Horton, M., & Freire, P. (1990).
- We make the road by walking,
- Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Kohn, A. (1999).
- Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes,
- Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
- The New York Times (1953, September 15).
- Horace Mann.
- Pezone, M., (Summer-Fall, 2002).
Defending First Amendment rights in schools. Social Science Docket, 3 (1). Pezone, M., Palacio, J., & Rosenberg, L. (Winter-Spring, 2003). Using student dialogues to teach social studies. Social Science Docket, 3 (1). Pezone M. & Singer, A. (February 1997). Empowering immigrant students through democratic dialogues.
References
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Who founded the academy an institution of higher learning which was the first of its kind in the Western world * 1 point?
Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first Institution of higher learning in the Western world. In about 387 BCE Plato founded his Academy.
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Who does the speaker claim to represent Class 11?
Question 1. Who does the speaker claim to represent? Answer: The speaker wishes to represent some of the cardinal principles enunciated by those who offered to graduates in the past.
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Who is the poet of the poem where do all the teachers go Class 6?
The Class 6 English Honeysuckle Chapter 5 poem ‘Where Do All the Teachers Go?’ is written by Peter Dixon.
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What is the definition of education given by the writer in the first paragraph?
Definition of Education by Different Authors Education is the ability to feel joy and suffering at the correct time. It creates in the body and in the spirit of the student all the magnificence and all the purity which he can handle. Read details of here in this article.
Learning is an acquainted and conscious effort to make an act of learning and the learning cycle so students are effectively building up the potential for them to have the profound strength of strict, restraint, character, insight, honorable character, and the abilities required themselves and society.
Wikipedia Education is characterized as a learning cycle for the person to achieve information and comprehension of the higher explicit items and explicit. The information acquired officially coming about an individual has an example of thought and conduct as per the training they have acquired.
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What is Emerson’s claim in Self-Reliance?
In his essay, ‘Self Reliance,’ Emerson’s sole purpose is the want for people to avoid conformity. Emerson believed that in order for a man to truly be a man, he was to follow his own conscience and ‘do his own thing.’ Essentially, do what you believe is right instead of blindly following society.
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What is the title of collection of Emerson’s lectures?
Below is a list of in-print works in this collection, presented in series order or publication order as applicable.
1. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume I: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures 2. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume II: Essays: First Series Emerson, Ralph Waldo Slater, Joseph Ferguson, Alfred R. Carr, Jean Ferguson Some of Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘s most famous essays, such as “Self-Reliance,” “Compensation,” and “The Over-Soul,” appeared in his Essays of 1841. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume III: Essays: Second Series Emerson, Ralph Waldo Slater, Joseph Ferguson, Alfred R. Carr, Jean Ferguson Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘s second collection of essays appeared in 1844, when he was forty-one. It includes eight essays—”The Poet,” “Experience,” “Character,” “Manners,” “Gifts,” “Nature,” “Politics,” and “Nominalist and Realist”—and one address, the much misunderstood “New England Reformers.” Essays: Second Series has a lightness of tone and an irony absent from the earlier writings, but it is no less memorable: “a sermon to me,” Carlyle wrote, “a real word.” 4. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume IV: Representative Men Emerson, Ralph Waldo Williams, Wallace E. Wilson, Douglas Emory In 1845, Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a series of lectures entitled “Uses of Great Men”; “Plato, or the Philosopher”; “Swedenborg, or the Mystic”; “Montaigne, or the Skeptic”; “Shakespeare, or the Poet”; “Napoleon, or the Man of the World”; and “Goethe, or the Writer.” Emerson’s approach to his great men stands in interesting contrast to that of his friend Carlyle in his Heroes and Hero Worship of 1841. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume V: English Traits Emerson, Ralph Waldo Nicoloff, Philip Burkholder, Robert E. Wilson, Douglas Emory This searching and distinctive portrayal of English culture offers a revealing perspective on American viewpoints and preoccupations in the mid-19th century. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VI: The Conduct of Life Emerson, Ralph Waldo Packer, Barbara L. Slater, Joseph Wilson, Douglas Emory The essays in this book, first published in 1860, were developed from a series of lectures on “The Conduct of Life” delivered by Emerson during the early 1850s. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VII: Society and Solitude Emerson, Ralph Waldo Bosco, Ronald A. Wilson, Douglas Emory Society and Solitude, published in 1870, was the first collection of essays Emerson had put into press since The Conduct of Life ten years earlier. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume VIII: Letters and Social Aims Emerson, Ralph Waldo Myerson, Joel Letters and Social Aims, published in 1875, contains essays originally published early in the 1840s as well as those that were the product of a collaborative effort among Ralph Waldo Emerson, his daughter Ellen Tucker Emerson, his son Edward Waldo Emerson, and his literary executor James Eliot Cabot.9. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume IX: Poems: A Variorum Edition Emerson, Ralph Waldo von Frank, Albert J. Wortham, Thomas At the time of his death in 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson was counted among the greatest poets in nineteenth-century America. Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume X: Uncollected Prose Writings Emerson, Ralph Waldo Bosco, Ronald A. Myerson, Joel With this tenth volume, a project fifty years in the making reaches completion: publication of critically edited texts of all of Ralph Waldo Emerson ‘s works published in his lifetime and under his supervision. Uncollected Prose Writings is the definitive gathering of previously published prose writings that Emerson left uncollected at the time of his death.What does Emerson say about education in Self-Reliance?
Education must enable man to develop his potential intellectual faculties thus making him self-reliant. Only then can he reform himself and enjoy his individuality. Education, hence will reform man not through outward aid but by developing his innate faculties.
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What is the meaning of education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire?
Whenever I try to explain what I do for a living, I get odd looks. I taught for many years in academia, and still do from time to time. But when I say I teach adults in a non-religious program that explores all the different aspects of Judaism, and that I do this more or less full-time, most folks look a bit embarrassed.
- They inevitably ask, “But how does the program get folks to join? If it’s not for an academic degree, why would they want to take the courses?” I always search for a way to explain the counterintuitive reality: Hebrew College’s Me’ah classes are exciting.
- I know this can sound strange, or like a joke, but it’s the truth.
My job has two parts. First of all, I have to do all the necessary academic research. But then I have to figure out how to get students to grasp viscerally the real-life issues, the compelling ideas, the battles, the stories of passionate men and women who dedicated — and often sacrificed — their lives for different sorts of Judaic visions.
For Me’ah classes to work, they have to satisfy the poet William Butler Yeats’ definition: “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” In other words, what we are studying has to really matter, for us right now. And of course, I know how lucky I am to have engaged students who help make class discussions and debates so energetic — and often, so moving.
Over the years I’ve been able to work with students to create a variety of different courses: the origins and nature of the Talmud, the greatest modern Jewish thinkers, relations between Muslims and Jews, and most recently a course on Jews and national identity that features several weeks on classic Broadway musicals written by Jews.
- This year, facing sad and upsetting headlines, and in response to expressions of interest from students, I began revising a course I had taught a few years ago on the history of antisemitism.
- The old course focused mostly on history, but the new course — “Unpacking Antisemitism” — examines both historical ma-terial and a number of contemporary analyses of antisemitism by political scientists, scholars of religion, psychologists, and social scientists.
In this course the goal will be to use all of these texts, and discussions, to generate concrete insights that enrich our understanding and empower us to act and work together. Yet in order for the course to do this for busy, bright adults, it must also move people, involve them, connect them to each other through ideas and debates — it must be exciting. Jacob Meskin, PhD is an instructor and faculty adviser at Me’ah, Hebrew College’s signature adult-learning program and Hebrew College’s Me’ah Select program; this winter/spring, he will teach the Me’ah Select class “Unpacking Antisemitism” at Hebrew College on Thursday beginning February 6.
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What is the difference between to claim an education and to receive an education?
In September of 1977, months before the publication of her exquisite Dream of a Common Language and exactly two decades before becoming the first and so far only person to refuse the prestigious National Medal of Arts in an act of remarkable political courage, Adrienne Rich stood before the graduating women at Douglass College and delivered a convocation speech that belongs among the greatest commencement addresses of all time, Adrienne Rich at age 22, 1951. Photograph by Peter Solmssen (Schlesinger Library) What does it mean to “claim” an education, exactly? Like time, which is not something we make but something we find, Rich begins by arguing that education requires an element of active personal initiative: The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.
- One of the dictionary definitions of the verb “to claim” is: to take as the rightful owner; to assert in the face of possible contradiction,
- To receive” is to come into possession of: to act as receptacle or container for; to accept as authoritative or true,
- The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon, and for women it can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Rich considers the gendered nature of academia’s substance, a lament that seems dated only if we choose to remain blind to the hidden currents still sweeping society, She captures this with devastating succinctness: One of the devastating weaknesses of university learning, of the store of knowledge and opinion that has been handed down through academic training, has been its almost total erasure of women’s experience and thought from the curriculum What you can learn is how men have perceived and organized their experience, their history, their ideas of social relationships, good and evil, sickness and health, etc.
When you read or hear about “great issues,” “major texts,” “the mainstream of Western thought,” you are hearing about what men, above all white men, in their male subjectivity, have decided is important. And yet Rich is careful to counter any misperception that taking more “women’s studies” courses is the solution to this cultural imbalance: While I think that any has everything to gain by investigating and enrolling in women’s studies courses, I want to suggest that there is a more essential experience that you owe yourselves, one which courses in women’s studies can greatly enrich, but which finally depends on you in all your interactions with yourself and your world.
This is the experience of taking responsibility toward yourselves, Our upbringing as women has so often told us that this should come second to our relationships and responsibilities to other people Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.
It means that you do not treat your body as a commodity with which to purchase superficial intimacy or economic security; for our bodies to be treated as objects, our minds are in mortal danger. It means insisting that those to whom you give your friendship and love are able to respect your mind. It means being able to say, with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: “I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all the extraneous delights should be withheld or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.” Responsibility to yourself means that you don’t fall for shallow and easy solutions — predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking “gut” courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work, marrying early as an escape from real decisions, getting pregnant as an evasion of already existing problems.
It means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short, simply to avoid conflict and confrontation It means that we insist on a life of meaningful work, insist that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. It means, therefore, the courage to be “different”; not to be continuously available to others when we need time for ourselves and our work; to be able to demand of others — parents, friends, roommates, teachers, lovers, husbands, children — that they respect our sense of purpose and our integrity as persons. Adrienne Rich, 1970s Lamenting the institutionalized biases of the academy — an academy that only a century earlier refused to grant women access and even today has a severe gender bias — Rich urges: Too often, all of us fail to teach the most important thing, which is that clear thinking, active discussion, and excellent writing are all necessary for intellectual freedom, and that these require hard work,
- Sometimes, perhaps in discouragement with a culture which is both antiintellectual and antiwoman, we may resign ourselves to low expectations for our students before we have given them half a chance to become more thoughtful, expressive human beings.
- We need to take to heart the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a poet, a thinking woman, and a feminist, who wrote in 1845 of her impatience with studies which cultivate a “passive recipiency” in the mind, and asserted that “women want to be made to think actively : their apprehension is quicker than that of men, but their defect lies for the most part in the logical faculty and in the higher mental activities.” Note that she implies a defect which can be remedied by intellectual training; not an inborn lack of ability.
Returning to the central notion that education is something we claim rather than receive, Rich turns to the student’s own responsibility in the equation — an assertion essential to the education and empowerment of women, but also one whose foundation applies to all genders across all fields of personal growth: The contract on the student’s part involves that you demand to be taken seriously so that you can also go on taking yourself seriously.
This means seeking out criticism, recognizing that the most affirming thing anyone can do for you is demand that you push yourself further, show you the range of what you can do It means assuming your share of responsibility for what happens in the classroom, because that affects the quality of your daily life here.
It means that the student sees herself engaged with her teachers in an active, ongoing struggle for a real education. But for her to do this, her teachers must be committed to the belief that women’s minds and experience are intrinsically valuable and indispensable to any civilization worthy the name: that there is no more exhilarating and intellectually fertile place in the academic world today than a women’s college — if both students and teachers in large enough numbers are trying to fulfill this contract.
The contract is really a pledge of mutual seriousness about women, about language, ideas, method, and values. It is our shared commitment toward a world in which the inborn potentialities of so many women’s minds will no longer be wasted, raveled-away, paralyzed, or denied. More of Rich’s inextinguishable mind can be found between the covers of On Lies, Secrets, and Silence,
Sample it further with Rich on the dignity of love, then complement this particular gem with more spectacular commencement addresses, including Anna Quindlen on the essentials of a happy life, Bill Watterson on not selling out, Debbie Millman on courage and the creative life, George Saunders on the power of kindness, David Foster Wallace on the meaning of life, Neil Gaiman on the resilience of the creative spirit, Kurt Vonnegut on kindness and the power of great teachers, Patti Smith on life and making a name for yourself, and Joseph Brodsky on winning the game of life,
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What does my education was left to the street mean hear?
‘My education was left to the street’ means someone who left his systematic educational process due to poverty and financial problems, but the person gathered knowledge from the same streets where he or she left his or her education.
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What does my education was left to the streets mean here?
Answer: In the poem, the line ‘My education was left to the street’ indicates that the person was forced to stop his education due to poverty and paucity of funds.
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