Postmodernism and You: Education

Gary DeLashmutt and Roger Braund, Contributors

"African Americans, Asian Americans, Puerto Ricans/Latinos, and Native Americans have all been the victims of an intellectual and educational oppression that has characterized the culture and institutions of the United States and the European world for centuries."

This statement begins the report recently generated for the state of New York by a task force commissioned to revise their history curriculum. The report was entitled: "A Curriculum of Inclusion, Report of the Commissioner's Task Force on Minorities: Equity and Excellence."

The report goes on to say that

"[This] systematic bias toward Europe and its derivatives . . . [has had] a terribly damaging effect on the psyche of young people of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American descent . . . [this] European-American monocultural perspective . . . [explains why] large numbers of children of non-European descent are not doing as well as expected."

Statements like these are manifestations of postmodernism as it impacts public education.

Key Postmodern Educational Concepts

A key word to learn when trying to understand postmodern education is constructivism. Constructivism is the main underlying learning theory in postmodern education. The basic idea is that all knowledge is invented or "constructed" in the minds of people. Knowledge is not discovered as modernists would claim. In other words, the ideas teachers teach and students learn do not correspond to "Reality," they are merely human constructions. Knowledge, ideas and language are created by people, not because they are "true," but rather because they are useful.

Reality is a story. All reality exists, not objectively--out there--but in the mind of those who perceive it. Nobody's version of reality can claim to have more objective authority because all versions are merely human creations.

No, we're not kidding.

The implications of this view of knowledge are staggering, as Ruth Zuzovsky points out:

"Another major feature of this tentative, relativist, and instrumentalist [pragmatic] concept of knowledge is the equal worth of knowledge constructed by the learner, the teachers, or the scientists." [emphasis ours]

If no one's knowledge is necessarily true, everything changes. Now the question of what counts as "knowledge" to be taught in the schools is not a matter of objective evidence or arguments, but rather a matter of power. Those who have the power can make sure their constructs are the ones that dominate the curriculum, while other opposing viewpoints are at least partially suppressed, ignored or "marginalized."

Teachers

Since the focus of the classroom, in postmodern education, becomes the student's construction of knowledge, they shift away from a teacher-centered classroom to a more student-centered environment. Grayson Wheatley explains,

"Rather than identifying the set of skills [and knowledge] to be gotten in children's heads, attention shifts to establishing learning environments conducive to children constructing their mathematics and science in social settings."

A student-centered classroom in this context is likely to have minimal structure. It usually involves opportunities for social interaction, independent investigations and study, and the expression of creativity, as well as provision for different learning styles. There, students create knowledge, and are no longer forced to bow to the subjugation of traditional objective "knowledge." As Everhard explains,

"School knowledge disables to the extent that it silences students, usurps their minds or at least demands acquiescence . . .[such knowledge] usually places boundaries between emotion and knowledge; students do not control knowledge, but rather 'must write their student roles and scenarios in conformity to the teacher's master script.'"

So, Selase Williams, and others argue that AAL (African American Language) is a regular language like Spanish or Japanese. He shows that statements like, "Shanita bin pass dat tes," means "Shanita passed that test a long time ago." The difference, he argues is that AAL arises from an African linguistic base. Therefore, inner city kids should be taught in AAL as their mother tongue, with English as a second language. ("Classroom Use of African American Language: Educational Tool or Social Weapon?" in Christine E. Sleeter, Ed. Empowerment Through Multicultural Education, p. 205-207) Anything less would be sheer exploitation.

Likewise, Glasersfel explains that in other areas of knowledge,

"The teacher would come to realize that what he or she presents as a 'problem' may be seen differently by the student. Consequently, the student may produce a sensible solution that makes no sense to the teacher. To be then told that it is wrong is unhelpful and inhibiting . . . because it disregards the effort the student put in."

Here, then, we see postmodern relativism at work in a menacing fashion. Children not taught right from wrong, even in areas like science and social studies. Will their employers be so tolerant?

Teachers in Postmodern Education

At least under postmodern theory we aren't guilty of an even worse crime according to postmodern scholar, Johnella Butler, who warns that "the colonization of minds is characteristic of American education."

In other words, when dominant culture calls on minorities to speak classroom English, do math, history and science the white man's way, they have acted in the old colonial role, just like earlier Europeans who believed it was their responsibility to colonize non-white cultures and lands, imposing European standards, dress, religion and language on those cultures.

Values

Okay, so they don't want to impose the teacher's "reality" on students, why go to school?

Actually, they have a definite set of values they hope to inculcate:

striving for diversity-- guarding, unchanged, the existing values, tastes and way of life of each subculture in our society.
equality--In postmodern ideology, equality means equal in terms of power relationships
tolerance and freedom--tolerance has a new meaning: roughly, never negating or criticizing oppressed groups. Freedom for cultures and communities to express themselves
the importance of creativity--Creativity is clearly allied to the postmodern emphases on the construction of knowledge and diversity. Stimulating and affirming creativity in students is important in constructing knowledge and values, particularly, if diverse viewpoints are to be encouraged
the importance of emotions-- Affirmation of emotions follows along with the importance they place on self-esteem. They believe that any time children's emotions are challenged (even hate or selfish jealousy) the child is being disabled by having the teacher's reality imposed on her
the importance of intuition--intuition gains in importance, because rational thought has lost its authority as a means for dealing with ideas. Modernists tend to suppress intuition and feelings, according to postmodernists, even though they are just as legitimate and perhaps even more important than rational, conceptual (or "linear") thought

The Rest of the Story

From this description it should be clear that postmodern educational theory is a radical departure from what we are used to in education. In The Death of Truth, you can see all these and many other points in postmodern educational theory, all backed up with material from the leaders of this movement in their own words. Also read our book to discover:

How much progress have postmodernists made in public education?
What is the prognosis?
How would their agenda stack up to the biblical world view?
What are the good parts in postmodern theory?

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