In their articles, both Robinson and Benedict point out the ways the educational system favours specific types of learning, information, and communication, and ask for current and future educators to question and reform the system, as well as to make room for all the different kinds of students you may have in your classroom. The Robinson article approaches it from a BIPOC angle and focuses on ways to reform the educational system and make it more diverse and inclusive, whereas the Benedict article focuses on the concept of literacy and the ways in which the current system fails to consider the different kinds and levels of literacy found among students. Both articles call into question the foundation of the current system and who it benefits/leaves behind and call for a deep system reform.
It is both hard and easy for me to say exactly what the authors are asking of me. On the one hand, the Robinson article is literally a list of “instructions for structural change”, with fairly clear directives. On the other hand, I do not feel as though I am in a position to exact the change that is being asked of me. Robinson opens his article with “ey swayel l sí:yáye sí:yám” (“my good friends” and “respected leaders”), and “all those who hold the power to enact change”, but as a student in a pandemic, I do not feel like any of those things. Overhauling the public education system is not currently within my personal power, so it feels difficult to pinpoint what exactly I can do that the authors are asking of me. However, the Robinson article uses directives such as “assess”, “acknowledge”, and “affirm”, and the Benedict article calls for “thinking away from” establish concepts and “understanding”, and these are certainly things that are currently within my power. I think that this is a good place to start, because once I gain a deeper understanding of the issues at hand, I can start to find personal ways to implement the change that is called for. These ideas are challenging because they call for changes that are often in direct opposition to the established system, and when the established system is all people know how to work in, ideas outside of that system are hard to accept or imagine, especially when, as the Benedict article states, the systems are “backed by research”. I personally found some of the ideas presented challenging because, while I agreed with them and saw the reason for change, I simply couldn’t imagine an alternative to the way things are currently done. That is not to say that the alternatives are not out there – I just haven’t seen them. I am, however, willing to look for them and to learn from the community of educators that is already doing the work, and when I can, contribute in my own way. |
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