Norman Rockwell's The Spirit of Education

"If we take from someone his right to decide what he will be curious about, we destroy his freedom of thought" (Holt, 1974, p. 25).



I suppose there could be numerous interpretations for this particular Rockwell painting, but personally, I can't help connect its meaning to Issue #2- should the curriculum be standardized for all? As I study this painting, I wonder why the lady is projecting a positive aura while the child is clearly feeling differently about his so-called 'spirit of education'. For a larger viewing of the picture (sorry, I couldn't get one embedded in the blog) click on the painting.

I'm not exactly sure who the lady in the paining is. Perhaps the child's mother? His teacher? Or maybe a symbolic representation of the government, which does its best to glorify education? She embodies Morimer Adler's philosophy that contends "democracy is best served by a public school system that establishes uniform curricular objectives for all students" (Noll, 2009, p. 16). This lady knows exactly what the boy is being sent to learn; the essentials of basic schooling, with little or no regard for his personal desires and interests. She's content knowing "It is in school that we meet, become used to, and learn to believe in the totally controlled society (of education)" (Holt, 1974, p. 29). The sickness of the modern world, and the discrepancies this painting portrays, is that education is beyond a standardized curriculum. Clearly, the young boy's spirit is being jeopardized. By examining the painting's title, "The Spirit of Education", and then contrasting the child's disgruntled persona with the female figure's smiling face, we can differentiate between the two. The boy is unhappy with his education; what worked for the lady in the picture or what the government thinks should work for our nation's children, clearly is not! A standardized curriculum for all creates a nation where our children have no voice. I don't believe Holt has all the answers, but he does provide the freedoms and the fundamental rights for students to learn as opposed to being educated.

Dredg- Eighteen People Living in Harmony

"Culture is down, spirits are jaded."


The opera is over, singers have all gone home,
Seats are empty, the kitchen is closed,

The sidewalks are sprayed down,
The blinds are pulled down, foundations unstable,
The wrecking ball's back,
Quiet business vacancy, quiet business vacancy.

Rents are rising, our lease is up, culture is down.

The symphony's concluded,
The instruments are all cased up,
The notes are silent, music's still apparent.

Rents are rising, our lease is up,
Culture is down, spirits are jaded,

Art is dying, is art dead?
Art is dying, is art dead?
Believe it, we need to move on.

A one track mind in a one way time,
Let's go ahead and gentrify,
We let art die with robot minds,
They steal the brush and paint boundary lines.
A stale kind of people we'll find,
Walking in single file line,
I think it's time we finally rewind,
Let's go ahead, we might as well

Rents are rising, our lease is up,
Culture is down, spirits are jaded

Thanks to my youngest brother, Tim, and his recommendation for using this Dredg song as part of this assignment. Both of us have always been passionate about music, and we find it disheartening that schools across the nation are cutting back on their fine arts programs. The importance of the fine arts curriculum reminds me of Adler and his Paideia Curriculum. In the third column of the Paideia curriculum, "students are engaged in a process of enlightenment, the process whereby they develop their understanding of the basic and controlling ideas in all fields of subject matter and come to appreciate better all the human values embodied in works of art" (Adler, 1982, p. 20). He further stresses this importance by using the arts to aid in the students' deeper understandings of the world in which they live. Just as the song lyrics state, without the fine arts in our schools, a stale kind of people we will find. If we fail to expose these subjects to our students, we let art die. The end result? A nation full of children with "robot minds", who can recite basic knowledge and facts from their content areas, but who are unable to express themselves creatively. And since "nothing like this is done in our schools, and because it is completely absent from the ordinary curriculum of basic schooling, the students never have the experience of having their minds addressed in a challenging way or of being asked to think about the important ideas, to express their thoughts, to defend their opinions in a reasonable fashion" (p. 21). Such practices are a detriment to our society and schools should be shifting their priorities to make such practices a priority.

Pay It Forward

"I guess it's hard for some people who are so used to things the way they are- even if they're bad, to change, and they kind of give up" (Pay It Forward, 2000).



Besides being one of my favorite movies of all time, "Pay It Forward" offers the educational world a perfect example of how public schools can produce good citizens, regardless of a child's negative outside influences.

Kevin is a 7th grade boy with an alcoholic mother. He enters his first day of social studies class and is greeted by his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet. Mr. Simonet assigns a project that they will work on all year. It's meant to make the students think- to inspire them. He posts, "Think of an idea to change our world and put it into action." He further encourages the kids by saying this assignment is possible- the realm of possibility exists in each and every one of them.

Besides presenting the students with an assignment that causes them to think outside of the box, Mr. Simonet is also crafting a class of citizens who are focused on positive change. While not all students come up with ideas that would be considered Utopian, Kevin's idea, to pay it forward instead of paying it back, provides the perfect example to support Stephen Macedo's argument presented in Issue #6. Macedo comments, "We cannot expect schools by themselves to transform apathetic, self-absorbed consumers into active and engaged citizens. Nevertheless, the best available evidence suggests that teaching students about current events, the political process, and how to get involved can make them more willing and able to practice good citizenship" (2004, p. 87). In fact, civic duties and service learning are areas I am extremely passionate about. I am centering my professional project around promoting cultural appreciation through literature perspective and service learning. In my opinion, assignments like Mr. Simonet's are what our schools need more of.

Chester Finn Jr. argues in opposition of Macedo in his article, "Faulty Engineering". Finn claims there's "barely enough time to cover reading, writing, and arithmetic well, much less to offset the harmful influences that may be at work on children during the other 86 percent of their lives" (2004, p. 96). For Kevin, some of these harmful influences included his deadbeat father, his alcoholic mother, his best friend who was always being harassed by the school's gang members, etc. While I don't discredit the importance and relevancy of core content area subjects, I feel assignments like Mr. Simonet's provide opportunities for students to shine and develop life skills, not just study skills. Kevin's idea to pay it forward was all he had during the darkest of days. This assignment, to make the world a better place, kept him going. Not only would assignments like these give children like Kevin a purpose, they would also be the perfect opportunity to differentiate instruction for students who are gifted or who need a challenge beyond the school's traditional day.

Allowing students to ultimately choose the direction of their year-long assignment and engage in opportunities not available within the school walls provided students with the opportunity to be good citizens, which we all know our world needs more of. Macedo comments, "Giving students a voice in the management of the classroom and the school may well increase civic skills and attitudes" (p. 87). That is exactly what Mr. Simonet provided. If you haven't watched this movie, I highly encourage you to NOT spoil the ending by watching the entire video link posted below. Rather, watch through 1 minute 50 seconds so you can see for yourself just how well this project turned out and then go rent the movie so you can watch it in its entirety!



The quote from the ending of the movie, which I included at the top of this post, really hits home when I think of how our nation views education. Is it that we are so used to how things have functioned all these years that we're scared to completely reform? Is it that we've already given up? Or is there still time to change and to take our knowledge of best teaching practices and pay it forward to our nation's children?