Awhile back, I’d read an excerpt of The End of Education by Neil Postman. In the short excerpt, Postman introduces several arguments, regarding his views on the mechanics and underlying values of modern education; many of which I can remember becoming frustrated with, similar to how I (occasionally) found myself responding to Freire. Like Freire, Postman takes a highly cynical stance to the current state of education, and suggests a need for radical reform. However, in the case of Postman, he seems to raise some claims that I find to be far more concerning, when compared to Freire’s. Mainly, it was Freire’s opinions on personhood that bothered me, rather than his ideas for education reform; I simply disagree that any human is truly an “empty vessel,” as he claims. In the case of Postman, on the other hand, his similarly pessimistic view on education leads to some alarming claims, and suggestions for specific reform. An example of this is seen when Postman introduces a sample “script” for educators to use, when introducing the course to their students. And, this portion of the script is:
“And to ensure that you do not fall into the torpor that is so common among students, I will, from time to time, deliberately include some patently untrue statements and some outrageous opinions” (Postman).
Here, in short, Postman encourages educators to deliberately mislead or misinform students — without specifying that this is happening, when it’s happening. And, considering Freire’s similar distrust of modern-day education, this makes me extremely curious as to his hypothetical response to Postman’s suggestions, and what that response would be, specifically.
I’ve read this piece by Postman too — his suggestion that teachers purposefully mislead students is very interesting. While I’m not sure I agree with this tactic, I think Postman wants students to critically think not only about the content they study in class, but the teacher’s comments as well.
I think this is a very interesting topic to think about. In short, we should always be questioning what we are taught in the classroom. Analyzing and critically thinking about the ideas presented to you can really decipher fact from fiction. The idea that one person can cover massive amounts worth of material in a classroom, and convey the ideas with their own intended purpose to be adopted by their students flawlessly is ludicrous at its best state. We cannnot predict accurately what the brain wants to comprehend versus what it does not, and this process is different in every individual and happens at different rates. The thought that teachers cannot mislead students is a misguided opinion.