Ryan Writes #6: Think for yourself!

Something happened in class the other day. I hadn't noticed it, but when I took the opportunity to lead a discussion about Utopian ideals vs Dystopian realities, I dropped a couple of example. Of course, this is common practice, since in order to get the students to understand what I was talking about, I wanted to make the concept relatable. So, I made the connections for the students and seemed to get some nods of acknowledgement and understanding. Satisfied, I turned the class back over to my mentor so she could lead them in their typical post-discussion reflection.

A week later, after my mentor had gone through the journals, she pulled me aside to show me something. "Remember when you gave an example of this last week?" She showed me several students' journal writings, all citing the same example I had given them. "All they did was copy down what you said." At seeing that, a little bit of me died inside. I thought I had gotten through to the students, that they actually understood what I was trying to teach them. I was, for the most part, wrong.

In a culture of testing and assessments, students seem to pick up on what is expected of them to pass the class, albeit marginally. They look for hints as to what the teacher wants them to spit out to get satisfactory marks. They are trained to pick up the clues dropped by the instructor as to what to reiterate, without understanding or practicing the inherent concept. Basically, they are trained to repeat, not to think for themselves. My mentor, however, is tough enough and experienced enough to not be moved by these simple acts, and she is always urging the students to "think for themselves."

This trend I see in students shows me how "lazy" they are in that they don't want to think, but re-actively practice "monkey-see-monkey-do." I'm frightened because this translates to potential voters who just jump on the bandwagon, drones who are incapable of escalating the career and administrative hierarchy. I know that it can't be done in one lesson, but I have not spent enough time with my mentor to see exactly how she teaches her students to "think for themselves."