Myles Horton and popular education
Today in Saturday class we learned about the Highlander Folk School. It's such an amazing concept, and Myles Horton, the school's creator, is a new role model for me. The school has taught and inspired many activists. It brought people together during the Civil Rights Movement, then fought issues related to environmental safety during the 70's and 80's. Right now the school is working on immigration reform.
Horton grew up poor during the Depression. He believed that people could work together to make big changes, and he had an idea for a school where poor people could come together and collaborate on problems that affected them. He went to college everywhere, got amazing grades, but was so untraditional and radical that he confused a lot of people who met him. He was at the top of his class at the U of Chicago, but they almost didn't let him graduate because he never decided on a major. He just took classes that interested him -- he was learning simply for the sake of learning. He read theories of education and social change and case studies of different types of schools. He wanted to find a model to base his school off of. I feel like he was searching for an "a-ha!" moment, and he finally found it when he went to Denmark and studied traditional folk high schools. He discovered a special formula for education and wrote in his journal notes like: "The job is to organize a school just well enough to get students and teachers together AND SEE THAT IT GETS NO BETTER ORGANIZED." And: "Out of their experiential learning through living, working, and studying together could come an understanding of how to take their place intelligently in the changing world."
I like his ideas of education. I really do. Sometimes I feel insignificant when others around me have more experience with community organizing and social change. They have attended more conferences, they are on more committees. They have read more -- they know Friere, they understand Marxism through and through. My sociology of education teacher is so impressive. She has several Ph.Ds. She is traveling to the Netherlands and Indonesia to study educational systems. After the first class with her, I wanted to go as far with my education as she has. I want to fill myself up with ideas and theories so I can always draw from them and never come up empty handed.
Still, knowledge through school is one thing. Knowledge through experience is another. We watched a movie about Highlander, and many people who have made amazing social changes spoke about how they were ashamed of their lack of education. One woman, who dropped out of school in the fifth grade, said that her education "is a big black hole in my life. But," she said, "you don't have to be educated to do what you have to do." All of these people were so wise and passionate and powerful. They understood things about the human nature that you can't learn in a classroom. There are different forms of knowledge that I want to be exposed to -- the ones that come from living and working for justice. Perseverance. Humility. Unity.
The only kind of education that seems to be valued in our society is formal education. Education that is based on textbooks and SATs and No Child Left Behind. Maybe it's contradictory for me to say this since I want to be a high school teacher, but I don't think that formal education is the only way, the only method of educating a society. What is the goal of education? There is a certain snobbery among the highly-educated. University students look down upon tec. school students. Ivy League students judge public universities. Even within the U of M, General College students carried a certain stigma. CLA classes are stereotyped to be full of fluff -- for hippies and the people who can't cut it in a math or science-related field. What are we saying about education when we make these judgements? Do we educate ourselves to set ourselves apart from the crowd, to add an extra line to our resume? Do we go to school simply because it gives us an edge, a better chance at succeeding in an captialist society -- sort of a skewed version of Darwin's surivival of the fittest? Is that what education is all about?
I don't think so. To me, education is about realizing each other as human beings. Education helps us improve our lives on an individual level because, with knowledge, we can fight better fights, solve more complicated problems, and prevent ourselves from being controlled and fooled. Education also improves our lives as a group, a collective society. I love Horton's idea of education as group learning. He erased the hierarchy of teacher vs. student and created a school where everyone's experiences and knowledge is valid. Today, his ideas are called "popular education." It's more than sitting in a circle and talking about your feelings. It's education based on discussion, personal experience and insight, and real-life application. More than anything, I want to learn all I can about it.
Horton grew up poor during the Depression. He believed that people could work together to make big changes, and he had an idea for a school where poor people could come together and collaborate on problems that affected them. He went to college everywhere, got amazing grades, but was so untraditional and radical that he confused a lot of people who met him. He was at the top of his class at the U of Chicago, but they almost didn't let him graduate because he never decided on a major. He just took classes that interested him -- he was learning simply for the sake of learning. He read theories of education and social change and case studies of different types of schools. He wanted to find a model to base his school off of. I feel like he was searching for an "a-ha!" moment, and he finally found it when he went to Denmark and studied traditional folk high schools. He discovered a special formula for education and wrote in his journal notes like: "The job is to organize a school just well enough to get students and teachers together AND SEE THAT IT GETS NO BETTER ORGANIZED." And: "Out of their experiential learning through living, working, and studying together could come an understanding of how to take their place intelligently in the changing world."
I like his ideas of education. I really do. Sometimes I feel insignificant when others around me have more experience with community organizing and social change. They have attended more conferences, they are on more committees. They have read more -- they know Friere, they understand Marxism through and through. My sociology of education teacher is so impressive. She has several Ph.Ds. She is traveling to the Netherlands and Indonesia to study educational systems. After the first class with her, I wanted to go as far with my education as she has. I want to fill myself up with ideas and theories so I can always draw from them and never come up empty handed.
Still, knowledge through school is one thing. Knowledge through experience is another. We watched a movie about Highlander, and many people who have made amazing social changes spoke about how they were ashamed of their lack of education. One woman, who dropped out of school in the fifth grade, said that her education "is a big black hole in my life. But," she said, "you don't have to be educated to do what you have to do." All of these people were so wise and passionate and powerful. They understood things about the human nature that you can't learn in a classroom. There are different forms of knowledge that I want to be exposed to -- the ones that come from living and working for justice. Perseverance. Humility. Unity.
The only kind of education that seems to be valued in our society is formal education. Education that is based on textbooks and SATs and No Child Left Behind. Maybe it's contradictory for me to say this since I want to be a high school teacher, but I don't think that formal education is the only way, the only method of educating a society. What is the goal of education? There is a certain snobbery among the highly-educated. University students look down upon tec. school students. Ivy League students judge public universities. Even within the U of M, General College students carried a certain stigma. CLA classes are stereotyped to be full of fluff -- for hippies and the people who can't cut it in a math or science-related field. What are we saying about education when we make these judgements? Do we educate ourselves to set ourselves apart from the crowd, to add an extra line to our resume? Do we go to school simply because it gives us an edge, a better chance at succeeding in an captialist society -- sort of a skewed version of Darwin's surivival of the fittest? Is that what education is all about?
I don't think so. To me, education is about realizing each other as human beings. Education helps us improve our lives on an individual level because, with knowledge, we can fight better fights, solve more complicated problems, and prevent ourselves from being controlled and fooled. Education also improves our lives as a group, a collective society. I love Horton's idea of education as group learning. He erased the hierarchy of teacher vs. student and created a school where everyone's experiences and knowledge is valid. Today, his ideas are called "popular education." It's more than sitting in a circle and talking about your feelings. It's education based on discussion, personal experience and insight, and real-life application. More than anything, I want to learn all I can about it.
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