(no subject)

[nny]

Sometimes it's difficult not to buy into the cultural hegemony, not to become messianic and middle-class privileged about teaching. The idea of teaching is to convey what you know, and sometimes it's difficult to know when exactly to draw the line with that. To prevent 'offering experiences' from sliding into 'guiding them where to stand to view those experiences from'. Obviously I have to teach what I know and how I know, and a part of how I teach is to attempt to use a wide variety of media that will possibly broaden their horizons, and that can't be negative surely? But then there's that part of me that's kind of appalled that when they go to London on a trip they get excited about seeing a Poundland, something familiar, rather than all the many and varied other awesome sights on offer. That in itself isn't an objectionable standpoint, but like I said, there's this difficulty in determining where lines are drawn; in pushing them towards a given cultural capital, when the defining and delineating of cultural capital is - as is generally found in a patriarchal, white, middle-class led society - problematic in itself.

Eh. Maybe I need to develop a little arrogance instead of all this introspection. Sometimes the teacher does have to be right, or at least believe they are...

Comments

[pennyplainknits.livejournal.com]

I think that an awareness of even the existance of great historical buildings is different to an unquestioning acceptance of what the buildings represent. And there are certain things that I think people should know, or be aware of, as part of their cultural capital if they live here- and parliament, what it is, and what it represents is one of them. I mean, it can be used as a starting point for discussion "until 1928 women couldn't vote or sit here" for example, or "how does a system that was codified in the 18th Century work in the 21st? Should it be changed?" and the knowledge of the buildings is part of that, because it is very hard to talk only of concepts without having anything physical to hang them on.

Does that make sense?

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Absolutely does make sense. I... would say something more intelligent here in response but I'm actually too exhausted to think. TOMORROW I WILL BE WISE.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about this; all you can do is talk about why these monuments have meaning to other people, and then possibly encourage discussion about places that have meaning to the boys?