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Danger: School!
- GenresEducation
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 15, 2021
This is such an important book, and so under read. I am going to make so much noise for people to pick it up.
Edited to add a longer review -
"No politics in school" - as if the school itself was not a political fact.
The years 2018 and 2019 had seen a surge in news with respect to the weight of the backpacks of school going kids. NPR hosted an article about India's decision to scrap homework for the 1st and 2nd graders. How this decision made absolutely less or no impact to the heavy-duty, burdening schooling was also covered and the phrase "backpack activists" was first(?) used.
Schooling system is pretty newish in India as compared to our colonizers. But we have managed to imitate a lot of it and gone beyond just that in very little time ie privatization of the business. But the plus is, we have not been completely conditioned yet (let's hope), and we are already seeing the faults.
Danger: School! - came my way through my socialist study circle's education and pedagogy caucus.
First published in 1978 by IDAC (Institut d’action culturelle) – a non-profit work collective of Switzerland – by Marcos Arruda, Claudius Ceccon, Miguel Darcy De Oliveira, Oliveira, Rosiska Darcy de Oliveria, Elza Freire and Paulo Freire (all Brazilian exiles in Geneva), this little 100pager graphic novel illustrates Paulo Freire's ideas in a lucid, basic manner.
It provides perspectives on the concepts of rote learning, the culture of obediance, docility, that provides no space for any critical thinking, prioritizing of fitting of all, in one very standardized, narrow box. It further illustrates how the system also divides and isolates, by competition, and how this sort of individualism in turn gives rise to feelings of inferiority, uniformity, fear of confrontation in cases of conflict (which is mostly the cause of 99% of our problems imo), and full submission to authority. Any deviation is punished, exiled, bullied and shunned.
Robert Rosenthal's experiments with respect to the Pygmalion effect, or the effect of teachers' expectations on students, finds a significant mention, and throws light on how the "failure" of a student needs to be studied with more nuance than just categorizations like lazy, laidback, unwilling etc. The fact that a school in a capitalist system needs "failed" students to continue maintaining their social requirement and the social hierarchies, is remarkably akin to prisons needing prisoners to continue their "business". Thus, it won't be wrong to call it the "school industrial complex". So many ancillary businesses, especially these days, are dependent on "average or less smarter" students.
One might be tempted to critique the "foreign" educational system vis a vis the traditional "gurukul" system, but they'd do good to remember that the traditional system was abound with casteism and misogyny and nothing about it was remotely progressive either. It would help, therefore, to research and keep talking about this more and more, give weightage to critical thinking and rational thought, so we collectively come to place where we might start having better solutions. For eg a lot of my friends have begun preferring homeschooling and on most counts it's worked well. But again, we have to find a system other than capitalism, to give the necessary societal support for raising a child. The curriculum with capitalism in mind is clearly benefitting only a minor few, a bit of it also goes to the bourgeois, from Indian perspective the ones with accumulated social, economic and caste capital - ie Savarnas - majorly Brahmins and Baniyas.
The book proposes ideas and banks on us to understand and promote those forward. That we need to constantly continue critiquing in order to reach a better society cannot be reiterated enough. We don't have to get bogged down by the burden, but share it along through constant communication.
Edited to add a longer review -
"No politics in school" - as if the school itself was not a political fact.
The years 2018 and 2019 had seen a surge in news with respect to the weight of the backpacks of school going kids. NPR hosted an article about India's decision to scrap homework for the 1st and 2nd graders. How this decision made absolutely less or no impact to the heavy-duty, burdening schooling was also covered and the phrase "backpack activists" was first(?) used.
Schooling system is pretty newish in India as compared to our colonizers. But we have managed to imitate a lot of it and gone beyond just that in very little time ie privatization of the business. But the plus is, we have not been completely conditioned yet (let's hope), and we are already seeing the faults.
Danger: School! - came my way through my socialist study circle's education and pedagogy caucus.
First published in 1978 by IDAC (Institut d’action culturelle) – a non-profit work collective of Switzerland – by Marcos Arruda, Claudius Ceccon, Miguel Darcy De Oliveira, Oliveira, Rosiska Darcy de Oliveria, Elza Freire and Paulo Freire (all Brazilian exiles in Geneva), this little 100pager graphic novel illustrates Paulo Freire's ideas in a lucid, basic manner.
It provides perspectives on the concepts of rote learning, the culture of obediance, docility, that provides no space for any critical thinking, prioritizing of fitting of all, in one very standardized, narrow box. It further illustrates how the system also divides and isolates, by competition, and how this sort of individualism in turn gives rise to feelings of inferiority, uniformity, fear of confrontation in cases of conflict (which is mostly the cause of 99% of our problems imo), and full submission to authority. Any deviation is punished, exiled, bullied and shunned.
Robert Rosenthal's experiments with respect to the Pygmalion effect, or the effect of teachers' expectations on students, finds a significant mention, and throws light on how the "failure" of a student needs to be studied with more nuance than just categorizations like lazy, laidback, unwilling etc. The fact that a school in a capitalist system needs "failed" students to continue maintaining their social requirement and the social hierarchies, is remarkably akin to prisons needing prisoners to continue their "business". Thus, it won't be wrong to call it the "school industrial complex". So many ancillary businesses, especially these days, are dependent on "average or less smarter" students.
One might be tempted to critique the "foreign" educational system vis a vis the traditional "gurukul" system, but they'd do good to remember that the traditional system was abound with casteism and misogyny and nothing about it was remotely progressive either. It would help, therefore, to research and keep talking about this more and more, give weightage to critical thinking and rational thought, so we collectively come to place where we might start having better solutions. For eg a lot of my friends have begun preferring homeschooling and on most counts it's worked well. But again, we have to find a system other than capitalism, to give the necessary societal support for raising a child. The curriculum with capitalism in mind is clearly benefitting only a minor few, a bit of it also goes to the bourgeois, from Indian perspective the ones with accumulated social, economic and caste capital - ie Savarnas - majorly Brahmins and Baniyas.
The book proposes ideas and banks on us to understand and promote those forward. That we need to constantly continue critiquing in order to reach a better society cannot be reiterated enough. We don't have to get bogged down by the burden, but share it along through constant communication.
February 7, 2017
I can't believe this was written in the 70s because I see that little has changed.
Schools, at least in my country, are still prisons who transfer knowledge without critical thought. Attentiveness, discipline and docileness are still top three qualities for pupils instead of critical thought.
The book brilliantly explains how schools promote inequality, label "good" and "bad" pupils, and how it still feels that children are in schools for teachers and not the way around.
Schools, at least in my country, are still prisons who transfer knowledge without critical thought. Attentiveness, discipline and docileness are still top three qualities for pupils instead of critical thought.
The book brilliantly explains how schools promote inequality, label "good" and "bad" pupils, and how it still feels that children are in schools for teachers and not the way around.
November 24, 2012
What makes this book interesting is it questions the basic idea regarding school as well as education? This book deals with the Paulo Freire's ideas of educator and pedagogy. Good one with various illustrations and comic strips, making the subject more interesting. Really thought provoking resource.
December 23, 2019
An insightful and quick read about the current state of schools and education.
August 1, 2021
This book gives a comprehensive analysis of school system with graphics. A must read for everyone.
December 26, 2020
A hidden gem is apt for this book. When I started reading this book I thought school was indispensable. Yes, I changed my views. Very beautifully portrayed in terms of illustrations and written in simple language. A must read for anyone who has second thoughts about schooling.
February 10, 2013
Schools don't create hierarchical partition, they just confirm it.
January 27, 2016
A great book to open your mind to our horrible school system! I recommend this to anyone who has gone to school or thinking of putting their child into a regular school.
February 2, 2017
Read this one as part of a course, Information design. Thought provoking illustrations and relevant context for even today's education system.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews