bell hooks and Student Empowerment

This is a song from Duncan Sheik's musical, Spring Awakening. It is sung by Melchior Gabor, the male protagonist of the show, as he expresses his frustrations with the adults in his life (and life in general) because he is a genius, yet it is a kind of genius not recognized by the stifling educational system of 19th century Germany. I won't spoil the show, but to suffice to say it does not end well for many of the disenfranchised youths not valued by their parents (yet all brilliant in their own way) that make up the show's cast. I thought of this song (and think of this show in general) when discussing the issues of multicultural or diversity education. I feel the show provides an apt metaphor for how many of our excluded students feel, and serves as a great warning for what happens when we cannot recognize these students' individual geniuses and embrace them.

bell hooks talks about education as liberation. I'd also like to add that education ought to function as empowerment for students. It is an idea implicit in her writings (and many others'), and something I will always keep at the forefront of my education as a teacher. A student shouldn't face a crisis when he must choose between his personal urban culture or school culture, acceptance by his family and friends or American society at large (this is crisis is particularly pressing in minority students), his identity or success in society. His education ought to empower said student to embrace his culture, make it a part of his identity; he ought to learn how to use his particular strengths and experiences to empower his education, not fight with it. And, as Banks writes, this stems not just from the content we must teach, but how we teach it.

This question of how we teach to accept diversity is another difficult question with many answers. it's daunting and I feel like the only way to truly learn them is to make the mistakes, to try different methods, and do actual work in a classroom until what works emerges. As banks writes, the classroom may be uncomfortable because of this; but we learn the most about ourselves when we're outside of our comfort zones. We can't learn anything new from the familiar because, well, it's familiar.

I believe all education should push students out of their comfort zones. No, I don't think students should always be uncomfortable in a classroom; I mean that they should consistently be challenged and provoked by their education. It's okay if their education confuses, upsets, delights, or whatever feeling word you may choose. It ought to. The most valuable lesson we can give to students as educators, I believe, is the ability and desire to learn. I may not remember exactly the contents of my fourth grade English class, what texts we read or grammar exercises we did, but to this day I have not forgotten the passion for storytelling and the language arts my teacher gifted me with. To do this, we must teach students to value themselves, to recognize their power, to empower them.