Knee-jerking
can be dangerous, especially for educators.
Knee-jerking. You know, a reflexive/ “knee jerk”
response. Like when President Obama pats
his dog on the head and Republicans issue a statement denouncing the socialist
movement to give animals the same rights as humans.
Knee-jerking.
We're
all guilty of it, especially in our politics.
Most of the time it's slightly stupid.
Sometimes it's seriously funny.
But, it can be profoundly dangerous, especially when you don't realize
that someone is manipulating your knee-jerks to make you march zombie-like in a
direction you wouldn't choose if you were thinking instead of just reacting.
I'm
thinking about the debate in Alabama over repealing Common Core Standards.
A
couple years ago, when we started the process (the quite poorly executed
process) of explaining Common Core Standards in Alabama, most classroom
educators knee-jerked against it.
It
was just more crap to memorize. We’d have to dump all those AHSGE desktop files
and classroom posters and create a whole new set of documents to mindlessly copy
and paste into lesson plans and student notebooks.
We
knee-jerked against Common Core without really examining it.
Then
it became the rule, so we accepted it, but few classroom teachers (none I know
personally) were actually excited about it.
Now,
the Republican-dominated Alabama legislature is trying to repeal Common Core in
Alabama, and educators are up in arms.
Why?
Now,
I’m not a Republican. I think that the current
crop of Republican state legislatures is deliberately trying to destroy public
education in America.
But,
why are so many of educators suddenly passionate about protecting a set of
rules for which they felt zero passion a few weeks ago?
Knee-jerking.
And I felt it, too. That involuntary
flinch forward into spontaneous activism
because THEY are against something related to education. THEY being Alabama Republicans, the ancient
enemies of all institutions with the word “public” in their designation-----
public schools, public lands, public parks, public restrooms, ...
I
am not opposed to the Common Core Standards.
Or,
as the debate is current framed, I am not in favor of the Republican plan to
repeal Common Core Standards.
(Notice
the subtle difference there. Are we
considering the merit of the standards or are we reacting to a move by our political
opponents?)
But
what has effectively happened is that the Republican opposition to Common Core
has achieved in 2 weeks, what 2 years of powerpoint presentations from the
Alabama Board of Education had failed to accomplish: Educators across the state now
overwhelmingly support/buy-in to the new Common Cores Standards.
I’m
not telling you to stop calling your legislator. I’m not telling you what to say when you call
him/her.
All
I’m asking you to do is ask yourself 2 questions:
(1) Did you arrive at your current position on this issue by way of reason or by way of a series of
knee-jerks?
(2) And if you knee-jerked to this point, who is it who’s
been tapping your knee?
Educators
are the smartest group of professionals in this country. We’re so smart that people pay us to make
other people smart. So, if we let
ourselves get knee-jerked around the socio-political landscape, then what hope
is there for rest of America.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall
Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
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