Imagine celebrating diversity
If music, art, and divergent thinking (all encompassed in the word, imagination) were emphasized to a greater extent in our school system, would today’s learning disabled become the enabled? Also, can we use imagination as a powerful tool to encourage the celebration of diversity and the making of more tolerant citizens?
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I think the peculiar thing about imagination is you can’t contain it, it has no quantitative value, and hence when relating it to the disable becoming the enable I think it is relative to point out our current academic system is built upon quantitative assessment. My point being we only label the disable as whom they are based upon their limitations to perform certain qualifiers that society as a whole predetermine as justifiable evidence to whom or what an enable person is. Therefore the question being asked is already lopsided not because of the ones asking it, but because they as well as I are products of this current academic system which we label as schooling.
ReplyDeleteIdeally if we were to use our imagination and transpose our minds in the form of a vastly different academic system, then there will be no need for the question of disable to enable. The question will be irrelevant because anything that is being produced by the individual will not be seen under the gaze of who is disabled and who is not but as an expression of their imagination. So now any and every behaviour, production and individual output of expression, which is made or portrayed, has significant value to the do and the observer.
I can validate this point simply by directing you the reader to this website I found of individuals which used their imagination to produce their renditions of art http://artculture.com/artists/art-design-features/controversial-art-showcase Warning some of what you may see and read could be a little disturbing; however this could be the reality of promoting divergent thinking to a greater extent in our current school systems. My question now is if we allow the imagination to run freely in our established school system in order for the disable (those which we have label as being not able) and enable to express themselves to infinity; where exactly do we draw the line? What do we accept as satisfactory and what do we reject as trash? Because ultimately you can’t contain imagination neither can you rate if based on its quantitative value—it should all have worth.
Love the website Cecil! But isn't it funny that humans still have this need to quantify, even when it comes to something like art, or music or anything so inherently subjective. As in they rank the controversial art - this one is more controversial than the last - like it is so objective. hahaha
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm a sucker for lists. Tell me you have a top ten anything, and I'll go check it out!
I have often told parents when requesting their child be tested for a learning disability that I don't like the term disability. I prefer to say that learning exists in different forms, but that unfortunately current school systems tend to rely heavily upon certain learning and regurgitation techniques. I thoroughly believe this. Why are so many brilliant children unable to succeed in school? I keep thinking about Paulo Freire and his notion of the pedagogy of the oppressed. Freire would argue that the oppressed need to free themselves of this construction. If we were to take the view that children who have LDs are oppressed in the current education system, is it the children themselves that need to break free of the oppression? Or would it be a movement on the behalf of those who have learning disabilities? But then again, learning can be individual, so would the individual take action?
ReplyDeleteWhile I really have no answers, just lots of questions, I suppose that imagination can provide opportunities to play with possibilities.
Stephanie, I think just by making your dissent overt, (as it relates to the construct of the label "disabled") and then reframing the dialogue when meeting with guardians, is a step in the collective process of breaking cycles of oppression. You were able to "imagine" a different story and then brave enough to speak it.
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that we even have to consider 'using' or 'introducing' creativity in schools. Thinking again of the Awad's pool metaphor for discourse - our educational discourse is bounded by the walls of bureacracy and its drive for standardization (as noted by Ayers and Saul). There isn't much scope within that discourse for creativity. It's often just a tolerated add-on, which is truly bizarre when you think about it. Teaching without focussing on creativity is like training a sprinter with one leg tied up - impossible, illogical, crippling. Working with students' imaginations should flow through all that we do, as all would benefit - perhaps learning disabled kids most of all.
ReplyDeleteJohn, you present the idea in a unique way (bringing in the idea of the discourse), and the simile you wrote is great, very fitting.
ReplyDeleteI also think your last sentence speaks to the very reason why Awad placed these two readings together on the course list.
Hmmm...interesting discussion. I taught LD kids for several years. I'm not sure that the issue is that they are "oppressed." I think it has more to do with the fact that teachers have little time to devote to acquiring pedagogies that support a variety of learning styles. I also think that schools are not always welcoming places for LD kids. So, does this make them oppressed? Not sure...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, as a community counsellor working with the ‘disadvantaged’ families, I was less than impressed with this book. In my opinion, while it was written with the most honourable intention of advocating for learning differences in a very engaging, lively and appropriately humorous manner, this book has a fairly specific target audience and can not be generalized to the more diverse and less privileged segments of our population. However unintentionally, this book was written by the middle class, about the middle class and for the middle class in the ‘best traditions’ of economic and socio-cultural hegemony. Despite of Hank’s genuine trials and tribulations, this book represents a middle class fantasy as well as their preferred and lived reality with respect to the context in which the issue of learning differences is explored, addressed and resolved.
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