I've started reading Jacques Ranciere's "The Ignorant Schoolmaster" and I find this text really liberating. It begins with a compelling story of a professor who asks his Flemish students who have no knowledge of French to read and analyze a French literary text. The capacity of his students to decipher the text without his help astounds him. Ranciere's text is an important reminder about the notion of believing in an inherent intellectual capacity in every human being. What happens if we begin with equality, this assumption that "all men have equal intelligence (by this he is not referring to IQ but intellectual capacity to learn), instead of inequality (which frames much of educational discourse)? "To explain something to someone is first of all to show him he cannot understand it by himself. Before being the act of the pedagogue, explication is the myth of pedagogy, the parable of a world divided into knowing minds and ignorant ones, ripe minds and immature ones, the capable and incapable, the intelligent and the stupid." What I like about Ranciere's work is his underlying ethics of concern for the empowerment and liberation of those who are continually marginalized or voiceless.Saturday, June 25, 2011
I've started reading Jacques Ranciere's "The Ignorant Schoolmaster" and I find this text really liberating. It begins with a compelling story of a professor who asks his Flemish students who have no knowledge of French to read and analyze a French literary text. The capacity of his students to decipher the text without his help astounds him. Ranciere's text is an important reminder about the notion of believing in an inherent intellectual capacity in every human being. What happens if we begin with equality, this assumption that "all men have equal intelligence (by this he is not referring to IQ but intellectual capacity to learn), instead of inequality (which frames much of educational discourse)? "To explain something to someone is first of all to show him he cannot understand it by himself. Before being the act of the pedagogue, explication is the myth of pedagogy, the parable of a world divided into knowing minds and ignorant ones, ripe minds and immature ones, the capable and incapable, the intelligent and the stupid." What I like about Ranciere's work is his underlying ethics of concern for the empowerment and liberation of those who are continually marginalized or voiceless.
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Good observations so far, Suzanne. This book both resonated with my thinking on the inherent creative ability in all of us, and has had a big impact on how I'm approaching philosophy of Ed. While traveling over the past weeks, watched dr. Oz at a host's house, and was disturbed by how much the content of the show seemed like spoon-feeding its audience much like Ranciere argues against. In essence Oz is saying I know what the truths are and I'll share them with you - and the audience lines up to receive their daily ration. It's masked as being empowering but I think it's a means of infantilizing - explication over true understanding made by the learner. Look forward to discussing the book with you. Nick
ReplyDeleteWell said! This book resonated with me because it restores this faith that everyone has the potential to learn by taking ownership of their own learning!
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