How Teachers Can Promote Social

Change in the Classroom

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

The philosopher John Dewey wrote, “Education is not a preparation for life but
is life itself.” Dewey reflected extensively on the page about the role of
education in a healthy, ever-evolving democratic society, and he believed
classrooms aren’t just a place to study social change, but a place to spark
social change. Dewey wrote about these topics in the early twentieth century,
at a time when debates raged about whether teachers should be tasked with
preparing students to conform or to actively push for progress and
improvement where they are necessary.

These same debates continue today with real implications for education policy.
Dewey remains one of our clearest voices on the argument that the classroom
ought to be seen as an important locus of social change. For present and
future teachers, it’s one thing to appreciate Dewey’s views on education and
social change and quite another to create a classroom environment that
embodies them. So, how can teachers build real classrooms that exemplify
Dewey’s ideals for education in society?

Here are a few ideas:

1. Encourage active participation and experimentation with ideas among

students.

Unfortunately, teachers and students who want to see some kind of

paperbased progress often push for a lot of memorization of dates, facts, and
definitions. However, this type of learning is not the society-shifting classroom
activity of which Dewey wrote. Instead, teachers should construct active
learning opportunities, where students can be fully engaged with the material
and play with ideas without being reprimanded for going too far afield. A few
ways teachers might facilitate such a learning environment include letting
students teach each other, setting up a system for occasionally letting students
ask anonymous questions, and assigning open-ended projects in which
students aren’t given the impression that they’re expected to take prescribed
steps until they get to the “right” answer.

2. Teach students how to think instead of teaching them what to think.

Starting to make strides in this area may be as simple as rethinking common

assumptions about which subjects are suitable for which students and when.
For example, multiple studies suggest that philosophical inquiry is not above
the heads of elementary-aged students. A Washington Post article on the
topic describes the Philosophy for Children movement, in which a teacher
offers a poem, story, or other object and employs the Socratic method to
stimulate classroom discussion – not necessarily about the prompt, but around
it. The students’ impressions and quandaries are what take center stage, not
an actual philosophical mode or text. In other words, students are being
taught how to think (and that their thoughts have weight and value and
should be pursued)
rather than what to think. Evidence suggests that students respond well to the
Philosophy in the Classroom exercise, which, when performed just once a
week,
has been shown to improve students’ reading levels, critical thinking skills, and
emotional wellbeing.
Socrates himself said, “Education is a kindling of a flame, not a filling of a
vessel.” It follows, then, that using Socrates’ method of discourse as a teaching
tool would line up well with Dewey’s goals for the classroom.

3. Prepare students to expect the need for change and to believe in their own
ability to take positive steps for the benefit of society.

One step teachers can take to encourage students to play a part in larger
societal improvement is to create a classroom where they’re given the
responsibility and authority to make some significant decisions. If teachers
have all the answers, it’s implied that students are expected to receive
knowledge, not offer solutions or improvements. But if teachers make it clear
that, especially
when it comes to the big questions we all face, even those in authority don’t
know it all, then students have more room to rely on their own cognitive
powers
and problem-solving skills.
Teachers might try offering lessons in, for example, how ethical decisions are
made and the role of empathy and considered argument, and then setting up
situations in which students can apply these skills in solving problems.

It’s also important to create a learning environment in which students learn to

see the benefit of a worthy failure – rather than learning to fear the possibility
of doing something wrong.
4. Make classroom processes democratic to establish the idea that if we actively
participate in our communities, we can help make decisions about how they
function.

Dewey noted that if we want our education systems to benefit the larger cause
of a healthy democratic society, then it’s important that we keep democracy as
a central “frame of reference” in our classrooms. Too often, he adds, we forget
that participating in a democracy is a skill that needs to be honed in our daily
lives. The classroom is a good place to learn to do just that: Consider making
classrooms more democratic than authoritarian, starting at a young age. What
decisions can you put to students in the classroom? Before organizing a vote,
can you encourage those on opposing sides to clearly state their positions and
try to understand and respond to the counterarguments?

Students who spend time in classrooms with such processes will be learning
more than how to cast a vote when that opportunity is presented to them;
they’ll be learning that their thoughts and ideas count and can be applied to
benefit their larger community—all while welcoming opposing sides on an
issue. (add)

5. Facilitate discussions among teachers as a group – starting with student

teachers – about the decisions they can make to drive social change.

Dewey made it clear that he believed teachers and schools had great influence
over society, whether they were aware of that fact or not. If you think Dewey
was on to something with this point, then it most likely follows that you’d
agree teachers ought to be intentional about how they’re influencing our
society. The best way to do that is to come together as a group to share ideas,
experiences, reading, and successes. As these group discussions get bigger
and broader, teachers can start to take on questions of policy—questions that
should be decided with an eye on the influence that teachers have.

If we can begin to take these steps consistently in our classrooms, then we’ll
be fostering a stronger societal fabric, building a healthier democratic process,
and benefitting people far from our schools, one classroom at a time. As lives
are being lived in classrooms and societies are being forged, certainly that’s
change we can all get behind.

REFERENCE: MAIN IDEAS

SUPPORTING DETAILS