Food 4 Thought: Emotional Beings in a Social Work...Inept vs. Adept

As a new professor I have a enlightened take on the difficulty in leaving students thinking. Designing a lecture seems to involve a clear determination of what you would like the take away messages to be. This proves to be difficult when you have so much you would like to cover with limited time. So, today I reflect on what left me thinking...what I took away from our discussion.

I entered our discussion after completing the readings, and was therefore very much in alignment with the inept vs. adept conversation that we had. After going through both the Horizon Report's and the Participatory Culture article, I was once again reminded of the educational inadequacies of our countries educational system. This time the incompetency surrounded the area of technology. Reading about all of the recommended uses of technology in the classroom I began to think about how many educators DO have access to technology and don't utilize it. I have found that it is much easier to complain that we do not have the modern classrooms with all of the high-tech devices, which limits our capacity to utilize these recommendations. However, several of these strategies we could use even if they needed to be modified to fit the technology currently in place.

It has been my experience that teachers often have access to computers in their schools, and do not utilize them. Yes, they may be decrepit and outdated, but can often be used to go online and build presentations. This leads me to question whether it really is the lack of technology that keeps educators from shifting teaching styles. After all, students often have access to sometimes even better technologies in the public libraries if not at home. After pondering this question a while, I have come to the conclusion that even if we upgraded American schools to have the most modern of technologies, who is to say that educators would utilize them, and UPGRADE THEIR TEACHING!

I believe that the difficulties in funding lye in the incompetency of the education system. Why should the states and fed.'s throw more money at a system that is failing? This is often what I hear from private industry people that have something to say about public education. Are they right? Do we need more money to improve the system, or is it a shift in thinking and application of instruction that we need? Articles such as those in which we read for this weeks class make me think it is a bit of both. HOWEVER...I do agree that money is not the root of change. WE ARE!

The other aspect of class that left me pondering was Patrick's statement that "we are emotional beings in a social world." I completely agree, which is obvious by my strong belief in counseling. I have found that it is almost natural for individuals to want to express themselves. Whether it be through words, actions, or lack there of, people want to be validated. They want to know that they are being heard, and that they are respected by those around them. Emotions drive us, and we want to express them (especially those that appear to not).

This form of thinking leads me to ask several questions. How does the education system promote this? How do our classrooms embrace this? In what ways to teachers and leaders allow this frame of thinking to drive their practice? Do those in power respect the emotional self, and/or how do they capitalize on their influence over the the emotions of others? I could ramble on and on here, but ultimately it is questioning such as this that allows us to embrace the social world that we live in. For, to discuss and debate leads to some element of truth and clarity, which we much need in education!