John Dewey’s Experience and Education

Dewey: Experience and Education

 

    Once in my sophomore year of High School I was kicked out of my history class because my teacher thought I was being disrespectful during an argument we were having about the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Although now in my older years, I realized I could have reacted differently to the situation, however I think that it is prevalent to what Dewey talks about in Education and Experience. Before I get into the details of the actual event, I think it is imperative that other information is brought into the perspective.

    During my high school years I became three separate people. In school I was not the best student in the world and had many truancy and drug issues. I was attending a school in the north part of Seattle called Ingram High School when smoking weed and skipping became one of my most frequent ways to pass the time. Eventually I became involved with people who were thieves, drug addicts and violent, which lead to a physical encounter with a complete stranger in order to prove myself. My mother removed me from the school and enrolled me in a school in the south end of Seattle called Cleveland High School. I left a school with maybe 35% people of color and came to a school with 75% people of color, less resources and a decaying old building. The classrooms of course were over crowded and there were never enough text books for all the students in the class. My mother choose this school with the sole intent that maybe a good friend of the family named Alex, that was a senior that year at Cleveland, might steer me in a good direction. Outside of school I was involved in a community organization that did a multitude of services that included basic social services, child care, civil rights work, community involvement and youth leadership called El Centro de la Raza. At the same time that I was failing in my studies I became emerged in this whole another type of academia. The history of the Chicano movement and the Civil Rights movement intrigued me, as well as, motivated me to do community organizing work for various causes. One of those causes was establishing a community history course taught once a night through videos, discussions, presentations and guest speakers. I helped coordinate, lead discussions, and facilitate workshops. Alex was a good friend and fellow organizer for these community history classes and knew this side of my personality. When I was around him I turned into a motivated and caring individual, because I believed in what we were working towards. At home I became the third individual, a secluded person that preferred to write poetry all hours of the night and read fictional book after fictional book. My house was crazy with noise, people, arguments, yelling, screaming, heightened emotion or altogether depression. There was always a heap of housework waiting for me and a good argument with my father that always ended in tears. I escaped through poetry, drawing and reading.

    With all this said, Alex of course helped me to began a change within myself. I didn't care about school or what would happen to me when I skipped and got high, however he was my source of accountability. Taking me under his wing he introduced me to MEChA, a Chicano student organization that was dedicated to bringing the Chicano student into institutions of higher education, while still maintaining a connection with their community and families. The student organization is set up in a family like fashion that holds its members accountable to not just their motivation in the community but their motivation to succeed in the academic arena as well. Nonetheless, I started going to my classes and making a real effort to graduate after throwing away three-fourths of my sophomore year. While I was making this transition to caring I took a US history class with a very narrow minded woman, who came from a very conservative and stubborn viewpoint. We had a couple of days dedicated towards talking about the civil right era, which consisted of a few paragraphs about Martin Luther King, Jr and one paragraph about Cesar Chavez. We watched a video about the college life of MLK during the times he was a womanizer and irresponsible individual and touched little on his philosophies and civil rights work.

    One thing that I think I should mention is the fact that at the age of twelve, I began to study MLK's Strength to Love book, where he discusses thoroughly the concepts of nonviolent civil rights principles and action. I did not accomplish this on my own. I was part of a summer youth leadership conference were we took a chapter a week and did daily seminars on the philosophies brought up in each chapter. We would have to not only reflect verbally as a group, but we were required to keep a journal where we had to take a passage from the chapter on a daily basis and reflect on it individually.

    With this said, there was an overwhelming sense of disgust with my teacher's presentation of the civil rights era and I expressed it to her during our discussion after the MLK film. How exactly the conversation went or even the name of the video escapes me. I just remember raising my hand and telling her that it offends me as an individual that our class had to watch a video that virtually attempted at discrediting his work and dedication to a much needed movement in our society. I pointed out the one paragraph in our textbook of Cesar Chavez and said that offended me. The paragraph didn't talk about how many times Cesar had fasted, what he struggled for or even what kinds of discriminations and hazardous work conditions that agricultural workers have to face on a daily basis in order for us to have the fruits and vegetables that our in our stores and markets. That from that movement a whole generation of youth were born that began the foundations of Chicano history and movements that also swept the nation during the time of the more known "black movement." Her response was that I was being narrow minded for not wanting to discuss the "other part" of MLK's life and that the history that Cesar had contributed and thousands of other Chicanos in this nation was not significant enough to dedicate time to talking about in the history class. I admit to probably cutting her off and speaking in a very confrontational tone, however I never said one cuss word or used my body language to signify that I was going to become violent. She was overwhelmed that I was taking up her class time with an argument that would not result in us seeing each other's viewpoints. I was then sent to the principal's office, but instead cut out to the park with a couple of the homies.

    Another incident that happened at Cleveland was a more positive and motivating one. As you might have imagined, I failed the US History course because I just didn't go to class and didn't do any of the assignments. Eventually I found that I had to retake US history, but this time it was with a younger woman who was doing her student teaching at Cleveland for one quarter. We rarely used our text book, however had engaging conversations and debates surrounding US history. As a class project we had to pick an entity or person that had a significant impact on US history, specifically from the civil rights movements. This was one of the most motivating tasks I was given in all of my four years in high school. I had a wealth of options, however I choose a more intimate one. I chose to do the presentation on the community organization that I had been involved in since the age of nine. This organization has an amazing history and was a significant milestone to the Chicano Movement in the Pacific Northwest. In 1972, there was a English as a Second Language class being given to the community through Seattle Central Community College. The program's funding was cut halfway through the course, however the Chicano movement was already starting to emerge within the community of Seattle. The individuals that were apart of the ESL class had began to exchange ideals about leading a progressive movement to addressing the issues afflicting Chicanos in Seattle. There was a multitude of services that were not available to the Chicano community, as well as, a place they could organize around social and political issues. After being outraged by the funding cuts, they decided to take action and found resolution in an abandoned elementary school building in Beacon Hill. On October 11, 1972 hundreds of students, families and community organizers walked into the abandoned school building and began a 35 year-long struggle of social and civil rights work. They named the organization El Centro de la Raza, meaning the center of the people.

    At the end of my presentation I received support and admiration from both my classmates and instructor for bringing to light a history that many were not aware existed locally. The discussion ranged from people's curiosity of the work that El Centro de la Raza did to the possibility that the concept of racism is still being perpetuated in school and society. Even though there is always a sense of pride when the work you've done is acknowledged, it was a stronger sense of pride in the fact that I used all three personalities to effectively contribute to the knowledge of the classroom. My poetical talent with language was used in the presentation, I brought to light the organizing work I was involved in outside of school, and I was able to feel like I was part of the learning process of my classmates. This entire event began to empower my ability to contribute to the classroom and my own learning.

    In contrast to this empowering event, the original altercation I had with my first US History teacher was not motivating to my learning process and gave me a sense of disempowerment. Coming out of that classroom I felt that I was not a valuable member to the atmosphere of the classroom. Dewey states, "When education is based upon experience and educative experience is seen to be a social process, the situation changes radically. The teacher loses the position of external boss and dictator but takes on that of a leader of group activities." What my second US history teacher was able to accomplish was not only empowering me to be a learner and feel that my contributes to the class were valued, but also to appreciate her ability to orchestrate that process.