A while back, my friend, Alan Bender at IU, asked me to make a priority list of the most important roles of education. Before I could reply, I got hit with that cerebral hemorrhage, went on medical leave, and I admittedly forgot to answer him. Then, a few days ago I read a message from a student whom I’ll call Gloria. Here is some of what she wrote:
At first when I came into the class I was not crazy about meeting the White students, shaking their hands, and introducing myself during those “treasure hunts”on the first days of class. I thought you were crazy. And I sure did not like your idea to divide the class into communities where we had to be strangers and that had to be gender and racially mixed, especially because there would not be another African-American person in my community with me. To be honest I had never stepped outside the box and made any attempt to be friends with a caucasian even here at VSU. I went to school with 90% African Americans this was so different and frightening. After working nearly half of a semester with three non-African-Americans, I have realized how wrong we all are. They’re nice. We (Blacks and Whites) are not as different as I thought we were and I now am beginning to understand Dr. King’s dreams and I realize now that it is up to each of us Blacks and Whites to make his dream that we judge each other by our character rather than by our skin color come true. I think because of all that I feel myself feeling more confident about myself and less self-conscious. I’m more willing to give anything a try and worrying less about screwing things up and what others think about me. I am surprising myself more and more each day, and that is all because of YOU! …. I’ve heard the same thing fom other African-Americans and even from some Whites. The “madness” of your methods are not crazy. They are as sane as can be. You are really making a difference dividing the class up like this. You know the saying: as long as you effect one person you have done your job….well you have had such a positive effect on me and all my views. I just want to say thank you for doing your job…
Her message stirred my memory. So, with apologies to Alan for my belatedness, here is my reply to him. I don’t like lists. I don’t think a list tells the story. It’s like asking me to list the order of importance of the liver, stomach, intestines, brain, lungs, adrenal gland, skin, and heart in my body. They each have a significant role to play without which the others can’t function. Now, I have never played an either/or or a most important game in education. I’d be the last one to play down the importance of acquiring information or the development of thinking skills or the use of these skills in applying the information. I do believe, however, that there is much more to the body of education if it is to function in a healthy manner. After all, we are talking about people. So, the intellectual skills must be fused with people skills.
Academic well-being, if it is to lead to economic well-being and personal well-being, must be partnered, if not driven by, as Daniel Goleman would say, emotional and social intelligence as well. I think about that a lot when I call myself a “wholeness teacher” or a “character educator.” I see myself not only as a professor of history, but as a life coach as well. I work hard to help students break down barriers, build bridges, and forge community in each classroom. I help students learn not only history and its importance, but I find ways to daily address such characteristics as self-discipline, self-esteem, honesty, self-confidence, integrity, faith, love, hope, perseverance, commitment, endurance, empathy, resilience, fun-loving, humility, compassion, respect, fairness, daring, courage. I am more convinced than ever that the quality of our lives and the level of our performance and the depth of our learning and extent of our caring are determined more by our attitudes than our bank of information and skills. If students can learn more than information and thinking skills, if they can acquire social and emotional skills, if they can learn people and communication skills, if they can learn to care about and believe in themselves and for one another, if they can appreciate their own and each other’s uniqueness, if they can respect the importance of each other; if they can accept different opinions and beliefs, if they acquire the courage to fail and the daring to make mistakes, if they leave our campuses with bachelors ofexperiences rather than with bachelors of grades, if they graduate as innovators rather than merely as test takers, if they start on the road to becoming true life-long self learners and visionaries, today’s classroom just may lead to a better society tomorrow. If we can find ways to weave all this into the fabric of each of our classes we will make a difference and help each student help her/himself become the person she or he is capable of becoming.
My answer to Alan, then, is that education is all about helping the mind create and the heart both guide and control.
Make it a good day.
Louis