teachingchildrenseriously

[teachingchildrenseriously]

Introductions.

I am a school band director in the United States. That's all I feel to share about where I am now. This blog serves me as a place to collect my thoughts about TCS while also being an educator.

When I was a child, I had a strong revulsion towards school. The only place I felt like I belonged, and where I felt like the goals I accomplished mattered, was in band. I knew early that I wanted to be involved in child-rearing, but not in what capacity.

I knew I wanted to be a band director in high school, but I knew I wanted to do school different. At this point in my life I came across the Montessori method and the Francisco Ferrer Modern School. Thus, I had confirmation that a different way was possible.

I knew college would not be a good place to develop an educational method. This revelation came to me as in one class, we read the basic psychological theory that punishments do not "work" as far as behavior reinforcements. Rewards, or bribes if you're cynical, function similarly to punishments, and do not "work." In the next class, another professor waxed on about his favorite methods of bribery and punishment, and when and how to deploy each. More thoughts to come on what it means for an educational method to "work," soon.

The practice struck me as unserious. As it turns out, the most surefire way to reach children is to take them seriously.

I came across TCS in college, I don't remember how or when specifically. I remember reading every post on the front page, then reading the posts linked after the first set. I would go into very deep dives, only stopping when the linked posts made recommendations I had already read that day. I still do this.

TCS is a life-changing philosophy. I feel embarrassed to admit that the answers had been right in front of us the entire time.

I remember in the first week of ed school, our first assignment was to write a philosophy of education. The first line of my essay was, "The most-often overlooked quality of the school student is that they are a person." The title was "Leave Them Alone."

Several years later, my opinions have changed little. I have TCS to thank for being a community of such individuals who all believe that a better world of child-rearing is possible (loathe we may be at terms like "child-rearing").

"How can you be a teacher while also saying you take children seriously? Isn't there a fundamental disconnect? Hasn't Sarah herself said multiple times that school can only be damaging for children?"

It is possible for a teacher to take children seriously. Most do not, I'll be the first to admit. The subject I teach is voluntary to students at my school. Students are free to leave, or even quit, whenever they want. Some do, but most stay. There is a fundamental disconnect. Exploring that break is the point of this blog, as I try to imagine a school system that functions identically to a band class, for all disciplines. Sarah herself has said that compulsory education is harmful, and that formalized lectures are likely not the best, most efficient way to learn something. I agree. People only learn through doing. I don't have all the answers, but I do have a lot of questions.

"Would the TCS community appreciate what you're trying to do?"

Not likely. But the TCS revolution will not happen overnight. Keeping children out of prison and challenging my coworkers' fundamental principles today is my main goal. All I can do in the meantime is advocate for TCS. Which is what I'm doing here.