“Education is about improving the world”
The world is ever-changing and our understanding of that world and it’s history are evolving as well. It is so important that teachers are always listening, learning, and growing with the times. As Westheimer says, we must instill in our students that they have a role to play in understanding history and using that knowledge to make the world a better place for all. We all have the opportunity and the responsibility to participate in the democracy we are privileged enough to be a part of.
Though our world is ever-changing, there are situations in which education is not keeping up with the times. We often see traditionalism and standardization valued in schools. Westhiemer reminded us that standardization means that everything is the same, and this sameness is limiting and is the enemy of imagination and creativity. Through this education program, we have learned that creation, exploration, and inquiry is where rich learning really occurs.
With that being said, Westheimer brings up that most people think we should keep politics, opinions, religion, and controversial issues out of our schools. This sounds reasonable at first thought. But Westheimer goes on to say that if school is meant to improve the world and create citizens who take part in society, then standardization and traditionalism will contradict this. Like he said, “Talking about controversial issues in schools that are not yet settled in our society at large, we have to teach kids that intelligent well-meaning adults differ on important matters of social concerns and that part of our role as citizens in a democracy is to come together to air those differences”. We can then use this communication and understanding of our fellow citizens to come up with ways to move forward and make decisions that “affect all of us”. We need to teach our children that there are many opinions and beliefs, and then give them the tools to make informed decisions so that they can be active change-makers instead of conformers. The more we understand and the more exposure we have to different viewpoints, will help us to challenge and understand our own beliefs and more clearly define them. We want to create a classroom environment in which our students are “justice-oriented” and not just participatory. But this will mean challenging traditional ideas, constantly learning, critically thinking and engaging.
Dr. Mike Capello’s podcast talked about this idea of citizenship in education in relation to treaty education. I think it is so important to recognize that treaty education should be the bare minimum. If we want to change our future and deconstruct colonialism, we need to do more. Like Capelloi said, we need changes in the systems. We need the revitalization of indigenous ways of being, Indigenous curricula, and Indigenous linguistics. We need to create relationships, we need to listen, and we need to learn.
All of this is not possible if we do not move past standardization and traditional ways of viewing education.