There are two classrooms in America. In one classroom, the conservative teacher is a strict disciplinarian. Her students can expect an immediate reprimand for the least of offenses, and the best explanation they ever receive is "because I said so." Early in the school year, self-preservation instincts kick in, and the students approach the curriculum with intense focus as a response to the teacher's politics of fear. The folk of the community, including administrators, parents, janitors, and all others who casually observe the class, witness the rigid classroom and remark about the strong leadership of the teacher and the values she instills.
In another classroom, the liberal teacher gives her students the freedom to question the classroom rules and procedures. Early in the school year, the students test every rule to see what they can get away with. At each instance, the teacher gives a gentle warning and calmly explains the reasons behind the existence of each rule. All those who witness the class remark about the unruliness of the children, who are constantly out of their seats and talking back to the teacher. The liberal teacher is blamed as a classic example of the corrosion of the very fiber of education and the principal schedules hearings regarding her competence to hold her position.
Quietly, as the weeks pass, an interesting change takes place. In the conservative classroom, several students who have received the most severe punishments decide that the teacher is mean. Her rules and their subsequent enforcement seem arbitrary and unfair. These students continue to sit up nice and straight and behave in an inconspicuous manner. However, when the teacher is talking, they are rarely listening. Also, other students, who do not understand the rules, but obey in the presence of the teacher, realize that the only time they need to behave is when the teacher is looking. Once she steps out of the room, or becomes engrossed at her computer reading a conservative blog, these students involve themselves in mischief because they do not respect the rules, only the threat of reprisal.
Meanwhile, in the liberal classroom, the students begin to understand that the rules exist for the good of everyone. They begin to follow the rules and accept correction with little resistance when reprimanded for breaking one. Further, as they begin to understand the reasoning behind each decision the teacher makes, they begin to have more faith in her. They spend less time questioning and testing her authority, and they begin questioning the curriculum. Still better, is the fact that they are actively involved in the learning process as they test the theories in the science book and question the details of the history book.
This diary represents my thoughts regarding an excellent diary by pericles entitled Moral Values on the Right: Not Hypocrisy as applied to public education. I would put some excerpts here in gray for effect, but I have no idea how. You'll just have to read it yourself, which will be good, because it didn't get enough attention the first time around.
At any rate, I believe that establishing a classroom based on George Lakoff's description (in Moral Politics) of the Nurturant Parent Family reaps enormous benefits for students in the long run.
Be it in education or politics, I firmly believe that those who are allowed to question authority come to understand it, and in turn, respect it. So many times, those who are reprimanded for questioning authority, come only to fear being caught, and their character exists only when under the watchful eye of the teacher or the public. Moral character that exists only in such cases is not really character at all.
More importantly than this, we, as progressives, are best equipped to attack the positions of the right when we understand the premises from which their views arose. So many on the other side have been taught their entire lives to never question authority. It is one reason they hate us. It also explains their seemingly blind loyalty to Bush's policies even when those policies are based on blatant lies, such as with the war and social security. If we exhibit the respect for the law and demonstrate the strong morality that we have gained by questioning our beliefs, those on the right who preach so often of the morals they clearly lack, will be exposed for who they truly are.
