[Teaching_Composition] RE: Critical Pedagogy and Politics ... and Empowerment
Becky Flores
teaching_composition@mailman.eppg.com
Tue, 3 Oct 2006 09:55:43 -0500
<FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size=
=3D2><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" s=
ize=3D2><DIV> =
Kathy's comment about "empowerment" is key, particularly=
in the context of discussing the power allegedly inherent in the critical =
pedagogy she rightly questions (something I'd call a paint-by-numbers criti=
cal pedagogy, it having taken the same lamentable path as </DIV><DIV>multic=
ulturalism). Empowerment is a term, much like the ubiquitous "cri=
tical thinking," that is often used yet infrequently considered for its sus=
pect undertones. The whole concept of "empowerment" (I'm drawing a lot from=
Bruce Horner's work here) is problematic. Empowerment involves at least tw=
o players -- the powerful and the powerless -- and then the act of empoweri=
ng. The result? Power is provided by those with power to those without=
. The question here is power given by whom? "Allowed" by whom? And, isn't t=
he provider of power then suspect for having power to begin with, and the r=
ecipient then compliant with the structure of dominant power? In short=
, what's changed in the exchange of this much-touted "empowerment" other th=
an us feeling (misplaced) satisfaction about it having occurred?</DIV><DIV>=
</DIV><DIV>Ah, I do love these semantics. </DIV><P>On a final note, H=
orner's piece will be of interest to those considering alternative per=
spectives to what being a critical pedagogue might entail. It was published=
in JAC (2000): 121-52 with the title "Politics, Pedagogy, and the Professi=
on of Composition: Confronting Commodification and the Contingences of Powe=
r."</P><DIV>becky </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>Becky F=
lores <BR>B.A., M.A., Ph.D. <BR>Dpt. English, Philosoph=
y, and Education <BR>Del Mar College <BR><A href=3D"htt=
p://www.delmar.edu/engl/instruct/beckyflores" target=3Dblank>www.delmar.edu=
/engl/instruct/beckyflores </A><BR><BR></DIV><DIV><DIV><BR></DIV><FONT colo=
r=3D#990099>-----teaching=5Fcomposition-admin@mailman.eppg.com wrote: -----=
<BR><BR></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE style=3D"PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;=
MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">To: &=
lt;teaching=5Fcomposition@mailman.eppg.com> <BR>From: "Kathy Fitch" <=
kfitch@kafkaz.net> <BR>Sent by: teaching=5Fcomposition-admin@mailman.epp=
g.com <BR>Date: 10/03/2006 07:38AM <BR>Subject: RE: [Teaching=5FComposition=
] Critical Pedagogy and Politics <BR><BR><DIV class=3DSection1><P class=3DM=
soNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-seri=
f" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-=
FAMILY: Arial"><< </SPAN></FONT><FONT size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SI=
ZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Critical pedagogy believes in problem posing.=
A critical classroom starts with the students? collective interests =
and helps the students forge a connection to larger ideology through analys=
is, facts and statistics, logic, and plain old questioning. A critica=
l pedagogue, for example, would not assert that all hierarchies are wrong, =
as Kathy mentioned. Rather, he or she might generate a theme around h=
ierarchy for the students or pose it as a theme that students are invited t=
o accept or reject. The classroom is not so de-centralized as to lack=
rigor. Rather, the instructor is sharing authority with the students=
and making them responsible for their education. Frequently, a criti=
cal pedagogue will make the topic of the course a theme or a starting point=
, what Ira Shor calls an ?academic theme.? In a writing classroom, th=
en, students would study the topic of good writing or maybe writing process=
es or what the students have learned previously about the rules of writing.=
Again, the instructor poses questions and problematizes major issues=
for the students. <FONT color=3Dnavy><SPAN style=3D"COLOR: navy">>> =
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=
=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy siz=
e=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p=
></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Se=
rif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=
=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Of course, Bill?this =
sounds like a course we?d all love to be in, and all aim to teach. Bu=
t where is the great big threat against this approach? As far as I ca=
n see, the objections are lodged and the concerns expressed when critical p=
edagogy ceases to be what you describe (an idealized version to offset what=
you see as a caricature of the overly politicized teacher?) and becomes so=
mething else altogether. Something a whole lot pushier. I think=
part of your concern?and I?d agree?is that the line between critical pedag=
ogy and politics run amok isn?t always as clear in practice as it is in our=
own minds, where we know (for the most part) what we?re up to, and what ou=
r goals and motivations are. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3D=
MsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-ser=
if" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT=
-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT fac=
e=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy si=
ze=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Unf=
ortunately, things do get fuzzy. For instance, one could make the cas=
e that a given theme itself (how it?s selected and defined, which readings =
are chosen to explore it, the types of assignments written around it) can c=
onstitute a kind of argument that really brooks no opposition by students w=
ho find themselves--all unawares, with no forewarning, and often with very =
little sense of how to get out--caught in it. I?ve inherited a few of=
those students, and can tell you it?s a delicate thing, indeed, simultaneo=
usly to get them back on track with FYC, and to promote respect for and goo=
d will toward the instructor they?ve fled. How does a student trust c=
omp after feeling as though he or she has been forced into reading and writ=
ing about gender issues, say, when those readings seem not only terribly pu=
shy and personal, but also essentially unrelated to what they thought would=
and should be the task at hand? (It has also sometimes been a challe=
nge not to have the fled from teacher ticked off at me for agreeing to adop=
t the fleeing student, but talking it through head on tends to ease things.=
) Oh, and just think of how many first year students in that spot * <=
B><SPAN style=3D"FONT-WEIGHT: bold">don?t </SPAN></B>* flee! One appr=
oach to preventing this sort of issue is to delineate themes clearly =
and carefully ahead of time. If this course is to be all about hierar=
chies, or sustainable resources, or the philosophy of language, or gender s=
tudies, or the rhetoric of war, or whatever, it?s both wise and ethical to =
tag it as such in the catalogue and/or schedule, and to circulate (online i=
s one good way) a fairly detailed description of it in advance. When =
students are empowered to choose that way, fewer problems develop, which is=
good for everyone. If I were teaching a lab/online/hybrid type=
course in a school not heavy on technology use in FYC, I?d even want * <B>=
<SPAN style=3D"FONT-WEIGHT: bold">that </SPAN></B>* (seemingly innocuous, a=
t least to me) course tagged and described in just this fashion. If=
FYC can?t be presumed to be pretty much the same from section to section=
?as, in many places, it can?t (thus WPAs and or Deans feeling the lure of=
the departmental text and syllabus), then we do our both our students an=
d ourselves a great favor by clarifying the choices ahead of time.</SPAN>=
</FONT></P> <P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdan=
a,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT=
-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=3D"D=
efault Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2=
><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I?d have =
been ticked off by (and probably pretty frightened of) a professor or ins=
tructor trying to transform me into her particular version of a feminist,=
for sure. (It?s brave, wonderful, and a sign of wisdom for any tea=
cher to see that?s she done that, to regret it, to question how it happen=
ed, and to reexamine that approach.) But by the time I landed in such a s=
ituation, it was in a feminist studies course I?d deliberatively chosen, =
where passionate exploration and disagreement were welcome all the way, a=
nd I was free vociferously to defend or attack ideas as the spirit =
or the keyboard or the readings or classmates moved me. If I?d land=
ed in that spot in FYC, it would have been a thing I?d gone into blindly,=
and felt trapped by and resentful of, and rightly so. </SPAN>=
</FONT><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"=
color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FA=
MILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT =
face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy=
size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">=
We can demonstrate how deeply we respect both students and the profession b=
y taking the time not only carefully to examine our approaches, but also ca=
refully to tend to student responses. I learned this lesson very earl=
y on when I was using a reader one department demanded?a reader that includ=
ed a section on abortion. Couldn?t get a lick of conversation or a sp=
ark of interest going about that section (such interesting readings, too, n=
a=EFve me thought), so I finally did the only thing a teacher really can do=
when in that spot, which is to ask the students why. They said, pret=
ty much to a person, that this was a hugely personal thing, and that =
whether they were still thinking it through, or had already come down?tempo=
rarily or no?on one side or the other was, essentially, none of anyone?s be=
eswax unless * <B><SPAN>they </SPAN></B>* opted freely to explore it with o=
thers (teachers or peers) for, say, a research paper, or in a creative wr=
iting class, or in a class on Human Sexuality or Contemporary Ethics, and=
so forth.</SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default =
Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPA=
N style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FON=
T><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" colo=
r=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY:=
Arial">I think they were right. Also, I expect, their response would=
apply in somewhat subtler cases. Whenever we?re crossing into the la=
nd of the personal or the private in a course not specifically geared to th=
ose topics (a course in which students can predict that those topics will m=
ake up the content, and choose to enroll or not, accordingly), then student=
resistance is not only perfectly appropriate, but downright healthy. =
I?d call taking that into account?and letting that response shape our cour=
ses even or especially when it?s an unexpected response?a key part of criti=
cal pedagogy. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT=
face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnav=
y size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"=
><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sa=
ns Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN st=
yle=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">On a different not=
e?I?ve hardly ever encountered the out and out morally distasteful essay =
written by an FYC student. Thoughtfully designed courses don?t leav=
e much room for them, so that?s one thing, but the bigger thing is that, =
for the most part, students are rooting for us just like we?re rooting fo=
r them. Mostly, in my experience, they really want to learn a thing=
or two about writing, and they?ll go a long way, indeed, to help us teac=
h them whatever we can in the brief time we have together.</SPAN></FONT><=
FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=
=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: =
Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=
=3D"Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy siz=
e=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Kath=
y <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default S=
ans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN s=
tyle=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p>=
</SPAN></FONT></P><P class=3DMsoNormal><FONT face=3D"Default Sans Serif,Ver=
dana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color=3Dnavy size=3D2><SPAN style=3D"FONT-=
SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT=
></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT>=