Disruptive Education
For many around the world, and even those closer to home, educational quality or access can be disrupted in any number of ways. Budget cuts, school closures, mandated exams, limited resources, or even cultural factors that prevent certain students from even attending school may disrupt the opportunity of young people from receiving a quality education.
As a way of demonstrating this reality, the CA Youth Philanthropy Program partnered with many faculty last Wednesday to find different ways to disrupt the normal school quality we often take for granted.
Elissa Wolf-Tinsman, Martha Smith, Lisa Boes and I conspired to create an interesting situation for about 40 students that day in the lounge space on the first floor outside the Innovation Lab. After clearing out the furniture, we brought all of the students to the space, sat them down on the floor and asked them simply to copy everything that was written on the chalkboard in front of them. They could only use one sheet of paper and a pencil; no laptops or cell phones were allowed. They had limited time to do this rote “learning” in a very cramped space and were told if they couldn’t finish they would have to return at lunch. Finally after about 15 minutes, we let them in on our scheme. The takeaway points were numerous: for many people, furniture, equipment (especially technology), meaningful education, and compassionate teachers are not givens; indeed, many people’s access to a quality education is compromised in any or all of these ways.
Elsewhere around campus, art teacher Katy Hills convinced her art students that the school had cut art program funding by 75% and that students would have to make do with fewer supplies. There was so much concern that one student was ready to begin a fundraising campaign. Tom Thorpe told his students they needed to do a state-mandated cursive writing assignment on which they diligently scribbled away for 15 minutes. (I entered the room at one point to inform Mr. Thorpe that he would be evaluated based on the students’ performances.) Other teachers served up fake quizzes, for which the students had not been prepared, and then refused to be helpful when they were struggling.
Kudos to freshmen Isabel Chandler, Olivia White and Audrey Groves for their work on the big chalkboard, on the various girls education posters and the "lipstick art" in the student restrooms. They helped connect the disruption activities back to the film Girl Rising which made such an impact on many of us a few weeks ago. In turn, our current trip to Haiti where we are partnering with a high-need school in a remote village, will help us extend our outreach to parts of the world where access to education is extremely limited.
The CA Youth Philanthropy Program, which consists of students from all three divisions, under the guidance of history chair Paul Kim, is able to raise awareness of important issues and then offer grants to worthy non-profits and other service-based agencies. Each year the group decides on a theme on which to focus. This year’s theme is access to education. The Philanthropy students noted: “As students at CA, many of us know that we are fortunate to go to school in a positive learning environment and to learn from capable teachers who are not overwhelmed with too many students and insufficient supplies. Today, many teachers helped us demonstrate the value of access to education by taking time out of their classes. We hope you had the opportunity to feel what it’s like to have your access to education be limited in some form and to discuss the issue in general.”
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