Quiet and Submissive
by George Couros • • 0 Comments
“Being quiet and being submissive. I think that’s frankly the only thing being taught right now. ..how do you be submissive? How do you sit patiently and be disengaged for an hour and take it?” Sal Khan
I have talked to a few educators in the field that have children in schools that have told me they question the value of some of the assignments that the teachers of their children are receiving at home. What one of them shared with me is that although they disagreed with the assignment, they bit their tongue, said nothing about the assignment, and told their child that they had to do it because they were told to.
So in an education system where are are promoting critical thinking, is teaching a child simply to be compliant really beneficial?
Before we talk about the impact that this has on students, let’s think as educators what we would want in our own environment. As a teacher, would you prefer to work in an environment where their principal (who is their boss), wants feedback on the things that are happening in the school, and actively listens? This doesn’t mean they always agree, but