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An Adventure in Excellence: |
E. Todd |
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A Community Portrait |
1997 |
An Adventure in Excellence:
Public Schools as Angry Communities
"From the top of the hill, which I returned to visit the next day, you can see across the city, which looks beautiful from here. You also have a good view of the river. The horizon is so wide and open, and so different from the narrow view of life to be surmised from the mean streets around the school--one wonders what might happen to the spirits of these children if they had the chance to breathe this air and stretch their arms and see so far. Might they feel the power or the longing to become inheritors of some of this remarkable vast nation?
Standing here by the Ohio River, watching it drift west into the edge of the horizon, picturing it as it flows onward to the place three hundred miles from here where it will pour into the Mississippi, one is struck by the sheer beauty of this country, of its goodness and unrealized goodness, of the limitless potential that it holds to render life rewarding and the spirit clean. Surely there is enough for everyone within this country. It is a tragedy that these good things are not more widely shared. All our children ought to be allowed a stake in the enormous richness of America. Whether they were born to poor white Appalachians or to wealthy Texans, to poor black people in the Bronx or to rich people in Manhasset or Winnetka, they are all quite wonderful and innocent when they are small. We soil them needlessly." (Kozol, 1991)
"Because we care . . . public schools
must be angry communities."
Rationale for Care Statements: . . . . . . . . . .
Definitions and Consequences
Definitions: "To be civilized . . . ." "Anger . . . ." "Controlled anger . . . ."
"Purposeful anger . . . ." "An angry community . . . ."
"A civilized community . . . ."
Consequences: If the human beings whose lives are affected by the school accept these definitions the following consequences will occur at _______________________________:
(1.) . . . .
.
.
(2.) . . . .
.
.
Beliefs/Actions
"Whatever we do in a public school depends upon what we think civilized human beings are capable of accomplishing in their lives. The goals we seek, the things we do, the judgments we make, even the experiments we are willing to try, are determined by our beliefs about the nature of an individual and his/her capabilities." (Todd, 1985, 1995).
1. A. Belief: If we believe that civilized human beings are uniquely different--in physical growth, in intellectual power, in social maturity, in emotional stability, in aesthetic sensitiveness, in readiness to become caring peacemakers, in any human attribute--then every effort should be made to facilitate civilized growth between those human beings whose lives are affected by the public school. (Todd, 1963,1995).
B. Needed Actions:
(1.) . . . .
.
.
(2.) . . . .
.
.
2. A. Belief: If we believe that caring human beings are uniquely different--in physical growth, in intellectual power, in social maturity, in emotional stability, in aesthetic sensitiveness, in readiness to become caring peacemakers, in any human attribute--then every effort should be made to facilitate caring interactions between those human beings whose live are affected by the public school. (Todd, 1963, 1995).
B. Needed Actions:
(1.) . . . .
.
3. A. Belief: If we believe that angry human beings are capable of exhibiting controlled anger which can be converted to purposeful anger then every effort should be made. . . .
B. Needed Actions:
(1.) . . . .
.
4. A. Belief: If we believe that . . . .
B. Needed Actions:
(1.) . . . .
.
The Development of a Public School
as an Angry Community
A public school has the potential for becoming an angry community when the following conditions exist;
1. The system of educational ideas evolves from (1) care statements, (2) definitionsand consequences, and (3) beliefs and actions of caring human beings.
2. Professional and support personnel are employed not only for their professional competence but also for their potential for continued exhibitions of purposeful anger.
3. School board members . . . .
.
4. The curriculum . . . .
.
5. Angry partners . . . . .
6. . . . .
.
Curriculum Implications of the Community Portrait
" . . . . . . . . . . . . ."
The activation and successful implementation of a community portrait provides an opportunity for appropriate curriculum development activities. The implications are as follows:
(1.) . . . .
.
Political Risks of the Community Portrait
Since there are different groups of human beings whose lives are affected by the public school there are political risks for these persons responsible for the development and implementation of the community portrait. These risks are as follows:
(1.) . . . .
.
Interface Dimensions of Multiple Communities
Each community portrait will contain a description of an angry dimension as follows:
1. The angry dimension of a civilized community can be described as . . . .
(See Appendix________________).
2. The angry dimension of a peacemaking community can be described as . . . .
(See Appendix________________).
3. The angry dimension of a decision-making community can be described as . . . .
(See Appendix________________).
4. . . . . .
Classrooms as Angry Communities
"The curriculum can be defined as the planned educational experiences offered by a school which can take place anywhere at any time in the multiple context of the school, e.g. secondary schools as caring communities, as scholarly communities . . . . (Todd, 1965, 1992).
"The physical boundaries of civilized classrooms exist only in the minds of those human beings whose lives are affected by the public schools." (Todd, 1956, 1995). "Teaching and learning can take place anywhere at any time." (Todd, 19630). "The world is the classroom." (Todd, 1969). "The universe is the classroom." (Todd, 1981,1995).
"The opportunities for demonstrating civilized behavior in angry classrooms are inseparably linked with the opportunities for demonstrating purposeful anger in instructional activities carried out in civilized classrooms." (Todd, 1995).
Since we can only speculate about the unlimited possibilities for educational experiences which could facilitate the nurturing of angry caregivers in the third millenium we believe that future classrooms can be described as follows:
" . . . . . . . . . ."
Evaluation of Angry Classrooms
". . . . . . . . . ."
Evaluation of Angry Communities
". . . . . . . . . . "
"Imagine all the people . . . ."