The Pearly Gates of School

School in the early 1900s

The Museum of Wellington City and Sea has a small exhibit dedicated to education in the late 1800s/early 1900s in New Zealand.  The exhibit sets out very clear demarcations between 'In the Classroom' and 'Outside the Classroom'.  Firstly, 'In the Classroom' involved strict discipline, generally enforced through the use of a cane or a strap. Teaching was done by rote, having students recite things word-for-word after the teacher, taking notes with a slate and a scribe.  Class sizes reached up to 90-100 kids in town and city areas, such was the growing demand for education. Secondly, 'Outside the Classroom'  involved childrens' activities such as ludo, snakes and ladders, spinning tops, mechanical wind-up toys, making and using slingshots, playing with dolls, etc.  The exhibit noted that 'Crazes came and went' in relation to the activities that children were involved in.

It is interesting to consider the demarcation of 'In the Classroom' and 'Outside the Classroom', particularly in relation to many contemporary education arguments that focus on such a divide, for example, using moblile phones in schools, using social media in schools, or even using computers in schools. Should such technologies or social media be viewed as just 'Crazes' coming and going and/or as things that belong 'Outside the Classroom'?

New technologies have often been hailed as having the potential to change or even 'revolutionize' classrooms, but have often only been adopted superficially (Cuban, 1986).  Over the last 100 years schools have in many ways stayed the same in the classroom with teacher-centred pedagogy, despite many things changing outside the classroom.  Technologies have been adopted, but the technologies that teachers have adopted (markers replacing chalk, whiteboards replacing blackboards (interactive whiteboards in better off schools!) and paper replacing slates) ‘have been simple, durable, flexible, and responsive to teacher-defined problems in meeting the demands of daily instruction’ (Cuban, 1986, p.58). These 'teacher-defined problems' have mostly been defined in relation to teacher-centred classrooms.


There has been recent optimism about the potential of various technologies and social media in education to enhance more student-centred approaches, but issues of technology infrastructure, cyber bullying and other internet safety issues have been used as a crux for some to avoid engaging in sufficient discussion on the potential of such mediums for education.  “Moral panics are a common reaction to teenagers when they engage in practices not understood by adult culture. There were moral panics over rock and roll, television, jazz and even reading novels in the early 1800s.” (Boyd, 2006).  It is of course important that youngsters engage in appropriate behaviour online and moral panics are understandable.  However, such moral panics should be carefully reflected on and people should look to become more informed on such issues, rather than locking up and throwing away the key.  Importantly, it is not moral panics that should guide decisions made on the use of new technologies/social media in schools.

Not much has changed in a 100 years in the classroom, but there are questions for what will happen in the next 100 years.  Will tablet computers replace paper?  Will interactive whiteboards develop 3D capabilities?  Will schools still exist? If the last 100 years are anything to go by and teacher-led pedagogy continues to dominate, the answer to the previous questions would be yes.  Change will occur but only superficially.  Schools need the demarcation of 'In the Classroom' and 'Outside the Classroom', because otherwise...there would be no school. My hope, however, is that the gatekeepers allow more things 'In the Classroom' than 'Outside the Classroom', especially more student-centred approaches.  





References

Boyd, D. (2006) Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace,
http://www.danah.org/papers/AAAS2006.html
Cuban, L. (1986) Teachers and machines: the classroom use of technology since 1920, New York: Teacher College Press.