The Making of a Radical Teacher

Author(s): James Fulcher

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Mar., 1970), pp. 384-386
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/812068
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The Making of a Radical Teacher

James Fulcher

Department of English
Lincoln College
Lincoln, Illinois

I used the departmental textbooks. On my

W HAT am I teaching? What is it
"good for? How do I know? What own I assigned additional reading in Seri-
am I becoming? What is my profession ous Literature, assigned themes on topics
becoming? of Serious Interest, gave lectures on Seri-
These questions may appear obvious ous Topics. And the kids were at times in-
to most experienced teachers but not to terested and even enthusiastic. But what
me. Six years of teaching English, six did they learn? For what, did they learn?
years of personally observing what went I tried to find out. I listened to them-
on in my classroom everyday, is causing in classrooms, homerooms, study halls,
me to become radical. lunchrooms, and halls; I reread their essay
As a beginning teacher, I rediscoveredexaminations, themes, and autobiogra-
my enthusiasm for literature; my en- phies. And I began to find out what they
thusiasm had been almost destroyed byhad learned. They learned that the theme
my college experience as an English ma-of a work of literature is explained by the
jor. But as I began to teach American teacher. Any student opinion is accep-
Literature I regained my faith in in- table if the teacher agrees with it. The
dividualism, nonconformity, and self- important ideas are given by the teachers
reliance. I regained my antipathy for Or- and textbooks.
ganizations, Institutions, and Establish- If that was what they learned, then
ments. I found myself again believing thatmy methods were wrong. I looked at my
studying literature developed a sensitive,methods and found that they were com-
imaginative, and passionate awareness of monly used by English teachers. They
the human condition. And I found myself were traditional methods. But their results
dedicated to teaching students to think in-were disastrous, at least to me. I read what
dependently. All of which is crap. It is the experts on teaching methods said.
so general that it can scarcely be under-Most of the experts said that the students
stood, let alone be applied. lack serious purpose and personal method.
What I did in the classroom was also Yet they seriously listen to Simon and
crap. I followed the English Department'sGarfunkel's poem-songs and discover
course of study, gave the departmental meanings. So the experts handed out as
eight-page, multiple-choice semester much test. crap as I did.

384

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 THE MAKING OF A RADICAL TEACHER 385

Perhaps, I decided, if paring,

I could or find
contrasting
out only when and
what the fundamental elements of in- how the teacher commands.

dependent thinking were, I could That de- code of success is perhaps cyni-
velop some methods which would make cal but very practical. But what does a
person learn who behaves according to
independent thinking possible. So I went
to the experts in my field. I asked that
how code? He learns that memorizing
is the highest form of intellectual activi-
does a person read and interpret a novel
or a poem. The experts' answers were ty, that conforming to the expectations
general, e.g., looks for the traits ofofthe
authority results in reward, that the
characters, or technical, e.g., looks materialistic
for signs of achievement, e.g.,
the relationship between point of viewgrades, are more important than learn-
and characterization. But I asked how ing itself. In short, the successful student
is a be-
does a person find the connection(s) memorizing, conforming, material-
istic machine.
tween point of view and characteriza- This machine is the con-
tion? The psychologists of learning ventional
ex- student who is the product of
plained the conditions of learning mybut
English class and perhaps the whole
not the actual process of learning. school system. And I have helped manu-
facture this mechanical, data-processing
Y students consisted of accelerated creature.

students-high school seniors. I

thought that they could discover themes
T HE whole system seemed obvious
of literature. I asked them how theywrong
did to me. I began telling othe
it. They listed the literary elements like administrators, and even parent
teachers,
what I had discovered. And that was the
irony, image, symbol, tone, plot, dialogue.
But they didn't know how to put next phase of the making of a radical.
those
Teachers
together. Their admission that they couldtold me that my students were
just a bad
analyze but not interpret was sincere. Butclass, not really representative
they claimed that their classroom of students in general. Other teachers
achieve-
said that
ment was not related to their ability to my kids had been describing
onlytheir
interpret or even analyze;, instead, the classrooms of bad teachers.
Other teachers
achievement was based on their ability to agreed with the students'
follow the code of school success. description of school success but then
said that that kind of success is what
As they defined the code, I discovered
that it was intricate and comprehensive.pays off in society. The school system is
First, tests and grades determine whata training ground for society and, there-
is important, and the tests usually cover
fore, successful. Most of the parents in
only names, dates, terms, and plot sum-that suburban community to whom I
maries. Second, the connections between spoke agreed. The administrators agreed
these facts are either untested or ex- and added that the system is convenient
plained by the teacher via lectures
andor
expedient and, therefore, good.
leading questions. Third, the role of They
the implied that I was a melodra-
student in class is standardized and matic idealist when I argued that the
system
stereotyped. Fourth, deviations from thedestroys teachers and students
conventional role are punished whenby theit destroys their self-confidence,
fellow students and the teacher. self-acceptance,
Fifth, and self-reliance, when
part of that role consists of not it
asking
destroys their enthusiasm, aspiration,
unexpected questions of the teacher, of
and vitality. That the system destroys
not being honest and sincere aboutoractual
degrades these humanistic traits is
still obvious
and personal concerns, of observing, to me. What is even more
questioning, defining, clarifying, com- is that the traditional, powerful
obvious

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 386 ENGLISH JOURNAL

leaders of the school system

innovate within the system,do not
he must learn car
They even resent to bypass and resist
and ignore certain policiesany
and a
tempts to reform the procedures. When he does so, he begins
system.
That last statement should be backed to distrust and fear the regulations of
up. An administrator, representative theofsystem. The result, even if he is suc-
authoritarian regulators of the system,cessful in his innovations, is that his self-
forces a teacher to consider constantlyacceptance and self-respect are corroded.
the parental interpretation of what Eventually,
goes he must either recant and be-
come part of the system, or continue to
on in the class by calling in the teacher
be a heretic and wait for the regulators
to justify the classroom activities when-
ever a parent complains to the adminis-to find enough evidence to take him to
the stake, or he must drop out. If he takes
trator. My point is that the teacher must
dissipate his concentration on the the stu-last option, he may regain part of his
self-respect, but the system and its in-
dents by also concentrating on the phan-
tom presence in the classroom of doctrination
the have won again.
administrator and parents. An adminis- In this phase of my making I dis-
trator destroys the self-confidence of
covered that independent thinking is not
the innovative teacher when the latter wanted by the school system and that
feels that every approach, assignment, indoctrination
or is the name of the game.
test must be approved by an administra- Finally, anyone who even wants to think
tor. The fact that the teacher is a trained independently must do so in spite of and
and competent professional is ignored.
in defiance of the high school system and
The innovative teacher is simply notthe majority of the English teachers who
trusted. Now, if the teacher continues to
play its game.

A Case for Irrelevance

(Continued from page 383)

something like "mon sembable, mon

Teachers can help students find, after
reaching perhaps over milleniums of frere."
time What seems at first glance to be
remote, strange, inapplicable, may turn
and thousands of miles of space, the mind
outhis
each of them recognizes as akin to to be of the closest relevance.
own, the mind that causes each one to say

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