Blog # 6: Education

Blog # 6: Education

            My high school English teacher believed that education was about questions.  Each day, he urged my classmates and me to explore our past, to observe the present and to shape our future.  At the beginning of the year, he asked us to consider three questions: “Who am I?  From where do I come? Where am I going?”  He often lamented about the structure of the American educational system and, because there were only five students in my class, allowed us to choose the direction of our studies based on personal interests.  Outside of class, we conducted research and discussed class topics simply because we had created the program of study and found the material interesting.  Although that class was still confined to the structure of an American public high school, the teacher provided students with some academic agency and, as a result, encouraged students to shape their own learning process.  An “alternative learning opportunity”, “anti-pedagogy” program located just outside of Oaxaca City has created an institution that allows its students the privilege and responsibility of absolute educational freedom.  

             At the Universidad de la Tierra, “learners” follow a completely undefined educational path and are free to explore their personal interests without being confined by classrooms or schedules, curricula or grades, teachers or graduation requirements.  Instead of adhering to the structure of academia, the “learners” create community projects designed to further personal interests and enhance skills in certain areas. The students are provided with the “joyful opportunity to learn in freedom” and have complete control over the direction and duration of their learning experience.  Gustavo Esteva, the leader of a movement which promotes alternative educational opportunities, asks, “Are we escaping education?  Without the certainty of knowing exactly what we are doing, we nourish the hope that we are creating and discovering alternatives to education” (20). 

            The building that houses “Unitierra” is open and inviting.  The roof covers only half of the building and thus bees buzz overhead and the sun streams into rooms filled with books.  The books, rather than assignments, are opportunities for personal growth.  Advisors suggest that “learners” read twenty pages of a book and, if the “learner” does not find the book interesting, he should return it to the shelf and choose another.  They believe that students should never feel pressured to read a book as if it were for an assignment or required reading.  The “free-spirited” program attracts many young “learners” from indigenous families.  Esteva comments that, when the program first began, these young people, “loved the idea that they would be in full control of their own learning paths – the content, the rhythm, the conditions.  But it was not easy for them to take such control into their own hands.  Even those who had suffered school for only a few years were already conditioned to be passive receptacles of instructions” (7).  One day, during a high school English class lecture, my teacher told us to put away our notebooks and asked us participate in a discussion of the material.  Confused and nervous, we put away our books and listened attentively, our fingers itching to take notes, to preserve the material on paper.  For twelve years, we had been conditioned to passively copy as the teacher spoke.  Breaking this habit was challenging and yet, perhaps for the first time, we really listened to the lecture, participated actively in an engaging discussion and had the opportunity to grow intellectually and socially.  For the rest of the year, we followed this model, listening during class and jotting down thoughts and ideas later.  In this way, our teacher gently pried us from the clutches of the rigid educational system and encouraged us to push beyond the boundaries of traditional learning experiences.  

            When I was just three years old, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and thus unknowingly committed myself to perpetuating the traditions of the rigid educational system.  Thirteen and a half years of formal education later, I have never wavered from my goal.  In all things academic, I have always been a compulsive rule follower - completing homework on time, following exactly teachers’ instructions and grading rubrics and asking questions to clarify uncertainties.  I recognize that I am a student whose learning style has been conditioned by “the system”.  Although I am comfortable working within the confines of academics restrictions, the English class in which I had some academic agency was by far my favorite high school class.  During my first semester of college, while still working within the confines of the American educational system, I enjoyed the opportunity to study a wide variety of subjects and to choose classes in which I had a particular interest.  As a future teacher, I believe that academic agency is essential for effective learning.  Even so, I feel that some structure and guidance in the classroom is necessary in order to facilitate positive learning.

            Gustavo Esteva suggests that, through Unitierra, “learners” are, “coming back from the future, living in the present, living in our own places” (20).  While my high school English teacher encouraged my classmates and me to shape our own learning experiences and helped us to learn about ourselves through our studies, his approach to learning still worked within the confines of the American educational system.  At the Universidad de la Tierra, “learners” shape their own educational experiences.  Without teachers, without schedules, without classrooms, without everything that we associate with “schools”, Unitierra encourages each student to explore the world and to take control of his own learning experience. 

Sarah Harris