WHY TEACH?Kurt Love, Ph.D.

Central Connecticut State University

“TRUTH”

What is “truth”?

How do we know it when we see it?

What makes knowledge “true”?

TruthinessWhat color is the sky?

TruthinessWhat color is the sky?

TruthinessWhat color is the moon?

TruthinessWhat color is grass?

TruthinessWhat color is grass?

Green/Yellow

Yellow

Purple

Blueish

“TRUTH” AND “FACT”

We often state: TRUTH = FACT and FACT = TRUTH

Is there a difference between truth and fact?

What is fact? What is verifiability? What is validity?

Facts are a series of events that we agree upon.

Facts are supported by a consensus; therefore, facts are aligned with the values (perspectives) of a cultural.

FACTS FROM CULTURAL VALUES

Cultural Value “Fact”

Patriotism Columbus was a hero explorer

John Locke argued for personal freedoms

Helen Keller is an inspiration because she overcame her adversities

Are there elements of social control?

“American Mythology”• George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, but couldn’t tell a lie

• Thomas Jefferson was a strong voice for public education

• Betsy Ross sewed together the first American flag

• “Honest” Abraham Lincoln grew up in a log cabin and fought for the abolition of slavery

• Nothing of historical value occurred before European “settlement”

• Lead up to Revolutionary War had only Patriots and Loyalists

• Only great individual leaders make meaningful social change...and those changes have all been morally correct

• America has always been on the morally right path, especially when it came to issues of genocide

• Slavery was wrong, but we no longer see any effects of it in America

• Streets are paved of gold and anyone who works hard enough will be successful in America

• Using two nuclear bombs against Japan was morally justified

• America is the model country for the world

“Science Mythology”• The best way to understand nature is to isolate and atomize it. In fact, all

other ways are subordinate and borderline socially inept.

• Capitalism and government have no governance over scientific research

• Science includes the only right ways to determine truth

• Any other ways of assembling truth are simply ignorant and part of what Carl Sagan calls a “Demon Haunted World”

• The previous statement is culturally neutral. In fact, ANYTHING that science claims is true is culturally neutral.

• Science is always moving us towards an ultimate and undeniable truth about the universe

• There are no mystical aspects about the universe; there are only aspects that science has yet to understand

Truth & Power

• “Truth” is a construct of those in power.

• “Truth” is often “myth” handed down from one generation to another

Truth & Power (Reality) in U.S.

• God is the “Truth”

• Science is the “Truth”

• Free Market is the “Truth”

• Europeans have “Truth” in religion, science, academy, literature, and economics

“Truth” claims from the dominant discourse

What is the Earth?

What is the Earth?

What is the Earth?

What is the Earth?

What is the Earth?

Thinking

Convergent Thinking - All paths lead to a single destination. This is rooted in a belief that there is only one “Truth.”

Thought

TruthNew

Thought

ThoughtTruth

Thought

Traditional Liberal/Progressivescaffold

scaffold

ThinkingDivergent Thinking - Explore many paths in authentic settings with questions that have no predetermined answer.

Thought

Info

New ThoughtThought

New Thought

Transformative

CommunitiesCritical

Questioning

New Relationship

New Relationship

“WISDOM”

What is “wisdom”?

How do we know it when we see it?

Where does “wisdom” come from?

“CONSCIOUSNESS”

What is “consciousness”?

How do we know it when we see it?

Where does “consciousness” come from?

CONSCIOUSNESS

Expanding one’s consciousness

Shifting our ways of relationally knowing the world and viewing “realities”

Having deep understandings of the various paradigms of thought and their boundaries

To what extent do teachers develop lessons with driving questions that help students increase their consciousness?

CONSCIOUSNESS

Teaching towards consciousness

Shifting our ways of relationally knowing the world and viewing “realities”

Having deep understandings of the various paradigms of thought and their boundaries

Instead of asking: What is Spanish vocabulary for a common marketplace?

Asking: To what extent are Spanish-speaking peoples connected to and affected by the global marketplace?

“SPIRITUALITY”

What is “spirituality”?

How do we know it when we see it?

Where does “spirituality” come from?

SPIRITUALITY

Can spirituality have a place in the public school if it is seen in this way:

RELIGION = SPIRITUALITY and SPIRITUALITY = RELIGION

Spirituality can be one’s deeper sense of self and/or feelings of interconnectedness

TRUTH & CONSCIOUSNESS

Philosophical Truth

Reason

Argument

Fact

Spiritual Wisdom

Experience

Relationship

Consciousness

School?

Your classroom?

Zoe Weil & How We Might Change Teaching