Educational Anthropology

From IAE-Pedia

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Herve Varenne 3 Sudbury Schools 4 References 5 Author or Authors

"The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.” (Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist, 1887–1948.)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed; it's the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist, 1901-1978.)

[edit] Introduction

Anthropology is the scientific study of human beings and their many different cultures. Educational Anthropology is a way of examining educational systems from a cultural anthropologist point of view. An 8/10/08 Google search of the quoted expression "Educational Anthropology" produced nearly 92 thousand hits.

The American anthropologist George Spindler was an early leader is applying ethnographic research methodology to the study of education. Quoting from a University of Pennsylvania Website:

Ethnography is two things: (1) the fundamental research method of cultural anthropology, and (2) the written text produced to report ethnographic research results. Ethnography as method seeks to answer central anthropological questions concerning the ways of life of living human beings. Ethnographic questions generally concern the link between culture and behavior and/or how cultural processes develop over time. The data base for ethnographies is usually extensive description of the details of social life or cultural phenomena in a small number of cases.

Quoting from George Spindler (Education and Cultural Process: Anthropological approaches, 2nd edition.1987 Waveland Press).

My purpose as one of the founders of the field has been to give the anthropology of education a focus by defining our special area to be cultural transmission. I go further now by claiming that we are primarily concerned, as a discipline, with intentional intervention in the learning process... All societies intervene, literally interfere, with what children are learning at critical points throughout the entire development process. p. 3,from the preface.

Further, we see that aspect of cultural transmission in which we are most interested—education in the broad sense, schooling in the narrower sense—as a calculated intervention in the learning process". p 153 From Spindler's own chapter in the book.

Our informal and formal educational systems are human endeavors. In attempting to measure how well out educational systems are doing and to improve education, we often lose sight of the fact that education is about people, and no two people are the same. In such educational studies, it is important to keep in mind Albert Einstein's observation: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

Thus, for example, it is relatively to count the number of computers in a school, and many schools brag abut being one-to-one laptop schools. This is an interesting, countable piece of information, but it says nothing about the quality of education that children in the school are receiving.

[edit] Herve Varenne

Herve Varenne is a cultural anthropologist who is a professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Here are two quotes from the link given in the previous sentence:

What might happen to our understanding of education if we, as researchers, systematically suspended our most common understandings of what is to count as education and, instead, trusted people to tell us what they do deliberately to transform each other and their conditions?

Difficult Collective Deliberations: Anthropological Notes Toward a Theory of Education: The paper develops Cremin’s search for a broad “definition” of education and particularly his sense that education involves both effort and deliberation. Varenne argues that this sense can now be grounded in several developments in social and cultural theory including De Certeau’s critique of simple sociological determinism, Ranciere’s emphasis on the power of productive ignorance, Lave’s demonstration that all learning is a matter of social movement and transformation as allowed by social fields, and, particularly, Garfinkel’s affirmation that practical action involves finding out what is going on, and what can be done—that is, in a sense, all practical action involves continuing education, including, in our worlds, education about schooling and its claims to authority.

You might wonder how cultural anthropology fits in with Information Age Education. One of the weaknesses in the discipline or field of study we call education is that of a solid, well accepted theoretical foundation. Every person has their own insights into what constitutes a good education and how to improve our educational systems. Relatively few people have the depth and breadth of knowledge, and the inclination, to attempt to lay these foundations.

Here is a quote from a 2007 article by Varenne:

What might happen to our understanding of education if we, as researchers, systematically suspended our most common understandings of what is to count as education and, instead, trusted people to tell us what they do deliberately to transform each other and their conditions?

Remember, you may have more instruction than I have, but you are not more educated. — Varenne’s grandmother, who left school after the 6th grade, circa 1914, on the occasion of his PhD.

The great paradox of work on education by social scientists is that it is mostly about schools, the learning of skills, and dispositions. It is very rarely about families, college dorms, hospitals, and the like, and even more rarely about the routine instructions that people give each other as to what to do, or what not to do. This routine work that fills our journals rarely addresses the explanations that people propose for their past and proposed actions, or their analyses of current conditions. And so, work on education is, paradoxically, rarely about education.

Notice the emphasis on informal education—the things that we do not explicitly teach in school. Think about this in terms of what you and your acquaintances, your children and other children, and most other people know about information and communication technology. Unless you specialize in the field of computers, probably most of what you know has been gained outside of formal schooling. Moreover, think about how you help others to learn about ICT and how you learn from others.

Education is a human social endeavor. People learn well in informal, interactive, social environments. Think about that statement in terms of the one billion cell telephones sold this past year, instant messaging, chat groups, the success of online computer games with millions of players, and the success of social networking systems.

Compare and contrast this type of education with formal schooling. Quoting once more from Varenne's 2007 article:

All educators, I dare generalize, know very well that schools are not the only educational institutions. Many even suspect that schools, as organized almost everywhere in the world, are not particularly good at educating—especially about what is most important in a person’s life, whether it be religion, political ideology, artistic identity, and all that makes the particular character of a person’s outlook on life. And yet almost all debates about “education” end up being debates about schooling and its travails.

[edit] Sudbury Schools

A key aspect of Information Age Education is that it gives more power to the learner. Some schools attempt to do this. The Sudbury school provides an example. Quoting from a Wikipedia article:

The Sudbury model of democratic education is named after the school that pioneered it — Sudbury Valley School. Since it was founded in 1968, the Framingham, Massachusetts school has been a source of inspiration for dozens of schools and institutions, and there are currently over 40 Sudbury schools around the world.

Certain facets of the model separate it from other democratic schools and free schools, although there are evident similarities. One central defining aspect is the non-compulsory nature of the model and the equal, nonjudgmental treatment of all activities (within the bounds of school rules regarding behavior and conduct) which results in a great de-emphasis of classes and other activities normally emphasized for their educational value. This attitude stems from the basic belief of the educational model, that every individual learns what they need to know through life and that there is no need to try and design a curriculum that will prepare a young person for adult life. Another facet that often separates Sudbury model schools from other democratic schools is the limitation—or total absence—of parental involvement in the administration of Sudbury schools. Sudbury schools are run by a democratic School Meeting where the students and staff participate exclusively and equally. Lastly, Sudbury schools do not arbitrarily separate the students into age-groups, emphasizing free age-mixing as a powerful tool for learning and development in all ages.

…

A central tenet of the Sudbury model of education is that each student should be free to to use her/his time as s/he wishes, not subject to any special curricula. The model contradicts the idea that there is one set curriculum that everyone should learn in order to become a successful adult. Believing there are many ways for students to learn, and not judging individual choices of subject matter, students are free to design their course of study from day to day. Sudbury Model schools do not believe in the idea, used in some progressive schools, of having students design a curriculum for themselves. Instead, proponents of the Sudbury Model hold that learning happens naturally, and requires no advanced planning or "end point" for the learner at all.

Classes and other planned activities are always voluntary and optional, and may be led by staff or students. Many students may choose never to take a class. The word "class," which is used within many Sudbury model communities, may be misleading—some advocates of the model hold that the term "spontaneous interest group" is more accurate. Often, areas of the school are designated for a particular use, such as an art room, a music room, or a library. Although most areas would normally be free for any students to use, some items or activities may require a student to have completed a certification process to demonstrate their ability to use the item safely. Most of the schools have several certifications, such as to use a sewing machine or wood-working equipment.

The Sudbury model of education is student-centered and designed to empower students. Students in such a school learn to take an increasing level of responsibility for how they use their own time. They gain knowledge and skill in taking a significant level of responsibility for their own education. If this approach to education interests you, you will likely enjoy reading the short (free) book:

Moursund, D.G. (June 2008). Becoming responsible for your education. Information Age Education. Access at http://i-a-e.org/ebooks/doc_download/39-becoming-more-responsbile-for-your-education.html.

This book was written mainly for students in their early teens.

[edit] References

[edit] Author or Authors

The initial version of this page was written by David Moursund.