People do all sorts of things due to the human nature to
comply and to do what's asked of them. It takes a strong individual, or one
who's been educated to do so, to stand up to questionable directives.
Stanley Milgram was probably the most famous social
scientist to study compliant behavior and exactly how far one person will go in
following orders, despite the risk to another human's safety and well-being. (If you're unfamiliar with his work, you can check it out here for starters.)
The answer to so many doing so much harm in the name of
"education" or worse, "education reform," is to explicitly
teach something called "Intelligent Disobedience."
I highly recommend the book IntelligentDisobedience - Doing Right When What You're Told to do is Wrong by
Ira Chaleff. It's worth the time
to read it, (although I think the part on how this would work in a classroom
needs further development...)
The author is currently speaking out and trying to create
awareness about this critically important facet of human learning. He proposes explicitly teaching these
skills to children (and adults) in hopes more people will be able to question
directives when they may lead to harm of another.
In a world that includes so many working at odds with what makes for a healthy, functioning democracy - corporate philanthropists, private charters with public money, TFA, etc., we need more
Intelligent Disobedience.
We need to Stop, Think, then Act.
Is what we're being asked to do promoting well-being?
Growth? Learning? Happiness? In whose best interest are you acting?
I am hopeful enough to believe this could help in
our quest to turn the tide against the destruction of our public schools.
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