One of the things discussed in my Public Purposes of Education class was the word, or concept of “Idiocy”, as explained by Walter C. Parker, a professor of education at the University of Washington. In his article, Parker introduced the concept of idiocy as a means to describe our collective ‘self-centered’ and egocentric ways.
According to Parker, “an idiot is one whose self-centeredness undermines his or her citizen identity.”[1] What he refers to is the fact that, in our society, most of us live our lives trying to strive for self-fulfillment and the betterment of our own lives. Seldom do we think about how we can better the lives of others around us as well. Parker stresses that through unity and awareness of the problems plaguing our society we can take action, and collectively change our world for the better.
This concept of ‘idiocy’ connects with the essential ways in which we teach kids to become responsible, active, and involved citizens who take control over their world to preserve their rights and liberties. Parker also stressed the importance of teaching kids the importance of and the preservation of our great democracy. He presented three keys, or actions we can take to diminish, or eliminate the idiocy that plagues our society. The first one was the increase in interactions between racially and, or ethnically different students. Through the increased frequency in interactions, these kids can find commonalities among them, and eventually think of these interactions as a more common place occurrence, rather than an imposed situation that would not likely be repeated afterwards. The second key was the encouragement of teachers to make these students engage in discourse, or what he calls “competent public talk”. Parker described the third key as establishing the distinction between open and closed deliberation. (3) Through the awareness of these things, teachers can plan a social and academic curriculum that teaches students to become better educated citizens in our democracy.
According to Parker, “an idiot is one whose self-centeredness undermines his or her citizen identity.”[1] What he refers to is the fact that, in our society, most of us live our lives trying to strive for self-fulfillment and the betterment of our own lives. Seldom do we think about how we can better the lives of others around us as well. Parker stresses that through unity and awareness of the problems plaguing our society we can take action, and collectively change our world for the better.
This concept of ‘idiocy’ connects with the essential ways in which we teach kids to become responsible, active, and involved citizens who take control over their world to preserve their rights and liberties. Parker also stressed the importance of teaching kids the importance of and the preservation of our great democracy. He presented three keys, or actions we can take to diminish, or eliminate the idiocy that plagues our society. The first one was the increase in interactions between racially and, or ethnically different students. Through the increased frequency in interactions, these kids can find commonalities among them, and eventually think of these interactions as a more common place occurrence, rather than an imposed situation that would not likely be repeated afterwards. The second key was the encouragement of teachers to make these students engage in discourse, or what he calls “competent public talk”. Parker described the third key as establishing the distinction between open and closed deliberation. (3) Through the awareness of these things, teachers can plan a social and academic curriculum that teaches students to become better educated citizens in our democracy.
[1] Walter C. Parker. “Teaching Against Idiocy”. (January, 2005) Retrieved October 27, 2008. Phi Delta
Kappa International. http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v86/k0501par.htm
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