From Lessons from the Field

I have been to close to 10 schools in the last month and a half. I have seen many different kinds of teachers and many different kinds of students. What I noticed most of all is the classroom management and how rare it is to see a critical classroom. A critical classroom is a place for role playing, democratic dialogue, interaction, fun, physical movement, and creativity. Today was the pinnacle of that deficiency; I saw teachers with classes as small as three who had no control over the students. They had no control over the students because there was no passion; there was no connection between the work being done and the community they came from.
Oppression is a vague idea in this country due to the seeming wealth and comfort. This school demonstrates so thoroughly the dynamic and complicated world of oppressed youth. These kids were kicked out of other schools for their behavior and have found themselves in a well-financed and equipped facility, yet have no drive to use the facility to their greatest benefit: their empowerment to change the system that brought them there. I think some would say these kids don't realize the trouble they are in, but I'm sure that isn't true. They know the kind of relationship they want to have with the society which expelled them from it's ranks, but cannot conceive of the disconnection between the dissatisfaction they experience everyday in that facility and their dreams of being home.
After this early experience it is obvious to me what is necessary to train citizens to accept and embrace their oppression: an education devoid of empowerment. Empowerment is the ability to motivate yourself to pursue an ideal (a target) and recognize the difference between the ideal and the present circumstances. Such an ability requires that citizens are able to assess their assets and determine actions to take to achieve those ideals.
This philosophy can be worked into an educational curriculum and fitted with all fields of study. The schools I have seen do not use such a system to teach subject matter. Unfortunately, they are hamstrung either by incompetent teachers or a lesson plan designed to teach to a standardized test. And because the test is the foundation for the curriculum, the teacher has to be incredibly courageous and creative to design an interesting and interactive lesson plan that will also teach what is required for the test.