[MD] 42

[ARLO JAMES BENSINGER JR]

[Dan]
Parlay that into the classroom. School is far more than a student learning from the instructor. Peer pressure to conform, social hierarchy, fear of failure and fear of success not only on the
students' part the the instructors' as well, even bullying... these all play an enormous role in learning.

[Arlo]
Certainly. And there are many more either unintended or 'invisible' effects/consequences. Economic sorting has long been unspoken 'goal' of most industrial-era public education (which holds over to today). There is little secret that very early on decisions are made as to which students will receive the bulk of educational resources and which will be passed along to eventually occupy low-wage factory or similar labor. Some of the issues you point to above stem from the social capital aspect of education, where worth very early on is tied to perceived future economic worth. Bullying, which occurs throughout social structures, not just education, is the visible, violent arm of social conformity. 

[Dan]
Perhaps making some sort of applied ethics course mandatory for first-year students might be analogous to learning how to roll their socks on the proper way.

[Arlo]
By "first-year students" you are suggesting college freshmen? Shouldn't something like this be integrated all the way down to the first years of public school? I think schools have tried to approach respect, diversity, empathy, but without a coherent structure to support this practice, it often ends up made impotent by larger community and cultural (often familial) forces that mock such attempts. 

[Dan]
Again, maybe I am being over simplistic here but doesn't it all start with learning respect, not only for our own self and our body, but for others too?

[Arlo]
Most certainly. But this gets back to the question "why educate?". Many argue that its not the role of schooling to teach 'respect' (formally, or even informally), this is up to parents who have, in this view, the right to teach their kids that mocking 'retards' and 'fat kids' and 'fill-in-any-slur' is okay. To view an extreme case, wouldn't the Westboro families argue that it is their right to teach their kids that "god hates fags"? My feeling on this is that 'respect' has to be something valued by the culture as a whole, that this is part of the 'it takes a village' understanding that much of who we are is appropriated from social and cultural historical structures. A culture that values violence will be violent. A culture that values intolerance will be disrespectful to anyone different. A culture that values social status will turn all forms of behavior into social capital. A culture that values wealth will turn all forms of material into economic capital. 

[Dan]
So, maybe... maybe you could teach a class you weren't qualified to teach if you developed a theory, applied it, evaluated the results, reflected upon your progress, and went back to the theory again. Maybe.

[Arlo]
This is a big area of discussion in education circles, and heated one. Here is an article from a year ago that touches on most of the points.

http://indianapublicmedia.org/stateimpact/2013/01/15/should-indiana-teachers-be-experts-in-the-subjects-they-teach/

I don't have an answer here. I do think, based on what I've read, that at the minimum, content expertise is not enough. Teachers do need to be well practiced in pedagogy. So if we start with the statement that first, before anything else, teachers need this skill and practice, and then from there start asking to what depth and breadth does content expertise also contribute to learner success, and if this is domain dependent, age related, etc., I think we'd be off to a good start.

[Dan]
I haven't had the opportunity to read Granger other than the quotes offered here so I cannot comment on that.

[Arlo]
Sadly, I checked Amazon and see that Granger's book is not available in any format other than hardcover (with minimum cost around $60). 

[Dan]
Still, I think we all have a stake in this and it is worthwhile that we share our own ideas, even if, as in my situation, we never had the opportunity to attend higher education for one reason or another.

[Arlo]
Absolutely, Dan. 

[Dan]
I think rather than relying on others to do the heavy work like education reform, the instructors have to take charge at a grass-roots level.

[Arlo]
I see many teachers either beaten down by a system that demands conformity to these broken structures. I agree, there needs to be movement at the grass-roots level, but there also needs to be, at least, a relaxing of institutional structures (including policy) for any real progress to take hold. I think change begins at the level of cultural discourse, and when (or if) values become dominant within the culture, then change is not only inevitable but natural.