EDUARD C. LINDEMAN - ASCD...EDUARD C. LINDEMAN The basic questions of American life with which...

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EDUARD C. LINDEMAN The basic questions of American life with which teachers and learners must concern themselves are clearly stated by Eduard C. Lindeman, professor of social philosophy at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University. Mr. Lindeman not only defines these issues and their importance to the curriculum but indicates the responsibility of all who call themselves educators in insuring to today's children and youth education for living. 71 II.S Io [Li CONTROVERSY is an integral part of democratic experience and hence so- called controversial issues belong in the school. Any other conclusion would imply that education is somewhat in- sulated from life. November 1948 So-called, used as an adjective in the above sentence needs some explanation. Every issue is controversial, that is, subject to varying interpretations. That's what makes it an issue. I have a feeling that this awkward and ungram- 67 Q Dn~ cin3

Transcript of EDUARD C. LINDEMAN - ASCD...EDUARD C. LINDEMAN The basic questions of American life with which...

EDUARD C. LINDEMAN

The basic questions of American life with which teachers and learnersmust concern themselves are clearly stated by Eduard C. Lindeman,professor of social philosophy at the New York School of Social Work,Columbia University. Mr. Lindeman not only defines these issues andtheir importance to the curriculum but indicates the responsibility ofall who call themselves educators in insuring to today's children andyouth education for living.

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CONTROVERSY is an integral partof democratic experience and hence so-called controversial issues belong in theschool. Any other conclusion wouldimply that education is somewhat in-sulated from life.

November 1948

So-called, used as an adjective in theabove sentence needs some explanation.Every issue is controversial, that is,subject to varying interpretations.That's what makes it an issue. I have afeeling that this awkward and ungram-

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matical phrase-controversial issues-has become a propaganda term. It seemsto imply that there are innocent issueswhich are allowable, even for youngpeople, and others which are dangerous.Innocent issues are those about whichpeople differ but in no important sense.It is when differences become importantand controversy takes on a fundamentalcharacter that the timid get frightened.They wish to shield children and youthfrom such issues because they, theadults, would also like to avoid comingto grips with fundamentals.

These timid adults should rememberthat young people do not scare as easilyas do their elders. Thev should alsokeep in mind that young people areprobably capable of clearer intellectualinsights because they are less driven bypersonal and class interests. They arenot, in other words, committed in wayswhich render independent thinking dif-ficult.

No Room for VerbotenIt will be seen from the above that

I believe education can become a livelyaffair only when conducted in a freeatmosphere, with a minimum of signson which the word Verboten occurs.Contemporary issues belong especiallyin the classroom. But such issues shouldnot be dumped into the classroom. Pu-pils should not be made to feel that lifeis calm and simple so long as one studiesarithmetic, rhetoric, composition, geog-raphy, or history, but that on specialoccasions it becomes exciting becausenow they will study issues. Issues per-meate the whole of life and hence shouldpermeate the curriculum. The chiefpurpose in assimilating and correlatingsubject matter is to enable the student

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to deal with issues, to live a decisive life.Subjects are significant primarily in re-lation to issues.

Teachers for the TimesThe teacher who introduces issues in

his teaching requires specialized train-ing. While I believe thoroughly in theprinciple that issues belong in theschool, I am by no means convinced thatthere are now many teachers availablewho can be entrusted to weave issue-discussions profitably into the learningprocess. All too often the teaching ofissues is delegated to issue-minded teach-ers regardless of whether they knowhow to guide pupils. They may be thevery worst persons for this task becausethey are likely to be persons with highemotional potentials, and this is pre-cisely what education should save chil-dren from-an emotion-charged attitudetowards contemporary issues.

The first responsibility of the teacherwho guides the study of issues is tosearch out the varieties of facts requiredin order to understand an issue. Howmany of the facts involved carry theauthority of science? How many fallbelow the level of tested facts? Howmany are mere assumptions? Whichfacts wear masks and are dressed up insuch manner as to confuse? How muchpropaganda has been done on the issuebefore it gets to the classroom, and howis this to be detected? What facts areabsent? This fact-hunting procedure issomewhat laborious and many teacherswould prefer to plunge straight into adiscussion of solutions. It is at this verypoint that they might readily disqualifythemselves, not merely in the minds ofthe pupils but in the minds of citizensas well.

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A Task for Teacher EducationPerhaps I have already said enough

to indicate that there are many difficul-ties involved in incorporating the treat-ment of living issues into a curriculum,at least enough to warn teachers collegesthat they too have an obligation if thisdesired task is to be competently per-formed.

Among the skills to be learned bythe teacher who guides the study ofcontemporary issues is that of distin-guishing between two types of issues:those which are primary in the sensethat they have a history of chronic per-sistence, and those which are derivativein the sense that they are impeded bythe nation's incapacity to deal effectivelywith its primary problems.

For example, one test which appliesto the United States and its peculiarsystem in which the power of the judi-ciarv is superior to that of either theexecutive or legislative branches of gov-ernment is this: the primary issuessooner or later (and usuallv with cy-clical regularity) pass through the high-er courts and finally reach the SupremeCourt. This means that we are unableto determine the right and the wronginvolved and hence we defer to thatremarkable document, the Constitution,in the hope that, if correctly interpretedbv the nine justices of the SupremeCourt, a clear, moral resolution will befound.

These chronic issues also appear reg-ularly in the platforms of political par-ties where they are expressed in thehigh and lofty language of moral aspira-tion. One also discovers intimations ofthe significance of these primary issuesin the writings of those historians whomake use of philosophical perspectives.

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The Issues of First ImportanceAmong the primary issues of Ameri-

can civilization I should include thefollowing:

i. Control of monopolies, plus the con-tinuing rivalry for power as betweengovernment on the one hand and busi-ness on the other

2. Conservation of natural resources which,because of soil depletion, includes suchquestions as subsidies to agriculture

3. Treatment of minorities with specialreference, obviously, to our Negro citi-zens

4. Maintaining and expanding civil rights5. Separation of church and state6. Degrees of economic control which

should or should not be exercised bygovernmentIsolationism versus acceptance and ful-fillment of international commitments.

Sorme are economtic

An analysis of the above issues willquickly reveal that three of the issues( i, 2, and 6) are definitely economic incharacter, and when considered in com-bination indicate that we have not yetdetermined what type of economvwould be most suitable in the light ofour democratic traditions, our hetero-genous population, and our relative senseof values.

From a pedagogical viewpoint itseems to me that number 2, natural re-sources, is by all odds the most strategicissue of this cluster and the most ap-propriate to be confronted by childrenand youth. Teaching may begin withthe simple ecological equation-Manand his environment.

Man's future depends upon the in-teraction of sun, water, and soil in theproduction of plants which are assimil-able by animals, including Man. Soilfertility is very unevenly distributed in

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a thin layer of top-soil. In the UnitedStates approximately one-third of thisfertility has already been wasted throughextractive farming, soil erosion, anddust storms. Destruction of forestscauses floods and a lowering of the un-derground water-table so that less andless water is available to Man for foodproduction. In short, a wealth of con-vincing facts is available to demonstratethat we are, in a sense, "digging ourown graves" and yet we seem to be in-capable of checking this disastrouswaste.

A ready-made laboratory for the ex-ploration of this issue is within easyreach of every American school. Oneneed not walk far to find a barren gullywhere once plants and trees were ableto flourish. All the disciplines of knowl-edge might become instruments for aclearer understanding of this issue: his-tory, geography, chemistry, physics,economics, biology, zoology, et cetera,et cetera. Here, in other words, we havean issue which may be said to underlieall other issues since, if Man cannot con-serve 'his natural resources, it will makelittle difference what type of economyor government prevails.

The humanities have a place

Issues 3, 4, and 5 belong rather to thesphere of the humanities. We presumeto be a liberal, humane, democratic peo-ple. Why then do we encounter somany difficulties in the realm of humanrelations? Why do we persistently dis-criminate against certain citizens on ac-count of their color, race, religion, ornational origin? Why do we experienceso many barriers in fulfilling th6 man-date of the Bill of Rights of our Con-stitution? And why did our forefathers

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find it less difficult than we do to keepthe affairs of the Church and those ofGovernment separated?

These are extremely important issueswhich are part and parcel of thechronic difficulty of making democracywork, and I see every reason why chil-dren and youth should be exposed totheir implications under the auspices ofthe school. Indeed, the public schoolwhich seeks to shield pupils from theseissues performs an actual betrayal. Itcheats its pupils who have a right tolearn reality and it certainly cheats thecitizens who, through taxation, makethe public school possible.

Power implies responsibilityThe fateful character of issue number

7 must have become plain to all teachersin recent months: isolationism is thehabitual mood of the American peoplebut we now find ourselves in the posi-tion of being unable to adhere to itsdictates. Our international commitmentsare the direct consequence of our eco-nomic and military power. We havemoved into an area of responsibilty forwhich our past experience has left usunprepared. If we cannot utilize ourstrengths on behalf of world peace, thenthere will be no peace.

By what means is it possible to informfuture generations of this situation? Ifthis issue does not belong in the publicschool, where does it belong? Somewill, no doubt, answer, "It belongs inthe Department of State and in theUnited States Senate." Yes, so it does,by order of the Constitution. But arethese two organs of government tofunction as though they were inde-pendent of public opinion? In a democ-racy there can be no issues of State

Educational Leadership

which do not rest ultimately upon thewill and consent of the people. Hence,there are no issues which are not prop-erly the business of public education.

The Inevitable DerivativesI have defined secondary issues as

those which are difficult of solutionchiefly because of our inability to re-solve the primary issues. These deriva-tive issues will have shorter histories andwill fluctuate with time. Although theymay also include important juridicaland constitutional elements, these ques-tions are most frequently encounteredin the form of proposed legislation.Among issues of this type I should in-clude the following:

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Housing and slum clearanceMedical careSocial securityCrime and delinquencyFederal aid to educationTaxation and tariffsInflation

These are certainly contemporary is-sues concerning which the Americanpeople will be obliged sooner or laterto reach conclusions and they are con-troversial. There is no way of knowinghow the American people would voteif they were allowed to vote on thespecific issues themselves and not onthe issues as embedded in partisan poli-tics. But that is probably as it shouldbe for in a democracy all importantquestions get themselves incorporatedin politics and it is through politics thatthese issues will finally be resolved. Ourimmediate problem is whether issuesof this type should also be included inthe public school curriculum.

It will be recognized at once that theseissues arise from needs which are im-

minent. We find ourselves as a nationin a paradoxical position. We admitthat families should, in order to becomegood families, be adequately shelteredbut we cannot, somehow, build houses.

We admit that health is a primaryrequisite but we seem to be incapableof devising a plan whereby medical carecan be extended to those who need itmost. We know that security againstthe hazards of modern industrial lifeare beneficial to individuals, to families,and to society itself but we are re-strained from action because of our at-tachment to the ideal of self-reliance.We should like to free ourselves fromthe stigma of an incredible crime anddelinquency record but we do not knowwhere to begin.

We would prefer an educational sys-tem which would offer more or lessequal opportunities to all children re-gardless of where they happen to beborn but we fear that federal fundsutilized for this equalizing purposemight lead to educational regimentation.We know that so-called protective tar-iffs impede the free flow of goods andthereby decrease world trade but wefear that an abandonment of the prac-tice would lower our standard of liv-ing. We know that our existing prin-ciples of lowering taxes when incomesare high is unreasonable but we cannot,somehow, divorce in our minds theproblem of government financing fromhousehold or business financing andhence we pursue our error. We knowthat inflation will, if unchecked, leadto a gigantic depression in which wewill all suffer but we fear that govern-ment control over prices will lead ustowards a police state.

In each instance the chief deterrent

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to action is fear, and it would be un-wise to assert that all of the fears men-tioned are unfounded. We ought tofear governmental regimentation of edu-cation and we ought to fear the declineof the spirit of self-reliance. We oughtto fear both because bureaucracy is anenemy of democracy-and self-relianceis an ennobling virtue. But the persist-ence of these fears will give us no aid insolving such problems as have beenmentioned above. The threat to democ-racy which comes from slums and in-adequate housing, from gross inequali-ties in education, and from a widespreadfeeling of insecurity is as formidable asthe fears which impede our action inthese spheres.

The Solution Is in ExperimentationFears may be dissipated in only one

way: through experimentation. Wemust find a way of equalizing educa-tional opportunity without acceptingbureaucratic regimentation. We mustfind a way of providing a minimum levelof social security without depriving ourcitizens of self-respect and, hence, low-ering their self-reliance.

These ways, democratic ways of do-ing what has become essential to oursurvival, can be found only through trialand error. This is one of the many rea-sons why children and youth shouldbecome acquainted with issues of thistype at an early age, at least before theyhave come to distrust experimentationitself. When democracies lose the ex-perimental mood they are already faralong in their decline. Theodore Roose-velt's "New Nationalism," WoodrowWilson's "New Freedom," and Frank-lin Roosevelt's "New Deal" were allhealthy signs of the fact that the Ameri-

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can people wish to try something new.In other words, signs of youth.

"Following the elder wisdom wecherish likewise the new;we stay pioneers...."

This is a democratic discipline whichone learns in youth or not at all. Soagain I come to the clear conclusionthat issues of this secondary type belongalso in the curriculum of the publicschool, the one universal institution inwhich democratic habits may be ac-quired by all.

No Final Answer AvailableA final word to those persons of our

public school system who are entrustedwith the responsibility for curriculumrevisions: beware of the curriculum. Ihave noticed that in recent times edu-cational leaders have appeared to besearching for the curriculum, the courseof study which is superior and which,consequently, must be accepted by alland protected against further revisions.This is a futile wish. In a dynamic worldthere can be no static curriculum. Curri-culum revision is a continuous taskwhich will never be completed.

No Vested Interests AllowedA second tendency causes me a similar

concern-the assumption that some tea-chers or administrators are especiallygifted with respect to curriculum mat-ters and that these specialists will finallyexercise control of this sphere. I hopethis trend can be checked before theunconscious tendency towards a divis-ion of labor creates a disorganic separa-tion between those teachers who knowwhat should be taught and those whoteach what they are told to teach. Spec-ialized skills are no doubt required for

Educational Leadership

curriculum revisions, but the most im-portant of these skills should be that ofknowing what is going on in the world.

The person who should lead incurriculum revisions is he whoknows how to comprehend and in-terpret social change. This personshould be something of a philosopherwho combines two varieties of wis-dom: that which comes from theknowledge of scientists and thatwhich derives from the experienceof the folk.

It has often occurred to me thatperhaps one of the most effective meth-ods for a continuing process of curri-culum revision would be to have inevery community a panel of representa-tive citizens who would meet regularlywith teachers and administrators andthus, in joint conference, arrive at sug-gestions leading to experimentation. Byv

"representative" citizens I do not meanthose who have consistently meddled inschool affairs. On the contrary, I meancitizens who in their lives represent thewidest range of interests, occupations,formal educational experience, and in-come; in short, citizens who representthe community's democratic spirit.

Such a group of citizens might even,upon occasion, save the school admin-istration from some of the inane curri-culum changes which are forced uponthe school by pressure groups. A cur-riculum leader working with such agroup would soon have at its disposala reservoir of knowledge and wisdomupon which he could place a far greaterreliance than he might give to the spec-ialist who thinks only of curriculummatters. Perhaps w-hat I am striving tosav is that curriculum affairs should notbecome a vested interest.

0wt VXa&up4, ax Aeidicuu, and

EDWARD KRUG

Readers of EDUCATIONAI, LEADERSHIP will remember the splendid state-ment last October by Edward Krug advocating a more vigorous aca-demic freedom. We welcome this second article which gives conciseguides to applying our values in democratic action in order to meeteffectively the conflicts and controversy in schools and society at thiscrucial time. The author is associate professor of education at the Uni-versty of Wisconsin, Madison.

XVE HAVE COME BACK to our and take action in relation to these reali-teaching jobs this fall in a world more ties in thousands of American com-than ever torn by social controversy and munities. It is our responsibility to baseconflict. We will have to make decisions these decisions and actions on the values

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Copyright © 1948 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.