COM101 Homework

Write responses to A. and B.

· [no word-count restrictions]

· [use complete sentences (thoughts) and paragraphs (ideas)]

· [attempt to use  MLA format (Links to an external site.) ]

· [write freely]  

A. Create an understanding of Marshall McLuhan’s  “The medium is the message” (Links to an external site.)  as it relates to the six functions of modern schooling outlined in Alexander Inglis’s 1918 book, Principles of Secondary Education:

· adjustive or adaptive; fixed behaviors in response to authority

· integrating; “the conformity function”; predictability

· diagnostic or directive; sorted into “proper” social roles

· differentiating; once sorted, trained up to the social expectations of sorted role

· selective; tag those “unfit” with humiliation

· propaedeutic; small group taught to manage and control a dumbed down population

B. Explicate the following concepts as you’d have them exist in the world (what, how, why): 

· develop a consciousness of freedom

· recognize authoritarian tendencies

· connect knowledge to power and agency

· learn to read the world for justice and democracy

——

[additional information]

For A, the concept is creating an understanding between two or more ideas. This is called intertextuality and it is a skill to develop. Not only will you pull from your own history of literacy, but of literacy expanded—that is to say, anything that can be read (i.e. journalism, political economy, fine art, literature, film, social movements [really, everything]). This does not mean that every object of analysis must have literal text, but that the object can be related to another and through their relation a new understanding appears. 

We know we need to write about McLuhan’s concept, “The medium is the message.” We also know we need to write about the six functions of modern schooling as outlined by Inglis in his 1918 book, Principles of Secondary Education.

Begin with what you know about McLuhan’s idea. Read the wiki. Do other research. Complicate your own understanding. Think of examples. Then write freely.

Next, take your understanding of McLuhan (which we’ll refer to as X) and create an understanding as it relates to Inglis (now referred to as Y). Whether you want to discuss X to Y (as a whole), or X to Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, and Y6 (as separate principles), the goal is the same: to make your own connections and put them into words.

For B, we explicate (analyze or develop an idea in detail) four concepts as we’d see them represented in the world. Because we’re discussing Education, it may be better to stay in that theme, but you are not limited in that way. For instance, if I’m thinking about learning to read the world for justice (IV), I first need to understand what that means [I’ve included many sub-topics below the individual categories to help with idea generation]. If I think that learning to read the world for justice means acknowledging critical counter-narratives, then what examples (real or not) can I point to? What are the prevailing societal narratives (in Education, Media, Politics, etc.) and why do they need to be countered? 

——

“The medium is the message” = X…

· & fixed behaviors (to authority)

· & predictability

· & proper social(etc.) roles

· & role/identity over ideal

· & shame (the unfit)

· & management

Exisistence for X (where X is I, II, III, or IV) depends upon…

· literacy as a mode of intervention; critique of ‘naturalness’; unconceal knowledge, authority, and power

· freedom to question and assert convictions; scepticism in re: power; societal contract with the future

· nothing neutral; combat forms of constraint; deliberate attempt to influence the how and what of knowledge, value, and desire

· willingness to fight (and understand) injustice; hope is moral imagination; critical counter-narratives (require knowing narratives)

——

[related concepts]

education as a project of freedom

· political because: self-reflective, self-management, critical agency

· a link between learning and social change

· political and moral practice to explore possibilities

· critical thinking as tool for self-determination and civic engagement

· read, write, and learn from a position of agency

· engage in a culture of questioning

· literacy as a mode of intervention

· critique of the ‘naturalness’ or ‘inevitability’ of current systems

· challenging commonsense assumptions

· critical dialogue with history

· imagining of possible worlds

· shifting emphasis from teacher to student

· unconceal relationships of knowledge, authority, and power

· students as problem-posers

· questioning of control (in re: education) and social conditioning

· knowledge as transformable and open to challenge

· anti-relativism

· recognition of social conditioning

pedagogy as a performative practice

· understand power through production, distribution, and consumption

· practice of self-criticism in re: teaching values

· critical self-consciousness to equip students with self-reflective and analytical skills

· pedagogy must be meaningful to be critical and transformative

· personal experience as resource to identify social conditions

· unconditional freedom to question and assert convictions

· form a healthy scepticism about power

· a way to understand society with a commitment to the future

· the active negation necessary to expand human potentialities

· students as critical agents investigating assumptions and myths

the politics of academic labor

· education (like science/technology) is not neutral

· a deliberate attempt to influence the how and what of knowledge, values, and desires

· to understand the larger world and one’s role

· expand the capacities for human agency

· expand the capacities for academic labor as they relate to democracy

· recognition that education is a groundwork for future societies

· combat all forms of constraint to consciousness

· an expanded notion of politics through a language of scepticism, possibility, & openness

biography as the pedagogy of hope

· education as basic element of social change—inseparable from the political

· modeling as a way of life

· humility, compassion, willingness to fight against human injustice

· [new] hope requires an understanding of history as opportunity

· [new] hope is a practice of witness, an act of moral imagination

· [new] hope demands transformation

· educator must unveil opportunities for hope

· hope means listening to and working with the poor and other subordinate groups

· CP defined by its context as a project of individual and social transformation

· contexts map relationships between knowledge, language, social reality, and mechanized life

· a conscientious act arising from a deep awareness of one’s context

· any project of freedom must begin with the recognition of contextual forces

· literacy as a way of transforming the world within a broader understanding of citizenship

· literacy as a way of moving beyond specialization

· recognize—narrate—transform

· the is no separation between politics, power, and pedagogy

· a healthy moral rage over needless oppression and suffering

· experience as object for analysis through theory

· democracy cannot last without critical counter-narratives

· refresh the idea of justice going dead in us all the time

· education builds formative culture: beliefs, values, practices

——

Concepts for Essay #1

As you write Essay #1 [1500 words], keep in mind the following concepts as they relate to your object of inquiry (Education, whatever, etc.): 

· ‘ medium as message (Links to an external site.) ’ (McLuhan) // container > contained // structure influences content

· fixed behaviors (to authority); predictability; proper social roles; type/role/identity > ideal; shame (the “unfit”); management

· ex. ‘schooling’; unboxing videos and the ‘commodity fetishism’ (Marx,  Adorno (Links to an external site.) ); modern art and the failure of shared language (Warhol, pop-art, Campbell’s Soup can as metaphor and symbol of American life

· literacy as a mode of intervention; literacy reveals; ‘ ruthless critique of all existing conditions (Links to an external site.) ’ (Marx); myth of neutrality (also, the constraint of neutrality)—“ repressive tolerance (Links to an external site.) ” (Marcuse); hope as an act of moral imagination—a call to action; critique of naturalness; unconcealment of knowledge, authority, and power—freedom to question and assert convictions; scepticism in re: power; societal contract with the future—battle against constraint; deliberate attempt to influence the how and what of knowledge, value, and desire—willingness to fight (and understand) injustice; creation of critical counter-narratives (which require knowing the narrative) 

· “ limit situations (Links to an external site.) ” ( Freire (Links to an external site.) )

· visceral feelings as judgements (to investigate) in re: the object; ability to identify and critique one’s judgements (self-reflection); critique from the “ Archimedean point (Links to an external site.) ” 

· “slave morality” (Nietzsche)

· the perverse action of creating a moral good out of suffering; remaking ‘the struggle’ into value (i.e. ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’, et al.); survival viewed as virtuous (despite the very obvious good in not having to ‘survive’ because all your needs are met)

· myths that define our acceptance; slogans & propaganda; the battle for attention; glorifying harm; creating value where none exists; “ Smile or Die (Links to an external site.) ” [ full lecture (Links to an external site.) ] (Ehrenreich)

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