A few years ago, I invited Shannon Cameron, then a grad student
in theater, to my School and Society class in the College of Education and
Human Services at the University of Nebraska. Tables and chairs were pushed back against the
walls leaving an open area for the active participation of my students. They
were put through a few warm-up exercises before Shannon began what would
constitute the rest of the class, an introduction Theatre of the Oppressed, a
type of theater designed as a catalyst for social change.
Theatre of the Oppressed was developed in Brazil in the early
1970s by the late Augusto Boal. He was influenced by Brazilian educator Paulo
Freire, author of the seminal piece, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," and
Boal wanted to use theatre as a means of analyzing, discussing and increasing
critical thought in order to address issues of oppression in daily life.
In the bureaucracy of institutionalized public education one of
the most prevalent forms of oppression is monologue. All too often, students
become passive receptors of the instructor's "knowledge" having very
little, if any, opportunity to engage in questioning or challenging official
curriculum and policies. Theatre of the Oppressed becomes a powerful way for
students and teachers to examine myriad oppressive acts in school and how to
develop strategies for solving these issues.
Unfortunately, throughout the
country, school districts are experiencing budget cuts and some of the first
programs to be on the receiving end are art and music programs. According to the Chicago Sun-Times (August 5,
2013), among nearly 1500 teachers laid off in the Chicago public schools, 105
taught music or art. The Chicago teachers union claims the number is more like
159. In the Philadelphia public schools, the entire budget for arts and music
was eliminated. Even the Obama
administration cut federal funds for Arts in Education, a program in the
Department of Education.
We are in a dystopian era where student achievement is measured
by standardized test scores with an emphasis on math and science
matriculation. And, dutiful school
administrators often celebrate the imposition of frequent testing of our
students.
As an example, one high school principal put on blue pants, a
white shirt, dyed her hair blue, and sported a sandwich board exhorting
students to, “Ace the Test.” She was
quoted in the local paper saying, “We needed to
do a better job of getting our students excited about taking (statewide tests),
about taking the opportunity to showcase their talents and skill sets.” These students were tested for four
weeks. There are, however, resistance
movements.
In Long Island, New York, where the students are being prepped to
take tests aligned with Common Core Standards, parents are increasingly
choosing to opt their students out. One
mother said, “The only way to stop that monster is through civil
disobedience. Standardized test prep has
hijacked the classroom.”
Education historian, Diane Ravitch, formerly a supporter of No
Child Left Behind and standardized testing has, in the recent past, changed
course and is now advocating for parents to have their children opt out of
state testing. She writes as piece
appearing on the Huffington Post website (3/31/14) in which she urges parents
to stop feeding the testing machine. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ravitch/opt-out-state-testing_b_5064455.html).
She says, “Deny the machine the data on which it feeds. There are
corporations ready to mine your child's data. Don't let them have it.”
This article reminds me of something that happened in my high
school classroom several years ago.
We were reading Thoreau’s, On
Civil Disobedience, at the time when students were being required to take
the state writing test. The scores on
the test had no meaningful impact on whether or not students would graduate or
impact their GPA. Students knew that
Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax because he did not
want to support the war against Mexico.
So, I asked a question about the writing test, “What would Thoreau
do?” An overwhelming response was, “He
would boycott it.” And many did. The story hit the front page of the local
paper. The principal, who later in 2007
kicked me out of the building, called me in to her office and inquired about
what was going on in my class. I told
her that I asked the students about how might Thoreau respond to the mandated
test. Her reply, “That was not a good
question.” It is not without amazement
the degree to which district administrators try to avoid controversy by
purposefully marginalizing critical thought.
In a 2006 survey by the
Center on Education Policy, more than 44 percent of school districts increased
time spent on math studies while decreasing time on other subjects. In another
2006 study by SRI International, 61 percent of school districts in California
did not have a full-time art specialist. However, according to Tom Horne, Arizona state superintendent of public instruction,
"If they're worried about their test scores and want a way to get them
higher, they need to give kids more arts, not less. There's lots of evidence
that kids immersed in the arts do better on their academic tests."
Despite the increased attention being given to math and science
and a drop in art and music offerings nationwide, the Obama administration, at
one point recognized the contribution that the arts make not just to the
economy but also to the critical education of our students. In an October 2009
proclamation honoring national arts and humanities, President Obama stated,
"It is the painter, the author, the musician and the historian whose work
inspires us to action, drives us to contemplation, stirs joy in our hearts and
calls upon us to consider our world view anew." My, what a difference a few years make as
Obama has now slashed the Arts in Education program. Did he really mean what he said in 2009?
The February 2009 edition of Edutopia echoed Obama’s former
perspective in an article titled, "Why Arts Education is Crucial, and
Who's Doing it Best." According to the author, Fran Smith, "Years of
research show that [arts education is] closely linked to almost everything that
we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools:
academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement and
equitable opportunity."
It was precisely with this intention for students to contemplate
and reconsider their world view – and to think about using Theatre of the
Oppressed in their classrooms as a way to increase dialogue – that I invited
Ms. Cameron to work with my class of future teachers.
In an activity called
"Colombian Hypnosis," Cameron had students actively moving around the
class emulating the complex relationships in a top-down education bureaucracy.
It became readily apparent to students that the role of teachers becomes less
relevant to those at the top of the food chain. In turn, students and their
unique needs are often disregarded as district officials are more concerned
with attending to issues being passed from their superiors.
Other forms of Theatre of the Oppressed have students actively engage
in identifying oppression in their lives as well as the lives of others in our
society in order to critically examine possible resolutions. Should not school
districts re-evaluate the importance of the arts education, and in particular
theater, as a way of improving student learning and becoming better citizens?
The president of Cornell University, David Skorton, puts it this
way: "If science and technology help us to answer questions of ‘what' and
‘how,' the arts and humanities give us ways to confront the intangible, to
contemplate the ‘why,' to imagine, to create. If ever there were a time to
nurture those skills in our young people, it is now, when our nation's future
may depend on our creativity and our ability to understand and appreciate the cultures
around the world as much as on our proficiency in reading and math."
There is a national movement taking place urging parents to
resist the testing juggernaut. Here is
the website:
Included on the site is a state by state guide of the tests that
are given and procedures for parents to opt their kids out of state testing.
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