ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Curtis Kelly

Chuck Sandy

Chris Hunt

Panelists: Chuck | Peter | Marc | Curtis | Chris
Date: April 2005

Topic: "Should a teacher bring his or her politics and religion into the classroom?"

- A point we missed

Curtis Kelly

Indeed, indeed. My beliefs. Yes, a noble discussion, and I am awed by the sensitive ideas of my peers. Chuck searches his soul to find a line to stand on, or to be. I am inspired! Marc calls for publishers to let the world into their textbooks. Let the revolution begin! Peter delineates his experience in the evolution of materials that started in an ancient age when the world was only white and blonde. I am both amused and excited by the way we have grown. The questions my peers asked made me think of two tools Carl Rogers gave therapy: hold the other in absolute positive regard, and yet, always be authentic. Accept, but do not lie about your own beliefs.

“If we bring our own personal heartfelt issues into the classroom to discuss, we run the danger of setting up the teacher-centered paradigm all over again.”

And yet, something happened in class yesterday that has made me realize that we are missing one little, but crucial, point.

I went to the first class of the year and it was a small one of five very bright women. I asked them what they would like to do in this English class, and promised to put together a syllabus based on their self-identified needs, an approach we often use in adult education. They all agreed that they wanted to have discussions. I then asked them to clarify. "Do you want to talk about serious topics like the environment, or the war in Iraq, or more everyday conversation topics, like fashion or television?" One student answered as the others nodded along, "We want to talk about serious things, but things that are a part of our world, like manners on the train or curfews. We don't want to discuss something we don't know about." And in her response was the hint, "or care about."

Of course. It is so obvious. If we bring our own personal heartfelt issues into the classroom to discuss, we run the danger of setting up the teacher-centered paradigm all over again. "Here class, read this, this, and this, and debate it," all my favorite topics, not yours. Because of my age, education and background, certain issues related to the environment and world politics have great meaning to me. But as we discussed in the Tsunami topic a few months ago, it is unlikely that these same issues will have much meaning to Ms. Suzuki, who has never been out of Kanto.

We must be careful in our passions, and avoid teaching that is oriented towards making a mini-me; it is their boundaries that we should be trying to stretch. Knowing where those boundaries are and respecting them is more than just being learner-centered, it is being learning-centered. All real learning starts in the experience of the learner, and if it happens to meet ours at some point, then we can dwell in that overlap, but if not, then we are failing at our primary mission.

So, my friends, proceed with caution. We must hold their inner worlds as being the most precious, not ours. Learner readiness is the key. If they are ready to sort out the social or political issues we hold dear, then it is our duty to exacerbate that process, but if not, it should be our taboo.

Panelists: Chuck | Peter | Marc | Curtis | Chris

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Curtis Kelly, Heian Jogakuin University

Author of Writing from Within

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