Opinion
Equity & Diversity Opinion

Are We Creating a Generation of Observers?

By Stephen R. Herr — March 26, 2013 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

I think most educators have a growing sense of concern that their students are turning into a generation of observers. The many watch the few. Arenas and auditoriums fill with spectators, televisions blare all day long, and YouTube fans number in the billions. My concern, mind you, is not with the passive viewers, but with the pseudo-participants—those who may equate appreciating and recalling the accomplishments of others with doing something meaningful themselves. I worry that, in our classrooms, we have become focused on celebrating the lives of others, at the expense of the act of creation.

For me, the most striking example of this gap between worthy celebration and needful action came when I was teaching at a historically black college several years ago. During Black History Month, one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement was invited to campus to speak at the college’s weekly convocation. The speaker eloquently addressed his experience with the movement, but after his address, I realized my students were disheartened.

They had enormous respect for the speaker’s work to advance the civil rights movement, but they had heard what he had to say many times before. Someone needed to speak directly to their concerns, which grew from their personal sense of commitment to their community’s ongoing struggle with issues around child care; the large number of young black men who were incarcerated; the rise of AIDS; and the job market they would soon face.

In 2013, this disconnect between observer and doer seems little changed in the classroom. A good deal of what we continue to celebrate are things over which people have no control, such as the circumstances of their birth. We celebrate gender, race, and ethnicity with Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, to name but a few. We create events, celebrations, activities, and lesson plans that shift our students’ focus away from themselves. While those whom we remember may share a cultural history or racial identity with some of our students, it is the cultural association that is being honored, not their work.

BRIC ARCHIVE

We celebrate history and science, physical education, and music. There are celebrations associated with school sporting events, including homecomings, fundraisers, rallies, and, of course, the games themselves. There are victory celebrations, even celebrations around losing.

In On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “The fact that life does need the service of history must be as clearly grasped as that an excess of history hurts it. ... " It seems only fair to ask: Where does a reasonable sense of institutional appreciation and celebration begin, and where does it end?

Nietzsche’s point is an excellent one as we consider how to hang onto that which is vital, while making sure not to hurt our students by excesses that distort and undermine our mission to teach them. Unfortunately, the history of the teaching profession isn’t promising in that regard. We are a profession of expansion. We expand disciplines and services in terms of hours, days, and years, so it’s not surprising that we find more and more ways to celebrate and witness. A betting soul might expect a future rich with gestures and symbolism, events and pageantry, if classroom past is prologue.

We create events, celebrations, activities, and lesson plans that shift our students' focus away from themselves."

Schools need to be more than repositories of good intentions and forums for the celebration of the accomplishments of others. Attending a breakfast, listening to a motivational speaker, or marching across campus may create opportunities for reflection or draw attention to the good work of others, but these acts should not be confused with the work they honor.

In the end, the fine line between the multiple—and, at times, burdensome—celebrations, and those that sustain us, may be found within our own consciences. As we go forward, might it be worth asking if we are informing students or merely acting out of habit and expectation? Is it joy that motivates us to celebrate, or is it a sense of duty, guilt, or fear? Do we honestly believe that our actions will bring about meaningful change?

As educators, what is important is not that we have ready answers to these questions, but that we be willing to engage our students and the communities we serve in a discussion about these issues. As Socrates noted over 2,000 years ago, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Perhaps, in 2013, the unexamined event is not worth perpetuating.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the March 27, 2013 edition of Education Week as Celebrating Without Accomplishing

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Teacher, Students Sue Arkansas Over Ban on Critical Race Theory
A high school teacher and two students asked a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
2 min read
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. On Monday, March 25, 2024, a high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark.
Andrew DeMillo/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion What March Madness Can Teach Schools About Equity
What if we modeled equity in action in K-12 classrooms after the resources provided to college student-athletes? asks Bettina L. Love.
3 min read
A young student is celebrated like a pro athlete for earning an A+!
Chris Kindred for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Girls Are Falling in Love With Wrestling, the Nation's Fastest-Growing High School Sport
A surging number of states have sanctioned the sport, with bolstering from various groups.
6 min read
Benton's Callie Hess, left, battles Plum's Saphia Davis, right, during the first found of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Callie Hess, left, battles Saphia Davis, right, during the first round of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Matt Rourke/AP
Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP