"Well, here we have another task for the educator...: teaching how to rationally betray, in the name of our only true essential belonging, the human, whatever is exclusive, closed and manic in our accidental affiliations, however comfortable these may be for settled spirits, who do not want to change routines or arrange conflicts" (SAVATER, The value of educate, p. 192).
We know the old story of the invisible garment of the king, who, in putting it on, began to walk among his bare subjects. This fact led a child to trigger the love of truth by pointing the finger: "The king is naked".
Our time is different, but still kings and queens circulating among us. Among them are the teacher-king and teacher-queen, who think they have the supposed right to life and death over whoever sits in the learner's chair.
I remember a queen teacher facing a student with learning difficulties, this at university. This teacher used her verbal power to tell that student that he “would do better if he were to sell bananas in the market, because he was not suitable for studying the subject she taught”. The student was devastated and committed the folly of choosing that the queen's choice prevailed over him, as he went to the institution's secretariat and closed the enrollment.
I also witnessed the destructive action of a teacher-king: unable to make himself understood by an entire class of basic education, the teacher disqualified everyone by calling them "unprepared ass" and "fools with no future", who "would be better used as manual workers" (I don't know what can be unworthy in the tradesmen's profession, much less in those who fill our tables with foods...). The fact is that also because of the speech of this master-king, many left school and surrendered to the care of their own life in places where they saw to be better understood and balanced humanized.
The actual stories of pedagogicide recalled above are not from the time of that king denounced by the child; they are alive with the bramble among us. We need to identify them well, both for our own defense and for the prevention of discentecide often verified in our formal education system, at the levels of basic education and third degree.
Furthermore, the memory of these anti-pedagogical occurrences can lead us to other reflections. For example: what justifies the existence of the school, the teacher and the teaching-learning processes? For my part, I believe that the admission of "not knowing", "healthy ignorance", which are expressions of "the desirable I know that I don't know", constitute the justification for the existence of the educational institution, the education professional and the acts of learning and teach. If everyone were born enlightened sages, would the existence of the educational apparatus maintained by society in the context of formal education make sense?
So, if “wise ignorance” is the teacher's raison d'être, the one who is humanly equal to the student, but epistemologically different because he holds more experiences with the transmission, production and application of knowledge, there is no reason for us to continue to put up with the king teachers and the queen teachers.
We need to tell these misguided masters that the clothing of pedagogical totalitarianism they wear and that the cloak of epistemic tyranny they wear, in truth, does not protects the shame of not mastering the "how to" (practice) of their profession and that this compromises the "what" (theory) and puts down the "what" (ethics) of their occupation. And if these pseudo-formers are not aware of it, someone needs to tell them: King and Queen, your excellencies are naked.
And seeing the finger pointing to their failure, I hope they get dressed. Our sons and daughters who want to learn and the nation that needs men and women consistently trained for concrete, professional and citizen life, thank you.
* Article published in Jornal do Tocantins, on November 23, 2008, page 04.
Per Wilson Correia
Columnist Brazil School
Brazil School - education
