Pedagogy Problems
Introduction:
Qué vale la pena?
Daniel Morales-Doyle poses this question in his study on curriculum, and offers the translation, “What is worthwhile?”. According to Doyle, asking Qué vale la pena as an expression emphasizes the further sidelining of marginalized communities at the hands of hegemonic curriculum. [1] The battle over what is worthy of teaching and learning is one that has always existed.
In this paper I seek to explore facets of curriculum that uphold hegemonic curriculum content, and, therefore, can be understood as a struggle for power and control over the narrative of human history, and the ability to influence how future generations grow to see the world and interact with it in ways that uphold dominant oppressive structures. This being a Gender and Womens Studies class, and with this being such a broad issue, this paper will primarily focus on the erasure of women and the intersectionality of erasure from Social Studies curriculum.
Pt 1: Social Studies – Erasure of Women is the Norm:
I recall noticing the absence of women in history and social studies textbooks in grade school. It was around when we learned about Harriet Tubman and Joan of Arc, and I realized they seemed to be the only women in my history book that weren’t mentioned as merely a supporting character to a more notable man. Pages and pages of accounts of men, stories of their experiences and upbringings and motivations were the foundation of history, and women were relegated to supporting roles, or tokenized. Where were all the women?
Turns out I was picking up on a hard truth. According to a study performed by the National Women’s History Alliance in 2019, only three percent of educational materials contained information relevant to the contributions of women measured against total contributions referenced. In their study, 53% of these references to women included domestic roles of women, while only 20% included the women’s suffrage movement. A paltry 2% contained women in the workforce or depicted accomplishments for the sake of accomplishments. Moreover, when women are included in history books, they are often portrayed in stereotypical gendered roles, and most often, are only mentioned in relation to their husbands, and most represented are those from conservative circles [4].
Some might argue this is in large part due to the very oppression of women, that for so long women were barred from academia and the workforce, but this would be a copout. A lack of equal military, political and academic achievement should not be reason enough to exclude 50% of the human population from history. It does however, offer a relevant opportunity to provide context for this oppression and to illuminate the lived experiences of women through, and their resistance to, that oppression.
Minimizing women’s roles in history contributes to the very culture that continues to diminish the labor traditionally associated with “women’s work”. By omitting descriptions of this labor from our history books we confirm that we do not value this work, which is absolutely fundamental and foundational to the survival and progression of humanity. But history is written from a male perspective that places value on politics and war.
Pt 2: Intersecting Erasure: A Whitewashed Curriculum:
“Seeing the Chicana in light of her history, I seek an exoneration, a seeing through the fictions of white supremacy, a seeing of ourselves in our true guises and not the false racial personality that has been given to us” – Gloria Anzaldua, La Frontera
Intersecting with the erasure of women in history is the erasure of all non-dominant groups, so much so that it’s hard to mention one without mentioning others, even if you could write a lengthy individual thesis on the systematic erasure of each separate group.
Even in attempts at writing inclusivity into modern textbooks, the mark is missed because those powerful groups who dictate what is taught, how it is taught, and how that knowledge is assessed are typically controlled by members of the dominant culture. This cycle, even under the best of intentions, leaves groups with comparatively less power and voice to continue to be left out of the history books. Those with such hegemonic, dominant-group identities are often unable to see the mechanisms upholding their own privilege, whereas those groups who experience oppression or invisibility would be in a far better position to contribute a more comprehensive view of history and social studies as it is shaped into curriculum. As it stands, much US curriculum is legitimized by existing faulty education, so the very act of seeing the need for this shift of mindset in curriculum writing is obfuscated [4].
In fact, most of the recent inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups are presented within standards that award and make heroes of those individuals that assimilate to white culture. The Black activists featured are those whose actions have been sanitized to make them “more palatable” to white teachers and students. Many stories that include Native Americans seem progressive on their face but speak mostly to the resistance and reaction to white expansion, and very little has to do with independent representation of their culture and who the people are independent of an overarching white narrative. [6]
Conclusion: A Perspective on Progressive Change:
Because curriculum is controlled by state and local governments, it is imperative to unite educators, historians and activists in school districts across the country, particularly those from traditionally marginalized groups, to demand textbook reforms that more accurately represent our past through more than one dominant perspective.
In some states, notably Texas and Florida, the organized right exerts enormous sway in textbook selection, ensuring that topics such as global warming and evolution are downplayed in science texts and issues such as racism, sexism and imperialism remain [7].
References:
[1] “Students as Curriculum Critics: Standpoints with Respect to Relevance, Goals, and Science.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching 55.5 (2018): 749–773. Web.
[2] Zeidler, D.L. STEM education: A deficit framework for the twenty first century? A sociocultural sociocentric response. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 11, 11–26 (2016). https://doi-org.bmcc.ezproxy.cuny.edu/10.1007/s11422-014-9578-z
[4] Rayle, Crystal, “Herstory: An Analysis of the Representation of Women in Middle Grades U.S. History Textbooks” (2020). Student Research Submissions. 374. https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/374
[5] http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/
Final Project Self Evaluation
So far its clear that I need to do more to focus my thesis and develop my closing statements, the “manifesto” part. As it stands, a lot of what I have is based on readings of research papers on curriculum and pedagogy. I don’t feel like it has a lot of my own writing style showing through the patchwork of ideas at times. I have the facts that will back up my manifesto and hope to build on that to figure out a strong conclusion.
I still managed to fall into the trap you warned me of, even though it was at the front of my mind. On this one, I realized initially I’d focused a lot on STEM curriculum and impacts it has on upholding homogenic culture for underrepresented groups, and the intersectionality there, but that was becoming its own whole thing that was getting into learning types and all sorts of stuff that could be its own paper, lol. I had to refocus/remove a lot of that portion because it was a little disjointed, and while I love the STEM section it didn’t feel so relevant to the GWS final.
It does seem like just about everything has some greegree of intersectionality, and these problems are deeply connected, so it’s easy to bounce around a bit, but hopefully after taking that part out I have more of a flow going. It’s been a struggle sometimes knowing how to effectively search for the right studies, honestly, at times I can’t tell if this is because I am using the wrong terms in my searches or because research is so imbalanced. I have really been enjoying getting into focusing on the fields of study that inspired me back to school, and specifically, through the perspectives we have been sharing in class.
