Another world is shaping up in the
poverty of global capitalism. To defend
life, dignity and equality, a critical, well-versed populace must challenge the
insidious subtleties of power structures and the influence of propaganda over
their lives and communities. To discern
and disrupt authoritarian trends and the mass media that panders to power,
warrior-scholars must live and teach in a state of critique (Coffey 7). Driving this revolt against the dominant
order begins with asking: to what extent are we in control of our own thoughts?
Ideologies? And lives? Through examining the nature of individual
socialization, students can begin to uncover the effects of the carceral state
in themselves, their communities, global governing institutions and the
ideologies that sustain power relations.
This is what is meant by scaffolding liberation. In Freire-ian terms, we must model the
deconstructing of the “oppressor consciousness” within ourselves while
replacing it with “a critical awareness of oppression through the praxis
of…struggle” (Freire Chp. 1).
“At
all times education is a political act, and schools are embedded within a
sociocultural reality that benefits some at the expense of others” (Morrell and
Scherff xiii). The warrior-scholar finds
a constructive niche by practicing critical literacies with young people in the
halls of public education, but not without resistance from the institutions
themselves. Anne Ruggles Gere offers six
purposes for education in the US: “to improve morality, prepare good workers,
create an elite, produce good citizens, foster personal growth and offset
inequity” (24). These six reasons all
exist to sustain or re-adjust outliers to the dominant order and any tendency
towards social justice perhaps through “producing good citizens” to “offsetting
inequity” can only be taken as a false solution – a quick fix for alleviating
the social tensions produced by global capitalism.
In
the Critical English classroom, this means remaining vigilant against perpetuating
the ideologies of the ruling class along with the authoritarian relationship
Freire refers to as the “banking concept of education” (Freire Chp. 2). By
democratically selecting multimodal texts and examining them in a critical
constructivist framework, can the warrior-scholar work with students to promote
the outgrowth of a critical literacy that can be applied to social, economic
and political realities in the world. To
begin to scaffold liberation, an emphasis must be placed on “procedural
knowledge – that is, the knowledge of how to do things,” namely, how to
challenge and change oppressive structures (Smagorinsky 21). The procedural knowledge of discerning texts,
institutions, and events begins with asking: “Who benefits?” and “Who pays?”
and essentially never ends. A focus on
fiction pieces will strengthen an individual’s reading stamina (a requirement
for engaging the world critically as compared to the status-quo-supporting
means of quick-bite social media) while expanding perspective, possibility and
empathy (Alsup 183). In approaching
literature, it’s imperative to do away with traditional fixed notions of
comprehension but rather construct individual meaning through purposeful sense
making events (Aukerman 55-56). In
encountering the varying types of literacies, research across the
socio-political spectrum will be emphasized.
To channel Aristotle through Rage Against the Machine, “the educated
revolutionary mind must be able to entertain a thought without accepting it to
better know one’s enemy.” At the same
time, as literacy becomes intimately tied to the technological society, the ‘message
in the medium’ must be critically examined considering rampant climate change
and exploitative labor practices.
Finally, “the ability to deconstruct dominant texts is not enough for
critical English education; students must also develop the skills to create
their own critical texts that can be used in the struggle for social justice”
(Coffey 13-14). The warrior-scholar
understands the student doesn’t need to be given a voice, but rather be allowed
to lead with the voice they’ve developed through their own personal experiences
and analysis.
All
of this takes time and immense energy.
Dominant ideologies, institutions and propaganda mechanisms are firmly
embedded in the United States, but power unchecked will continue to create
inequality, violence and environmental destruction. The warrior-scholar remains patient in
creating another world in the shell of the old, a world where it is easy to be
more human because when we love ourselves and our communities we are good.
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