Beyond the Learning Material
Selection and exclusion in a current school system leave many students behind the windowpane of learning to such an extent that young people have already internalized their sense of being “good for nothing;” they do not see themselves as anything but social outcasts. What are the consequences of this? In the vein of social affirmation theory, since the professional and citizen doors are closed, students struggle for recognition in other fields such as delinquency, aggressiveness, dropping out, gang activity, trafficking or taking drugs, or social violence. They search to be good at something and competent somewhere—hence, students focus on hurting those who remain behind. They refuse to become motivated to learn, to work, to contribute to the development of society. By rejecting their enthusiasm, we push them into developing their competence in an antisocial manner. The most resilient people spend their adult lifetimes curing their traumatisms and the after-effects of rejection, passing down to their children the fear and hatred of school, the blockages for various domains, and a lack of investment due to the sense of injustice. Is the school the peacebuilder if it excludes and marginalizes?
Is another scenario possible? If the educational system can focus on epistemic inclusion by helping build professional or career projects while basing itself on the complementarity of the epistemic and relational dimensions, then teachers will have better conditions to coach insightful, responsible, and radiant citizens who continue their lifelong learning and personal development.
Rubie-Davies’ inspiration was Rhona Weinstein’s book Reaching Higher: The Power of Expectations in Schooling (2002). The work is extremely thought-provoking, and in a way, disturbing, because the complacency of the educational system is shaken to its core. Indeed, in this kind of selective configuration, it is difficult to foster students’ tremendous excitement for knowledge and teachers’ capability in teaching all students to strive to fulfill their potential—to see their uniqueness and to truly believe that they are capable of developing many competences and succeeding. It is a shame that many teachers do not have enough tools to identify the competences of allophone students, to identify students’ needs on the epistemic or relational dimensions, or to overcome stereotypes and prejudices. It is a shame that the educational system of the 21st century, despite ideological and technological progress, creates a huge amount of frustration and people who are anti-school instead of being reflective, lifelong learners who use critical thinking in their everyday lives. Thus, not only finding tools, but knowing how to use them with disadvantaged students seems to be a crucial challenge for our education system. It is also an opportunity to close the achievement gap and decrease the frustration that generates aggressive behavior and anxiety toward schooling, learning, and thinking that mobilizes attentional resources and decreases students’ performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995; Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002). Also, the need for belonging can lead to antisocial behaviors; the perception of difference from the norm can be an origin of stigmatization, ostracism, or bullying. This is why it is important to provide students with more than disciplinary knowledge—to teach them not by limited boundaries, but to go beyond the discipline, showing them that cross-domain content is useful for everyday life. This kind of approach is possible not only with huge STEM projects, but also during each lesson. Students with teachers who provide them with more than what is expected by the program feel valued in their teachers’ eyes. They feel respected and feel that they deserve more than the minimum. This encourages students to invest themselves in class, in schooling, and in society in general.