EXCELLENCE AS A GUIDE TO EDUCATIONAL CONVERSATION
by Nel Noddings Stanford University
When people use the slogan, “All children can learn,” what exactly do they mean? Many probably mean that children of all minority and oppressed groups can learn as well as those of the privileged and dominant classes. Used this way, the slogan is a reminder to treat all students with respect and to promote their growth equally…
Equality is the motivating concept here. Indeed the slogan often arises in direct response to suggestions that cultural and individual diversity require diverse educational offerings and standards. When such an argument was made at a meeting of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing, Mary Bicouvaris, a National Teacher of the Year award winner, objected passionately, “All students can learn!” She insisted that all need a common body of knowledge.2 However, one might argue for a core of common knowledge complemented by an array of alternatives for diverse populations or for individual children. Her resistance to diverse curricula suggests that Bicouvaris, like Mortimer Adler and his associates, wants a common curriculum without the substantial differences found in the usual categories — college prep, commercial, vocational, etc. If this is so, it would not be a misreading of the slogan to translate it as, “All children can learn algebra and geometry.”
In fairness, we have to remember that this still means, “The same proportion of students in all racial, ethnic, economic, and gender groups can learn algebra and geometry.” No one suggests taking this as an empirical question (except, interestingly, the gender aspect). What is called for is not investigation but political action. The slogan is an assumption that demands fulfillment in actual school results. The only way to accomplish the prescribed result is to enroll all students in algebra and geometry (to “give them a chance”). Thus the slogan entails something like, “Children of all (relevantly defined) groups can learn algebra and geometry, and therefore all children must be given an opportunity to do so.”
Having so far treated the slogan with the respect due its speakers, I am at the brink of the first vocabulary trap (at least, it is the first I’ve recognized). I now seem committed to an analysis of what constitutes an opportunity to learn. But, instead of following that line, I want to express my first objection to the slogan as a challenge to its underlying motive. Because excellence is so often posited in opposition to equality, I’d like to start with an exploration of excellence, and see whether I can develop something that will satisfy those who would start with equality…. Read more HERE
Other interesting articles by Nel Noddings include (click on the title to read the papers) :
