March 28, 2007
Banning Legos; building better Commies
John J. Miller takes a look at the Seattle school where to "teachers" detected signs of capitalism and individualism amongst their students -- so they banned Legos.
In their Rethinking Schools article, teachers Ann Pelo and Kendra Pelojoaquin describe how the kids at [the] Hilltop [Children Center] built “a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown.” I sensed that something was rotten in the state of Legotown when I read this description of it: “a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places.”
At Hilltop, however, the teachers strive to make them different. “We recognized that children are political beings, actively shaping their social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity,” write Pelo and Pelojoaquin. “We agreed that we want to take part in shaping the children’s understandings from a perspective of social justice. So we decided to take the Legos out of the classroom.”
The root cause of Hilltop’s Lego problem was that, well, the kids were being kids: There were disputes over “cool pieces,” instances of bigger kids bossing around little ones, and so on.
An ordinary person might recognize this as child’s play. But the social theorists at Hilltop saw something else: “The children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive.”
Pelo and Pelojoaquin continue: “As we watched the children build, we became increasingly concerned.”
So they banned the Legos and began their program of re-education. “Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation,” they write.
Instead of practicing phonics or memorizing multiplication tables, the children played a special game: “In the game, the children could experience what they’d not been able to acknowledge in Legotown: When people are shut out of participation in the power structure, they are disenfranchised — and angry, discouraged, and hurt. ... The rules of the game — which mirrored the rules of our capitalist meritocracy — were a setup for winning and losing. ... Our analysis of the game, as teachers, guided our planning for the rest of the investigation into the issues of power, privilege, and authority that spanned the rest of the year.”
Great. Just what America needs, more anti-capitalist, anti-private property, anti-individual rights, anti-everything that had made this nation great, subjects.
Subjects, 'cause they sure aren't producing citizens.
And the parents? Well, if those two teachers don't end up on the street, then we'll know how the parents feel about establishing the perfect workers' paradise.
All power to the Soviets, comrades!
Posted by Mike Lief at March 28, 2007 07:10 AM
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