The Interplay of Power and Education
Education, often hailed as a great equalizer, is inextricably linked to power dynamics within society. This article explores the multifaceted relationship between power and education, examining how power influences access to education, the content and methods of instruction, and the overall outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds. It also delves into how education, in turn, can empower individuals, challenge existing power structures, and contribute to a more equitable society.
Education as a Tool for Empowerment and Social Mobility
Mass education emerged globally in the early 19th century and expanded after World War II, driven by the understanding that human capital is a nation's most valuable resource. Increasing the average years of schooling enhances employability, develops skills, and empowers individuals to contribute to national development.
Many nations, starting with the United States and Western European countries, made it easier for all their citizens to access education, while implementing new, large-scale projects to improve their society’s overall level of education. The driving force behind this expansion was the realization that human capital is the most powerful, long-term resource available to any given country. Increasing the average number of years of schooling per member of society not only contributes to their employability and increases their adult skills, it empowers them to make greater contributions to their nation’s development.
Unequal Access and the Culture of Power
Despite the potential of education to level the playing field, disparities in access and quality persist. Lisa Delpit argues that success in institutions like schools and workplaces depends on acquiring the culture of those in power. Children from middle-class homes often perform better because the school culture aligns with their upbringing.
Delpit questions the effectiveness of some progressive approaches to pedagogy. She suggests that schools must provide children outside of the culture of power with the content that other families from a different cultural orientation provide at home. She argues against schools attempting to change the homes of poor and nonwhite children to match those in the culture of power, which she views as a form of cultural genocide.
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The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy
Delpit's work highlights the "silenced dialogue" that occurs when educators fail to recognize and address the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of their students. She contends that members of any culture transmit information implicitly to co-members. However, when implicit codes are attempted across cultures, communication frequently breaks down. Those with power are frequently least aware of-or least willing to acknowledge-its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence.
Delpit's doctoral student's experience in a writing class illustrates this point. The student felt the teacher was not teaching anything and wanted them to correct each other’s papers when they were there to learn from her. He was looking for structure and formal language in the classroom.
Addressing Power Imbalances in the Classroom
Julian Rose emphasizes the importance of recognizing and undermining power imbalances between educators and students. The identities that we hold that afford us societal power and privilege also perform this stratification in the classroom. As instructors, we could never simply leave the power and privileges conferred to us through our identities at the door of our classrooms or learning spaces. The simple power imbalances between those in our society who hold college degrees, and those of us who do not, create hierarchies in instructional spaces that educators are positioned to wield as a weapon.
Student-centered learning, where students inform the content and processes, can help distribute power. Rose contends that imbalances in power and privilege, between and among educators and students, can fortify barriers in trust and communication that prevent quality relationships and positive climate. In the old world, educators wield power and privilege as weapons to control students, but we have ample evidence suggesting that creates environments where all students are unable to thrive.
Türkiye's Experience: Massification and Democratization
Türkiye's efforts to expand education demonstrate the complex interplay between power, policy, and educational outcomes. Since its foundation, increasing the schooling rate has been among the stated priorities of almost every government. Significant progress has been made on that front, especially at the level of primary education.
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From 2002-2022, Türkiye made significant progress with regard to almost all educational indicators. Due to the long-standing problems impeding access to education at all levels except primary, the country initially concentrated on improving access to education. Accordingly, additional schools and classrooms were built, prioritizing those provinces and regions where the schooling rate was relatively low. At that point, Türkiye dared to tackle the root causes of the problem, making investments nationwide rather than only in specific parts of the country. Consequently, those provinces and regions that had once suffered from schooling-related problems ended up on par with the rest.
Türkiye made massive investments to increase the number of schools and classrooms to oversee that transformation. It was also important for those investments to be managed in such a way that they would promote balanced growth.
Systemic regulations, such as increasing mandatory education from eight to twelve years, played a significant role in improving the schooling rate. The long-standing problems facing girls’ enrollment in school were addressed within the same time frame, and the gender gap shrank, especially over the last decade. In many provinces where girls had been notably less likely to go to school than boys in the early 2000s, the schooling rate for girls came to surpass the schooling rate among boys.
Over the last twenty years, Türkiye has repaired the damage that the social engineering projects of the previous decades had inflicted on society through education policy. Among those damaging policy decisions was the ban on the religious headscarf. Ironically, the public authorities of the time complained that girls could not be incorporated into the education system sufficiently -while imposing a ban on the headscarf to deny access to the female children of religious citizens. Another project for structuring the society had imposed restrictions on the access to higher education by high school graduates who had studied religious instruction or completed vocational schools.
The country appears to have intended to make access to education conditional, rather than unconditional, and implemented that plan through various engineering projects until the 2000s. The relationship between education and cultural power/hegemony has been the subject of debate for a long time. The massification of education was delayed, under the pretense of preserving quality, to prevent or delay the emergence of co-holders of cultural power and a shift in discourse.
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Connected Teaching: Building Relationships for Deeper Learning
Harriet Schwartz argues that the role of teachers is as important as ever and is evolving profoundly. This book explores teaching as a relational practice - a practice wherein connection and disconnection with students, power, identity, and emotion shape the teaching and learning endeavor. Connected Teaching is informed and inspired by Relational Cultural Theory (RCT). The premise of RCT is that the experience of engaging in growth-fostering interactions and relationships is essential to human development.
One of the most rewarding things about being a teacher is watching students grow, not only academically but socially and emotionally as well. In addition, research shows that when students have meaningful relationships with adults at school their academics improve. Developing these relationships throughout a child’s kindergarten through eighth-grade years are crucial for students as it helps set them up for success in high school, giving them skills in self-advocacy.
Teachers help lead students to a wider, more exciting, more meaningful world by helping them to understand themselves, their classmates, and their environment. Her goal for students is that they will become thoughtful citizens, independent, and lifelong thinkers and leaders who will contribute positively to their communities.
The Enduring Power of Education
ECPI University celebrated its 50th anniversary, celebrating the power of education and its ability to change lives and create lifelong learners.
Education is not merely the acquisition of knowledge but a transformative process that empowers individuals, shapes societies, and influences the distribution of power. By acknowledging and addressing the complex interplay between power and education, we can work towards creating more equitable and effective learning environments for all.
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