May 1st Cultural/Critical

Cultural Studies

I'm unsure why, but I dislike this essay. Maybe because they almost try to act "middle of the road" but they are certainly favoring sides, which is cool with me, it just gets annoying. Anyway, cultural studies is interesting, but was hard for me to understand. When I think of cultural studies, I don't normally think about politics. I know that is not what this is all about, but there is a lot of politics involved it seems. When it comes to teaching, I guess cultural studies focuses on "multiculturalism, the politics of literacy, and the implications of race, class, and gender." I did like the way they talked about how certain, or many of the themes and issues in this genre can't be made into linear ways of writing, or composing. I guess I see that, but I think I see that with most genres of pedagogy. I was glad to get some definition of what cultural studies are, and that they fall into three categories, although there may be more.
I think that using media, music, etc, as I have said before is very important for students. I like to think that that is where cultural studies is going, if it isn't there already. Mass communication and popular culture are things that are really present at the moment. Self-education is an interesting idea. I see where that could go, but I also think that there needs to be some sort of teacher. I like the idea of working with a student to figure out what the student wants to do.
Cultural studies is important in many other fields as well. Writing in general, whether it be composition, reports, grants, and so on could be helped through cultural studies.
I really like the statement, "the cultural studies approach to the writing classroom addressed the question of what constitutes the content of a composition course with the idea that content is right under our noses, in the culture of everyday life." This would be a great way to teach, but difficult in a high school setting that is ruled by curriculum and standards.

Critical Pedagogy

This was crazy talk! I liked it, but was shocked to read some of what was said. They talked about how it isn't the teacher that are poor, or it isn't a wrong technique when students aren't learning, but that it is the right thing, it is a way to keep the lower class down. That was wow to me. Also when community colleges are brought up, and that they are there to build a "large pool of unskilled workers for a shrinking number of increasingly deskilled jobs." That they, "train students to follow orders and accept subordinate roles in society." I know that is what Shor argues and not George, but Wow! I don't agree with that, at least not in my experience. This critical pedagogy seems very "hippie" to me. That isn't a bad thing, it is just that George talks a lot about oppression, resistance, and how we are trapped.
I guess the goal of critical pedagogy is, "to enable students to envision alternatives, to inspire them to assume the responsibility for collectively recreating society." I like this idea, and I see how it would be tricky to do, especially in a traditional classroom. There sometimes needs to be a line that shouldn't be crossed. The class shouldn't be able to vote the class out of existence. I guess I am also thinking about high school, so that may make a difference. I do think that students should be aware of the power they do hold. They should also be able to direct their own education, but there, once again needs to be a line.