FYI: "How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind"

How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind, by Gerald Graff, Yale UP, 2003. Reviewed by Molly Swiger in Radical Teacher issue #71 (2005).

Swiger says the book "is a thought-provoking work examining the alienation students (and the public in general) feel about intellectualism and academia." She goes on to summarize how the book recommends we make "the life of the mind" more accessible to students. Below is a mixture of Swiger's, Graff's, and my ideas (mostly the first two).

1) create "bridges" to facilitate students' access to academic material by "interweaving" it with "natural language."
2) actively teach students how to use and understand "academic discourse" (or "arguespeak" in the words of the author)--aspects of which are summarized as listening to different views, summarizing them, comparing and contrasting viewpoints, spotting contradictions & non sequiturs, and reaching conclusions about them.
3) tap into students' existing rhetorical abilities. students are familiar with persuasion and persuasive language (I brought in a couple of commercials last year to show my students what I meant by using evidence to support your assertions).
4) do this by having students write both sides of an argument. this helps students see that their ideas (and the presentation of their ideas) comprise "voices" in an ongoing conversation.
5) don't be afraid to be reductive at times, in presenting complex material to students. it's not the same as "dumbing down;" it's called "introducing." -- students can move on to more complex formulations later.
6) explore why coursework is worth doing. students don't see the purpose of analysis.
7) simply exposing students to diverse viewpoints doesn't necessarily stimulate critical thinking.
8) teach students to seek, perceive & understand the "foundational premise" of a teacher's presentation. Students should understand why the "rules" seem to change between courses, and also, "develop a stronger grasp of the meaning and consequences of those rules."

I've thought about this too--in terms of talking about the "stories people think history tells." Some of the stories that people think history tells include "the story of progress through the ages," "the story of how my group is superior to others," "the story of humanity's need for divine intervention," "the story of exploitation and oppression through the ages," etc. Knowint that these stories exist and that most writing and talking about history rests on one of these bases, will (I hope) prepare students to understand & adapt to any teacher they encounter in the future.

Swiger concludes by saying that Graff provides concrete, proactive strategies for implementing his ideas.