Moeggenborg 1

Olivia Moeggenborg

Sallie Butler

ENG 111.W01

7 December 2017

Education: A Power Struggle

From where I sit, I see students meander from their high school chemistry class to their dual

enrollment math class, which is taught through the local college. Little do they know, they are also

walking into a completely different classroom dynamic. In their chemistry class, the teacher hands

out assignments each day, leads them step-by-step through notes, and gives a few catch-up days

to keep the students on track. The teacher controls the classroom. In their math class, the teacher

teaches the information, and students are expected to go over it on their own time in order to truly

learn it. They are assessed and the cycle starts again. Here, the students hold power over their

learning. Often, this comes as a shock to the students. We dont get class time for this?! is a

common outburst heard in the dual enrollment classroom. The students have more responsibilities

than they are used to and many times they are unsure as to how to handle them. These

responsibilities can include tasks such as in depth research outside of the classroom, bringing up

unique discussion points, or even having a one-on-one conversation with the teacher. These tasks

give the student some power over their education, letting them control much of what they learn and

how they learn it. While this may not be a situation that every high school student faces, it is a

common one, and poses problems nonetheless. When the students do not fulfill their new

responsibilities, they give up some of their power in the classroom, handing it over to the teacher.

This underperformance can happen both in high school and at the college level, but in high school
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the teachers will most likely pick up the slack to ensure that the student passes the course. Of

course, some may consider this to be success on the students part, but passing the course does

not necessarily mean the student actually learned the material.

Nevertheless, high school is one story, and in college the narrative is different because the

expectations are most likely different. Many college instructors expect that their students will take it

upon themselves to deeply learn information and take some control of their education. This is often

a culture shock of sorts to incoming students who may be accustomed a very different system. This

drastic change means that students often fail to fulfill their expected roles in college, which forfeits

some of their control. The lopsided power balance leads to a host of problems; the students can

become unmotivated, passive, and their learning may not breach the surface. Students often do not

learn deeply because they do not realize the roles they need to take on in the classroom to balance

the power.

Many times, especially in introductory classes, students fail to realize that they have a role

in creating a power balance. Incoming freshmen may not yet understand the dynamics of a college

classroom. They could be stuck in the ways of high school with a mindset that the teachers will tell

them what they need to do and they will do it. However, that system is usually not present in adult

education, creating an unexpected challenge for incoming freshmen. Robert Leamnson, Director of

Multidisciplinary Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, discusses how being

oblivious to classroom responsibilities can lead to subpar freshman performance. Leamnson

discusses possible reasons for this struggle. He claims that the vast dissonance between high school

and college is the culprit. He explains this, saying, they come to us with a mindset about school

that is inappropriate for college work (75). Leamnson thinks the high school mindset leaves
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students with incorrect expectations of college. They come unprepared because they do not know

what is expected of them at this new and challenging level. As a result, freshmen often struggle in

their classes. Some seek out extra help to combat their trouble, but others may not even be aware

that such help exists. These students will most likely continue to struggle to fulfill their roles.

Struggling while in a college setting for the first time is not uncommon. When I took my

first college class, I was a sophomore in high school. I expected it to be more difficult than my

other classes, and I thought I went in prepared. However, I did not expect the conventions of high

school and college to be so different. The style of learning was something that I had never

encountered before, and I struggled. Similarly, while Mike Rose, Professor of Social Research

Methodology at the University of California, Los Angeles, does not specifically address the roles

of students and how they work to balance power in the classroom, he does discuss the struggles of

students who have not yet made sense of these roles. He claims that students may become

frustrated and confused at their first college experience, leading to inadequate performance. He

discusses this when he says, It is a source of exasperation to many freshmen that the university is

so predisposed to question past solutions, to seek counterexplanationsto continually turn

something nice and clean and clear into a problem (113). The unfamiliar expectations of college

can be intimidating. Many students are simply not accustomed to the tasks that a college instructor

expects regularly from their students. However, these tasksto question past solutions, to seek

counterexplanationsare the essence of the students role. These duties are what creates the

power balance, due to the fact that they give students some control over classroom discussion.

Although Rose speaks about unfamiliarity while Leamnson discusses inappropriate mindsets for

college, they both exemplify the point that students are often misinformed of their new roles in the
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college classroom. Leamnson speaks from a more generalized standpoint that students points of

view do not assimilate easily into college life; he states that students are unprepared in a general

sense. Rose is more specific; he claims that the expectations of students in college are unfamiliar

and students are unsure of them. This leads to them possibly not fulfilling their professors

expectations. Both Leamnson and Rose illustrate that many students enter college unprepared to

satisfy their roles.

The situation resulting from students not fulfilling their roles can be a grim one. When

students do not control any aspects of the classroom, the teacher may control all. This can result in

a scenario including an all-powerful teacher and passive, obedient students who soak up

information and do nothing to process it. This situation is the opposite of the active, engaged

learning environment that most colleges claim to facilitate. It leads to students becoming

comfortable in their passive roles, which makes it more difficult for them to learn to be active in

their education. Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire explains this concept in depth,

calling it the banking concept. He describes the situation by saying, The teacher presents himself

to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his

own existence (2). This shows that the banking concept includes a teacher who is virtually always

considered correct and students who are considered ignorant. The fact that Freire used the term

absolute in describing the ignorance of students tells me that he believes many teachers

underestimate the abilities of students, and consider them incapable of many tasks. The teachers

then believe they need to remedy this absolute ignorance, which is a solid assumption, however

their methods are not always ideal. In order to make the students less ignorant, Freire claims that

teachers treat students as though they are banks. Teachers deposit information, students store that
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information, and the teachers can withdraw it for a test. This system is problematic to say the least

since learning is confined to the surface. Students absorb information and accept it, having no need

to think. They become passive; they cram information into their brains without fully considering it.

They fill their minds with words that have become meaningless from lack of context. They

remember these words and then when asked questions about them on the test, they write them all

down and may have still never thought about them. The words come in, students sit motionless,

and then they leave. This process could be incredibly successful in helping students pass tests,

which is one reason that some students may actually prefer it. Some students may enjoy the

banking concept because it requires little to no effort on their part, and they could have easy

academic success. They can often easily recall memorized terms and receive high grades in their

classes. However, a month later, the student is likely to remember nothing because they did not

actually learn the material. The banking concept puts on a facade appearing to be efficient in the

short term, but failing miserably in the long term.

The apparent success of the banking system may be a reason why it is so prevalent. At a

glance, the system appears functional. The students sit and learn and perform well on assessments.

The teachers are pleased with their performance, and therefore the teachers think that they have

succeeded in teaching. The students could also feel successful after receiving high grades and

passing classes with relative ease. However, the passive role of the students in this situation is what

causes the true downfall of the banking system. Had the students been active and fulfilled their

roles, gaining some control of their learning in the process, they most likely would have deeply

learned the information.

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The benefits of students taking initiative to execute their roles in the classroom are limitless.

While it is reasonably obvious that student effort is necessary, sometimes the reasons why are not

so easily visible. For example, biology points to many reasons that students should put in hard

work. Leamnson also discusses the biological perspective of learning. He explains that whenever a

person learns something, new synaptic connections are formed in the brain (67). These

connections, when used often, will eventually hardwire themselves, becoming permanent. Once

the connection is hardwired, it will most likely stay that way for a long time. However, if the

connection is no longer used, it will be eliminated. This means that in order to learn something long

term, one must put in individual effort to maintain that connection. Leamnson describes how this

concept relates to the students role when he says, It follows that learning can be externally

encouraged, but only internally initiated (71). Here, Leamnson is claiming that since true learning

is represented by changes in the brain, only the individual has the power to forge those changes.

They most likely cannot be made solely by a teacher or a classmate. Thus, student effort is

necessary to balance the power to facilitate learning. Comparably, Peter Elbow, Professor of

English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, also points out a less obvious reason

for students to take initiative. He claims that if they fail to do so, their teacher cannot be effective.

He explains this when he says, It can be a great gift to have a writing teacher But you will miss

most of this benefit unless you learn to take a certain amount of control of your situation and use

your teacher as a service, a helper, an allynot fight him as an adversary or go limp (281). Elbow

is saying that if the students fail to uphold their duties, then the teachers efforts can be useless. A

teacher can teach and try and strain all that they wantthis is the externally encouraged part that

Leamnson spoke aboutbut if the students are passive, its effect may be neutralized. In the
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situation of passive students, the teachers hold all of the power, and that can result in Freires

banking concept taking hold. While Leamnson takes a vastly different perspective than Elbow,

both point out less prominent reasons for students to balance the power in the classroom.

Leamnson shows that learning without individual effort could actually be biologically impossible.

Elbow shows that a students actions can affect much more than only the students performance.

Both help illustrate that the reasons for students to have some power in education are boundless.

It is clear that power in the classroom should not heavily favor teachers or students.

However, while the power balance needs to exist, the same balance cannot possibly be effective

for the large variety of students that classrooms see. Some students are more comfortable with

taking their learning into their own hands while some prefer more instruction. Education is far from

one-size-fits-all. Students are individuals with individual needs, so how can each of those needs be

catered to? Put simply, an individualistic approach to education is not a new idea, but so far,

attempts at it have been less than successful. Leamnson goes so far as to say that executing these

solutions may be impossible. He explains the predicament by saying Studies and reports on

elementary and secondary education are plentiful, and they usually end with answers that are

obviously correct but impossible to implement (VIII). The situation of power in the classroom is

such a complex one that solutions are not any sort of a quick fix. Student individuality would need

to be considered, but even this conclusion is problematic. Teachers cannot possibly be expected to

develop a completely different teaching plan for each student. This time commitment is not feasible

with most teachers already full schedules. An individualized approach may be ideal for a more

one-on-one setting, such as tutoring, but for the majority of college classrooms, it may be simply
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unattainable. Finding a power balance that is effective for the majority of students in a class may be

the easiest answer, but it is not a satisfactory one.

When students transition from high school to college, they often find themselves in a

culture shock. The classroom environment and expectations could be completely different. The

students often struggle in this brand new situation, failing to understand their new responsibilities.

When the students do not fulfill their duties, they forfeit their power in the classroom. The teacher

takes over, which leads to passive and unthinking studentsthe opposite of most colleges goals.

The students memorize information and spit it out later, possibly without ever thinking about it.

They learn the words, not the meanings. In order to solve this crisis, students need to be active in

the classroom and balance the power. By taking some control and initiative, the students will think

about ideas and give them context, which means that they will most likely learn them deeply. Deep

learning is the goal of education, and students need to learn their roles to accomplish it.
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Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. Writing for Teachers. Conversations in Context: Identity, Knowledge, and College

Writing, Heinle and Heinle, 2004, pp. 275-286.

Freire, Paulo. The Banking Concept of Education. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970. Herder

and Herder, pp. 242-254.

Leamnson, Robert. The Biological Basis of Learning. Exploring Connections: Learning in the

21st Century, Pearson, 2016, pp. 66-73.

Leamnson, Robert. Thinking About Thinking About Teaching. Thinking About Teaching and

Learning, 1999 pp. 1-9.

Leamnson, Robert. Todays First Year Students. Exploring Connections: Learning in the

21st Century, Pearson, 2016, pp. 73-85.

Rich, Adrienne. Claiming an Education. Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st Century,

Pearson, 2016, pp. 94-98.

Rose, Mike. The Politics of Remediation. Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st Century,

Pearson, 2016, pp. 99-124.