How Much Power and Control Should our Teachers be Allowed to Have? :)

Riya Agrawal Blogger #1
Period 5
March 9, 2020
Sophomores 2020
Aim Part I: How can we prevent student disruption?

When we walked into the room, a list of new, strict, and arguably unreasonable rules was posted on the board. Many students were initially confused. A few students shared how when they walked into the classroom and said hi to Ms. Fusaro, she ignored them, which was unusual. 

Many rules were unfair and unconventional in a classroom which led many students to believe the rules were fake and this was part of Ms. Fusaro's lesson. However, when Ms. Fusaro began to enforce the rules, (she was a really good actor) many students began to take it seriously. When Ms. Fusaro did finally reveal that it was fake, one student shared how since everyone around her seemed to be taking it seriously, she felt compelled to follow and obey the new rules even though she had a feeling that the rules weren't real.

Aim Part II: How is man torn between the desire to conform and the desire to be an individual?

Afterward, Ms. Fusaro asked us to silently journal for three minutes, about the freedoms we are granted and denied in our home, community and at school. We talked about the reasons for these denials and whether or not we accept them. 

Our discussion focused mostly on how different teachers have different rules and how some of them we do not accept. For example, we do not think that teachers should be able to restrict students' bathroom use. 

Finally, we ended the lesson with a discussion about whether or not we agreed with the following prompts:

When we discussed, we talked about how a lot of these stipulations give the government a chance to hide things from the general public which would be unfair. For example, number five, the people should be able to see why a person who is a seemingly threat to our country is being tried and if their charges are reasonable. 

My Reflection:

The main idea of the lesson today was to be able to identify oppressive power. One point brought up that I agree with is that the general public should be given the power and control first before the authority takes all of it and implements rules that the people may not agree with. People are less likely to trust and follow the authority when they don't seem to have their people's best interests in mind. This idea applies to ideas as large as the Constitution of the United States and to a teacher-student relationship in a classroom. In a classroom, students are more likely to trust and come into class with a mindset to learn rather than sit in the class to get it over with when the class is geared to meet their interests and needs. By giving the students the power over what they learn, and how they learn it, they are much more likely to actually learn something. In the case of the Constitution, the point is that the people rule themselves through votes and representatives. This makes a much more productive country when the direction of the country's decisions is focused on what the people want.