The Teacher Project

This esay was the result of an assignment a couple of years ago.  In it I began to address, although I did not know it at the time, the ‘Identity Project’.  For those unfamiliar with the term, let me briefly sum it up.  As children, adolescents and young adults mature, they develope their own identity.  Many things can interupt this project leaving the individual disjointed and not knowing where they fit.  I hope to continue this thread, but for now I will have to leave you with the following essay.  For more reading on the identity project, I would recommend reading JJ Mitchells Adolescent Struggle for Selfhood and Identity

Empowermentt: The Most Important Aspect of Technology Education 

Prior to commencing with my plans to retire from the production line and pursue my never forgotten dream of teaching high school trades, I took the opportunity to speak with one of my former shop teachers regarding his career.  As with all technology education teachers I have spoken to, Mr. C. has enjoyed his career such that, should he have to live life over again, he would not change his career decision.  His only regret about his career was that society had allowed technology education to take a downhill slide in importance, and as a result, his present graduates were not being taught the same depth of material that they were even ten years earlier.

As society has allowed the importance of trades and technology education in high school to diminish into little more than an easy credit towards graduation, the labor market has witnessed a parallel decline in the number of skilled workers.  Industrial employers are having difficulty finding and keeping enough able employees.  Many of the personnel they hire based on a good resume fail miserably when it comes time to demonstrate their knowledge and their ability to see a job through to completion (based on observation and conversations with many supervisors in the Okanagan valley). 

Of the young adults that I was involved in training in a production door shop, better than 75% had apparently suffered, as my sociology professor termed it, a debilitating “paralysis of aspirations” (Williams 2005).  These young workers neither knew nor cared to know and they couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort for themselves or for their employer.  The majority of young adults I have seen in the workplace had no goals, no plans, no motivation, and let’s face it, no hope for advancement.  As difficult as this is for employers to deal with, I care more for the individuals that we are failing and for the tragedy that our society is a witness to.

I may only be one individual, but I intend to infect as many students as possible with the antidote for this “paralysis of aspirations”.  I believe the antidote is a desire to do ones best and the desire to always strive to improve upon ones own abilities and situation and to never, ever stop learning!  As an instructor, I must empower my students to take control, set a goal, and work until they achieve it.  In this essay I will explore this concept with some common psychology theories, as well as outline some of the actions and attitudes that I intend to take as an instructor towards empowering my students to take control of their lives and circumstances. 

Although what drives me is largely spiritual, and I could not directly share my convictions in a public school, there are a couple of theories discussed in basic psychology that stand out in my mind as being important for an instructor to remember.  These theories are Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ and Seligman’s ‘learned helplessness’.  Maslow suggested that if basic needs are met, we will desire to succeed and improve until we eventually achieve our potential.  Seligman suggested that if we repeatedly cannot achieve, we are at risk of giving up in a depressive state known as learned helplessness. 

Although, as instructors, we are not in control of all of our students needs, we certainly have influence.  If our students are nourished, which I sincerely hope that they are, we can have an impact on safety, belonging, cognitive, and aesthetic needs.  As instructors it is our responsibility to run a clean and safe shop, to teach and encourage learning and to empower our students to achieve goals.  Success with these basic needs, according to Maslow, will result in a desire to improve and learn.  In contrast, failure to ensure that these needs are met hinders our student’s ability to learn, thus paving the road to failure.

According to Seligman, repetitious failure may lead one into a state of learned helplessness, a depression from which the individual will have a hard time climbing out of on their own.  If our students come to us with a history of low grades despite their best efforts, they may already feel helpless as to the results that they can expect in our classes.  As trades courses will undoubtedly see some of these students, it is my intent to motivate (or require) the students to set their own personal goals.  While assuring that basic course requirements are met, my intent is that my students will take control of their grades, as I hope they will later take control of their lives.  

I believe it to be vitally important that trades education not be viewed as the ‘easy way out’ and I will fight against the stigma that trades occupations are for those that failed academically.  I intend to educate my students as to the demand for skilled tradesmen and women and widely promote post-secondary trades education as a means towards achieving job satisfaction and suitable wages in the labor market.  Couple all of this with the promotion of self evaluation and education about the world in which we live, and I believe we can begin to turn the tide on the pandemic.

Perhaps the first area that our system has failed is that it has allowed students to believe technology education classes to be the easy road to graduation.  While I understand teachers need to ‘sell’ their courses today, I believe we need to sell a course that will both educate and challenge our youth, such as courses under the ACIT and dual credit category.  By failing to challenge youth while they are in the education system, we are failing to plant the seed of self actualization.  Without challenging our students, and by giving a high grade to one who has put in little effort, we have failed to introduce students to the feeling of satisfaction accomplishment, which is an imperative part of the seed that I desire to sow. 

As if selling a challenging elective will not be difficult enough, I also intend to fight the stigma that technology courses are for students that could not handle an academic major.  There is nothing more stifling than the feeling of inferiority!  One of the tools I intend to employ is to offer courses, such as Industrial Design, that will attract more academic oriented students into technology courses, while simultaneously challenging “hands on” students to develop a genuine interest in more academic learning.  By marrying academic and hands on courses, and creating an opportunity for academic and trades students to work together, I hope to begin breaking the negative stigmas and attitudes that surround ‘industrial education’ courses.

Technology education instructors should take a personal interest in showing their students the diversity of technology based careers, as well as establish the necessity for skilled workers in industry.  High school, for me, failed to foster a desire for a career in trades largely because there was no effort to instruct in this manner.  It is my intent to incorporate deliberate instruction, communication, tours, guest speakers, assignments and more, to promote trades occupations.  I will personally endorse post secondary trades education as an effective means to achieving career satisfaction and financial independence.

Beyond challenge and education, I believe it to be essential that students learn the art and necessity of fair self evaluation.  Although my students may never be in direct control of their salaries, or even of the stability of the jobs they hold, if they learn the value of fair self assessments, they will be a long way down the road towards being the one in control.  It was obvious to me as a supervisor which employees cared about their work and which ones didn’t care, and it was the workers that cared that got the promotions and monetary advances.  As an example of this later reward, I may offer a letter of reference to all who accomplish certain goals, such as care and time management.

Through the evidence of care, it also became obvious to me which of my crew were, in general terms, content individuals.  There appears to be a direct correlation between personal happiness and ability to care for your employers business.  I would suggest that connection to be the satisfactory fulfillment of Maslow’s hierarchy; basic needs were met and my employees, empowered to take control of their lives, were striving to better themselves and their surroundings.  They were motivated to take control and improve!

Although I will not be able to control all that a student will go through, I intend to pass along as many tools as possible towards their being able to deal with life in general terms.  Maybe I will need to step out on a limb, perhaps I will even scare some students away, but I will endeavor to plant seeds of empowerment for the future in all of my students.