I have often said, “teachers are blue collar workers in a white collar profession.”
This belief goes all the way back to a college education class in which a few friends and I were debating on whether teachers were considered “blue collar” or “white collar” workers. I and another buddy were arguing for teachers as blue collar workers due to the need for us to be hands-on in the classroom along with the hard work (preparation) needed to really be involved with our students. The white collar “supporters” pointed out that the education required for the teaching profession should lead to teachers being categorized as white collar. Seeing their point, I eventually came up with the above statement that combined the two schools of thought. However, I now am wondering if today’s classroom teacher doesn’t qualify under either category.
In an earlier blog, “Promoting NCLmB to Support the Black Collar Class,” I referenced the “black collar” class as a third category. According to Ross Anderson, the black collar class, inspired by Steve Jobs’ black turtleneck, references a group of workers who could also be called the “creative class.” This group has the ability to be flexible and adapt to the changing demands of the job and actually has the ability to fluidly switch jobs due to their approach to learning. I am wondering if education has evolved to require all educators to become more black collar than blue or white if they wish to positively impact learning taking place in the schools.
One example of this change in education was brought up in “Average is Officially Over,” when I referenced a section from Thomas Friedman’s book “Thank You for Being Late.” Friedman points out that in the late 20th century there were high-wage/high-skilled jobs, high wage/middle-skilled jobs, and low-wage/low-skilled jobs. In the 21st century, in this age of accelerations, “the high-wage/middle-skilled jobs have gone the way of Kodak film” (Friedman, 2016, p. 204). The other two categories, at either ends of the spectrum, still exist, but the high-wage/middle-skilled jobs are being replaced by technology. I point this out because, as educators, if we are to meet our charge of preparing young people for the 21st century (being more black collar), there needs to be a shift which parallels Friedman’s observations. Teaching needs to shift from a high-wage/middle-skilled profession (white/blue collar) to high-wage/high-skilled profession (black collar). When I say “middle-skilled” I am referencing a teacher centered didactic classroom in which the main pedagogical practice is a transfer of knowledge to our young people as if we are filling an empty vessel. In other words, we need to shift from being “blue collar workers in a white collar profession” to becoming “black collar professionals” able to adapt to needs of the young people in our classroom. The need to shift comes from two basic pressure points. The first is the need to change the focus of school to be less about work and more about learning while the second is the need to change our practice of teaching from telling to listening.
Ron Ritchhart’s book, “Creating Cultures of Thinking,” encourages educators to shift away from looking at students as workers and classrooms as workplaces. He points out that the idea of school as work is “well entrenched in our notions of schooling and education” (Ritchhart, 2015, p.43) as indicated by the language used in schools. “Principals get called ‘chief academic officers’, researchers assess ‘time on task’ and look for ‘value added’ in terms of student output. Prospective teachers are trained in ‘classroom management’, and held ‘accountable for results.’ Students are taught ‘work habits’ and receive ‘rewards’ for their performances. Students are issued workbooks, given work time or work periods, and are assigned seat work and homework” (Ritchhart, 2015, p.43-44). The original purpose for public schools, during the industrial revolution, was to educate a large population in order to get them ready for work and to be part of a system. The design of public schools served the purpose and the value of public education at the time was unquestioned. However, a little over 100 years later, a very similar system is still in place yet we are no longer at the forefront of an industrial revolution. On the contrary, we are now on the forefront of a technological revolution and the purpose of public education has shifted to “preparing students to work at jobs that do not yet exist, creating ideas and solutions for products and problems that have not yet been identified, using technologies that have not yet been invented” (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 2). There is now less of a need for creating blue collar workers and more of a need to nurture the development of black collar professionals. In order to make that shift for schools to be less about work and more about learning, educators need to change their focus as well.
Changing our practices of teaching from telling to listening requires us to shift our pedagogy from a “curriculum transfer model” to a “preparing for life model” (See also What is your One Wish for this School Year). Educators can help young people become better learners by first allowing them to make connections to the "why" over the "what" and this can only happen naturally by not telling the learners what to think, but instead listening to why they think a particular way. We can then use our expertise to try to put them in situations and ask questions that allow them to see the natural patterns and them to make connections to whatever it is they are learning about. Teaching then becomes less about handing down knowledge and more of an "Art" of putting the learners in the right situations. The key being, young people make the connections for themselves and are "in control of their learning" rather than the educators telling young people what connections to make. This will lead to that intrinsic motivation we are all looking for in our young people. We have to evolve from our current factory model of schooling that promotes the compliance associated with blue-collar workers to one that both engages and even empowers young people leading them to have the opportunity to join the black-collar class. This can only be done through listening; not telling.
Ritchhart encourages both teachers and administrators to listen to the sounds of the classroom. “In work-oriented classrooms...we hear students asking questions about the work: ‘How long does this have to be?’ ‘Will this be on the test?’ These are not questions about the ideas or about the learning; they are about the work” (Ritchhart, 2015, p.45). Don’t get me wrong, there is work taking place in a learning-oriented classroom, but as Ritchhart puts it, “the work is a means to and end, not an end in itself” (Ritchhart, 2015, p.45). This shift in pedagogy requires the ability to think on your feet, as well as to be flexible, adaptable, and diagnostic. These are all traits of a professional from the black collar class. The most effective pedagogy has evolved through following the needs of the young people in our classrooms. We educators must continue to grow in our own practices (see also The Red Queen Effect) to the point where we just might find ourselves going through a new type of class exchange. That is to say, to the black-collar class.
References
Darling-Hammond, Linda (2010). The Flat World and Education. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
Friedman, Thomas (2016). Thank You for Being Late. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux.
Ritchhart, Ron (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass Publishing
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