Abstract
Contemporary media reports insinuate that politicians view winning elections as a rationale for systematically muting the voice of opposition. Idealists respond by determinedly sustaining faith in education’s power to rebuff partisanship. The key, optimists argue, rests in the enactment of curricula such as culturally-sensitive pedagogy, social-emotional skill development, and/or restorative justice practices. Joldersma’s book challenges such program adoption solutions.
Drawing on Levinasian philosophy, Joldersma sets out “to make visible an ethical current that ought to orient formal schooling … [that is a] non-totalizing relation with the other person, characterized by a call to responsibility and an inspiration to hope” (p. 2). Implementation, Joldersma postulates, rests on three critical attributes. The first is a stirred heart that is willing to respond to the “difficult if not next to impossible” (p. 12) call to action. The second is acceptance of the need to engage in “the passive stutter-step of listening” (p. 16). The third is “a conviction that the unjust present situation will change despite the present trajectory of social and political forces” (p. 18).
Joldersma’s logical-linear prose facilitates the reader’s comprehension of the attributes’ influence on ethical convictions. The journey starts with an examination of learning (chap. 2). Focus on collaborative interactions within and beyond the classroom environment replaces the traditional delineation of one being either teacher or student. Joldersma honors the gamut of interpersonal complexities by using the word “other” to reference proximate relationships and the phrase “other-others” to accentuate the connections amongst each “other.” Esteeming each “other” entails acknowledging each learner’s calling, which “stops teachers from issuing clarion-clear blueprints to students about what to do. For then students wouldn’t themselves have to listen to the call, as the teacher would have done that for them” (p. 42).
Asymmetrical classroom roles direct teaching behaviors within the “other-others” learning milieu (chap. 3). Lived experiences stimulate inquiry. Teacher content knowledge supports, guides, and challenges all investigative findings. “[T]he autonomy of the teacher is curtailed, giving the learner protection” (p. 51). Instruction moves from memorizing subject matter to uncovering truth, negotiating common aims, and societal/environmental restoration. Attainment “is an expectation that the present will be ruptured by peace and justice, delight and joy. Teaching is a disbelief in the ironclad continuity of the present lack of human flourishing due to injustice … the orientation of the teacher inspired in this manner is to be disturbed by otherness” (p. 59).
The interactive learning–teaching view challenges current curriculum practices (chap. 4). Joldersma proposes replacing self-contained, subject-matter lessons with instruction that emphasizes “a mediated relation, modeled as a triad of subject, world, and representation” (p. 63). Purposeful steps are taken to mute the historical conviction that “knowledge as power includes gaining advantage over other people, either within society or within the family of nations” (p. 74). Finding space for listening to “a source outside of one’s own interests and control” (p. 76) becomes the impetus for expanding one’s conceptual schema and unveiling truth. The desired outcome is a positive ethical response revealed through a life of service.
Open-ended academic pursuit demands institutional flexibility (chap. 5). Tensions surface as teachers struggle with status-quo pressures such as fitting content “into the finite time slots that schools allot for teaching” (p. 92), or the “comparison schemes required for institutionalized grading” (p. 96). Joldersma craves an alternative milieu—one “that comes from outside the school, awakening in schooling a responsibility for the good of society via the marginal, vulnerable, poor, destitute, weak, voiceless members of society” (p. 107). The result is a uniform commitment where each member of the school community actively strives “to be a pocket of hope … to help those who suffer … to honor everybody’s rights, to develop an ethical community where no-one needs to hide in fear of judgment and oppression” (pp. 110–111).
Some may criticize the book’s abstract rhetoric. I, however, found this book insightful and inspirational. The serving “other” thesis is consistent with Biblical truth. Yet, the almost non-existent Biblical references allow this book to serve as a springboard for a philosophical evaluation of the current educational reform mindset. For those desiring a brighter future, just imagine the potential positive repercussions of Joldersma’s conclusion: “[education] fully emerges only when schooling does not evade the call of justice that comes from the vulnerable of the world and the fragility of the earth. To be educational in its most complete sense is to be outwardly directed to human and other creaturely flourishing. Education becomes completely visible when formal schooling is responsible to and inspired by the call of justice” (p. 117).