Can Knowledge be Questioned?

THE phrase ‘knowledge in question’ seems to be ironic, particularly in wake of the rigid curriculum that is imparted in schools in India with a marked degree of impersonation and alienation. As an educator, a curriculum developer and a teacher educator, I wonder whether anything has changed from the days when I was schooled, to now when I visit schools to address the concerns that relate to the teaching and learning process. Most teacher concerns are centred around finding solutions to help cope with the enormous information contained in textbooks, and they look forward to some tips for planning lessons and making them innovative. By and large the process remains one of relying on resource persons and depending on them for knowledge. Rarely does a teacher attempt to investigate the sources and resources shared in workshops by the resource persons. This conformity to knowledge percolates to the grassroot levels, visible in form of unquestioning obedience to texts, teachers and the social norms in classrooms. I wonder about the seeds of inquiry that need to be sown in the minds of teachers, as also systemic changes introduced in schools, to break away from the pattern of conformity that is visible at all levels.
Skimming through a range of textbooks in our country will reveal the clientele or the social class it caters to. The illustrations, text, language, setting, selection of content and the pricing, all determine the clientele. Equally amazing is the tone of certainty with which a book transmits knowledge. This tone adds to the sacrosanct stature of the texts such that no one, whether teacher or student, feels the need to investigate the information purveyed in the book. It is assumed that what is published has been carefully scanned and is correct, as the book reflects the authority of the authors and publishers whose knowledge and stature is unquestionable. Little surprise that it is rare to come across occasions where the content is questioned, reviewed or even tested by teachers and students, instead of their remaining mere consumers of knowledge. Clearly such passive transmission of texts has its philosophical leanings in behaviourism. No wonder, texts and textbooks in schools enjoy the ultimate authority to shape the responses and thereby the personalities of children.
More than the published knowledge that is received with a degree of obedience, is an equally powerful hidden curriculum that is transacted in schools and which has a much deeper impact on the child’s psyche. This hidden curriculum operates in the form of a structured class atmosphere – the physical setting, desks and blackboard, the high placed charts, bulletins and other manipulatives that remain accessible to the teacher, in general. This is true not only of the physical, but the emotional environment as well. This is clearly reflected in the difference in space shared by the teacher and the students as also in the segregation of seating place of boys and girls that becomes more marked as we approach middle school.
Further, a different kind of social segregation is also visible as one moves towards higher education. For example, professions like teaching appear to be monopolized by women while other professions like adventure sports and sales and marketing are dominated by men. It is not surprising to find low representation of women in jobs such as plumbing, driving, electrical appliance handling, gardening, ploughing and so on. These jobs require physical labour and are thus mostly selected by men in India. The same social knowledge finds its reflection in the school textbooks.
This divide is neither natural nor one that exists merely by chance. It is rather the result of aggregation of subtle nuances that are communicated in the process of schooling in the form of a hidden curriculum. This hidden curriculum is conveyed through teacher’s expectations such as seeking help for lifting chairs or doing physical work or outdoor surveys from boys, and asking girls to be more involved in cultural activities like presenting a dance or a drama on the stage.
In addition to the teachers, parents and the society also construct a gender-stereotyped schema by attaching social taboos to girls opting for travel related jobs, event management or even modelling. Not that boys are spared and they too face the pressure of earning that often takes a toll on their creative interests that might involve painting, choreography, cooking, and so on. Overall, what is visible is a conformity to the apparent and the hidden curriculum which forms the essential backbone of the schooling process. Coupled with this is a pedagogic approach where the basic premise is to give knowledge and thus ‘chalk and talk’ predominates, crushing individuality, creativity and the inquiring nature of the child.
When I talk of unquestioning obedience, I am reminded of a popular animated movie, Do Flowers Fly? developed by the National Institute of Design. It reveals how both the apparent (texts, closed pedagogy) and the hidden curriculum (walking in a line, no peer interaction, no right to speak) operate in schools and take a toll on a child’s creativity, sense of inquiry and well-being.
Thus, knowledge in Indian society remains unquestioned and unparalleled. If any text attempts to raise questions vis a vis the dominant social order, repercussions must be anticipated. At this point I would like to draw attention to the fate of the new SCERT Social Science textbooks for class VII in Kerela and the much debated text of Jeevan, a young school boy who was given an option to choose his religion by the parents. The text was charged with propagating atheism, though what I believe it questioned was the ascribed status of religion. It did deviate from the dominant social order by giving freedom to a child, who in our society is considered to be cognitively immature, to choose his religion and take such an important decision. After a lot of burning of textbooks and the political chaos it generated, the SCERT was forced to tone down the text. I wonder if we can ever question knowledge in India?  

Meeta Mohanty

 

References:
http://www.indiatogether.com/2008/nov/edu-textbook.htm
http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jul/edu-textbook.htm
Do flowers fly – web resource available on my blog www.myeduexperiences.blogspot.com
Philip W. Jackson, Life in Classrooms: The Daily Grind, Holt Rinehart and Winston Publishers, 1990.Krishna Kumar, What is Worth Teaching? Orient Blackswan, 2004.