Yes, I know, the title is a bit pretentious, but I wanted to write about this in light of a thought I had yesterday upon receiving the grade for the midterm in my Paris in Context class. It was a commentaire du texte, and after we got them back, the professor went over the text to talk about what we should have looked at and etc.
What the article was about is kind of unimportant, but for your information it was about the Panthéon and the funeral procession of Voltaire, which was essentially a revolutionary party. Again; the subject is not the important bit but just for the context. In any case, something very interesting happened during our discussion - the class staged a silent mutiny.
Here's how it went down: The professor, in the course of the discussion, mentioned some things that we really should have known, like the fact that the monarchy was still in place in 1791 so therefore obviously place Louis XV wasn't yet place de la république; Voltaire was a playwrite as well (something I did't actually know) and so obviously the procession stopped at the Opéra and théâtre de l'Odéon; the 'Franklin' alluded to was obviously Benjamin Franklin and thus every American should know that he was extremely influential to the French revolution.
I admit: it is frustrating to hear someone tell you that any fool could have guessed these things that you honestly didn't know and thus couldn't write about at the time. However, I heard, very clearly though it was not spoken out loud, everyone in the room thinking, well, I did't know I was supposed to do that, well, I didn't know that, how could I have known, how could you dare expect me to know that. Suddenly, everyone in the room was completely on the defense, and had completely discounted everything else the professor was saying. I couldn't have known. You didn't tell me that.
Now: I am not saying this isn't valid. Yes, it's frustrating. However, what struck me the most was that suddenly the point had absolutely nothing to do with learning. The only thing that was important was getting it right, and upon not doing so, there was a mutiny. You didn't tell us how to get it right. Therefore, I have every reason to be upset, and to tune you out.
This all struck me as I was walking home. Does anyone really care about learning anymore? or do they just care about getting it right? It occured to me that this doesn't just happen in schools: take a look at Congress, for example. As far as I can tell, absolutely nobody gives a shit about learning. All they care about is being right, and if the other side doesn't agree, well that's their problem because being right is the only option.
Hang on a second. Just as I said last week, I think we can do better than that. No, I did not know that the monarchy was still technically in place in 1791. No, I did not realize that I had to specifically acknowledge the inclusion of Franklin. But now I do. If I wrote the paper again, I would do those things. Next text I may mook more specifically. I'm not trying to be condescending or put myself on a ladder. I felt just as stupid as everyone else. But I just think the point is not to be right. It's to learn. Isn't that what school is about?
At what point did it become okay to not learn, and to only be right?
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