Foucault

Though the read was interesting, and I've determined several ways to apply Foucault to the arenas of education in which I am interested, it is still a challenge to cast my net, catch that which I need, and put it to use in a meaningful and efficient manner. That having been said....here goes.

“In its function, the power to punish is not essentially
different from that of curing or educating.”
-Michel Foucault

Please click links for some interesting… footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6APLUeVvFE School Freud Foucault Society
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz_xE7ywqHc



School/Prison. Prison/School. At times, it seems as though features of each are interchangeable.

(15) [Punishment] assumed as its principal object loss of wealth and rights.
What is it that we are imposing upon students when they are disciplined? In many cases, it does not seem as though they are benefiting from the experience.

(19) What would be the most appropriate approach measures to take? How do we see the future development of the offender? What would be the best way of rehabilitating him”
A shift on rehabilitating individuals—would be an asset if used appropriately and consistently in the public school systems.

(22) Of course, we pass sentence, but this sentence is not in direct relation to the crime.”
How often does this happen? I usually interpret such situations as issues of power struggles (between administrator/teacher and student)

The body is also directly involved in a political field; power relations have an immediate hold upon it; they invest it, mark it, train it, torture it, force it to carry out tasks, to perform ceremonies, to emit signs (25)
This reminds me of the constant conflict of which Bauman speaks, and the concept of field proposed by Bourdieu.

I thought about teachers as “super-power ” (80), and the dysfunction of power. This is directly related to recent discussions I’ve had about teachers’ roles as leaders, role-models, and caregivers.

Regarding classroom management, Foucault’s ideas on informing defendants of their crimes and consequences, can be applied to what should happen in schools (however it doesn’t always play out this way—in power struggles, or with control-mongers, the preference would probably be ). (96)
The shift in addressing defendants’ life circumstances, attitudes, and past (99) mirror the more recent approaches of schools/districts to seek out conditions or circumstances that may impact today’s students’ dispositions.

The confinement of paupers and vagabonds (141) is reminiscent of Bauman’s Globalization. Whereas they are left in the wake of globalization, according to Bauman, they are confined in Foucault’s writing.

It made the educational space like a learning machine, but also as a machine for supervising, hierarchizing, rewarding. (147) This is more of a traditional approach to the set-up of physical space in classrooms. This wouldn’t be conducive to many of the activities in today’s classrooms (cooperative, exploratory learning)