Corridor Wit: Talking Back to Our Teachers by Alfie Kohn

[proud2BlibKansan]

L’esprit de l’escalier (staircase wit) is a French expression for the devastating riposte, the perfect comeback, that occurs to you only after the party is over, on the way up to bed. But I, for one, spent a lot more time sitting in classrooms as a kid than chatting at soirees as an adult, and many of those hours consisted of listening to my teachers’ vapid cliches and imperious demands. Of course I was too young to think of, and in any case too powerless to consider offering, the replies that these declarations deserved. But now? Care to join me for a session of l’esprit de couloir (corridor wit)?

I’m not talking about simple snark, even if it does afford a certain measure of satisfaction. In response to “Where do you think you’re going, young man?” we might have said, “Well, I’m fairly sure I’m going to the bathroom. Why? Where do you think I’m going?” Or, to the teacher who barked, “Take your feet off that desk! Is that the way you treat your furniture at home?” we could have replied, “Heck, no! That’s why I come to school.”

But those are merely snappy answers to stupid questions that just happened to take place in a classroom. What interests me are the overused and underthought pronouncements that reflected truly reactionary views of education and children. The fact that they were often delivered in a tone of smug self-satisfaction just enhances the pleasure of imagining what our replies might have been. Oh, for a time machine ...
"A lot of us are less interested in learning—and therefore won't do as well—precisely because you've made it all about grades. Hey, I guess you could say you earned our lack of motivation."

I need all eyes on me, please!

Mrs. __________, I appreciate your honesty in admitting that your periodic requests to look at you are really about what you need. Obviously it isn’t necessary to look at you in order to hear what you’re saying. More important, neither looking nor listening is the same as learning. In fact, real learning is more likely to happen when we students are doing most of the talking. But, hey, if your need for attention is so pressing, I’d be glad to stare at you some more.

more . . . http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/09/28/05kohn_ep.h31.html?r=1331144197

[msongs]

1. better yet drop out of your sheltered cocoon school and live off yourself instead of others nt