Notorious Dr Rog welcomes you to CMC 300 (Spring 2009)

Welcome to the latest edition of CMC 300. On the pages below you can see what your classmates from terms past have had to say about the world of postmodern theory. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sgt. Pepper, Giroux

I'd like to start out with what I thought was Giroux's most pertinent quote to postmodernism.

"In Eastern Europe and elsewhere there is a strong call for the primacy of the political and the ethical as a foundation for democratic public life whereas in the U.S. there is an ongoing refusal of the discourse of politics and ethics" (384).

Here Giroux is talking about the non-activism of the American people. Dr. Rog used the example in class of the fall of the Soviet Union, and how it was due to the oppressed yearning for a voice. Giroux suggests that it is almost selfish of us to keep so quiet when we have so much opportunity to speak, but he also addresses the issue of why we keep so quiet. In our democratic society it seems almost like a waste to not utilize our freedoms, but how truly democratic is our society? In the same way Butler argues that women technically have the freedom of speech, but are hardly acknowledged, so goes the same treatment of the American people. While we do live very free lives, we have little power over the structure of our society. A perfect example of this is our presidential elections that will be held this November. While technically each citizen does have the right to vote, it is pretty clear that the results are decided way before any voting takes place. Do you think it was an accident that both the Democratic and Republican candidates last election (Bush and Kerry) both attended Yale University and were both part of the same secret society there? It really wouldn't have mattered who won; the same actions would have been taken either way. I guess what I'm getting at is that changing the structure of our society seems near impossible. The only way for it to happen would for people to start raising their voices again. While the "big men" do have a lot of power, I think if millions of citizens revolted against them something could get done.

Sgt. Pepper, Cixous and Butler

I loved the structure of class last Thursday. I think it emphasized the truths of Butler's theories better than anything else we could've done. By not allowing the men to speak, we were going directly against the hegemonic truth that white males are the dominant, prevailing group in the United States. For those 90 minutes, everything that society teaches us to believe no longer applied. And what became of it? Chaos. I thought it was important that Dr. Rog allowed the men to write down their thoughts, offering them a sense of what it's like to have some voice, but not much. By letting them speak their minds with no one necessarily hearing what they had to say, I think it provided a more accurate mirror of everyday life of women. It's important to note that women do have voices, but that they are practically silenced from the day they are born. In reality, women do also have the right to freedom of speech, but they do not have the power to actually make anything of it.

"Every woman has known the torture of beginning to speak aloud" (163).
I see a lot of truth behind Butler's quote here, having directly experienced it every day. As we women get older and start to realize the way society is really run, it is blatant that there is an obvious trend going on. Wealthy white males have always run the show, and they still do. I liked the idea Dr. Rog pointed out in the word "history," and how it can be broken down to "his-story." Now that our country has undergone a feminist movement, we have thankfully gained many rights we didn't have originally. Unfortunately though, now that we all of the same freedoms as males, people assume all is fixed, and aren't interested in it anymore. The truth is we do have a voice, but it's so small that you can barely hear it. And the boys in class on Thursday felt the torture.

Elizabeth Byrne -Giroux

Going into today's class I was uneasy as I couldn't formulate a pre class post. After class I learned alot about my self. I could have taken a shot at what I though Giroux was saying, but due to my lack of confidence in academics in and out of the classroom I didn't do a pre- class post. When we were talking about men and women, I thought to myself "is the reason I don't speak up in class is because I am a girl?" As the class continued I came to the conclusion that I don't think it is because I am a girl. I have grown up always being shy in classrooms and went to a boarding school where everyone was from what i thought, much smarter than me. However, as I continue to write this blog i am thinking- could it be because I am a girl and my inferiority or shyness in classrooms started a long time ago? 

Anyway, now that I have a better understanding of Giroux I think that I may be an exact person that Giroux is talking about. After what Rachel said in class about how she liked how classmates relate theorys to personal experience- I am going to try my best to give examples from life in regards to this essay. When he talks about pedagogy in west and how some where along the way the educational system has abandoned what is at the essence of the U.S - a full participant in democratic society.  When talking about this in the beginning of class really made me think about my role in this country and about how "every vote counts". My mom has registered me as a voter since I was 18 and I never have. I want to start with the fact that my mom registered me to vote-- showing a total lack of interest on my part to be involved with the future of the country in which i am a citizen of. Then in the past two years i have never voted. I know who my parents support and i think well i guess i could just vote for what they thing- but because i dont know much about politics i choose not vote because i dont have a stance either way. This is were the point that education needs to do something about the lack of interest. I am not blaming this on school or education because I believe it all my fault that i do not read more newspapers or familiarize my self with the world around me. However, I do think that somewhere throughout my time in school that i learned that i could do the bare minimum and still get by.  (once i got to college i quickly learned that i was not going to get by with that) Linking myself to teachers, I think that they also believe that they can get by with teaching children the bare minimum they need to pass the proper tests. 

Something else I found interesting was the quote "the limits of reason must be extended to recognizing other ways in which people learn or take up particular subject positions." (387) The things in class that were mentioned were experience, social, interaction, influence, and family. I am having trouble typing what I am thinking and not sure if this is correct link (someone please correct if i am wrong or has a better understanding of this quote) but along the lines of how the boys in the class couldn't see how women were inferior or how  Dr. Tillman or Dr. Cummings would have trouble running the experiment done in class the other day.  Leading to the idea that "critical pedagogy needs to create new forms of knowledge through its emphasis on breaking down disciplinary boundaries and creating new spaces where knowledge can be produced."(386)  

July-->Irigaray

I personally did not understand this reading at all, I don’t know if I was supposed to dig deeper into it or what. It talked about the male and female sexual parts, but it didn’t explain what it was comparing it to. Hopefully in class I will get a better understanding. I plan to continue this essay when I know what I am talking about.

ChittyChittyBangBang Giroux

Giroux's "Towards a Postmodern Pedagogy" is a very interesting article. Giroux challenges the traditional approach to education with what he calls a “border pedagogy". One of Giroux's main goals is to overcome the obstacle of "the other" and unite into one learning experience. Another difference in this border pedagogy approach is the importance of critical thinking. This is a way of thinking that CMC majors need to learn to do.

"This means providing students with the critical capacity to challenge and transform existing social and political forms, rather than simply adapt to them. It also means providing students with the skills they need to locate themselves in history, find their own voices, and provide the convictions and compassion necessary for exercising civic courage, taking risks, and furthering the habits, customs, and social relations that are essential to democratic public forms" (384).

I think this is a very important quote and that there is much more to education than text books. Experience provides education that text books and school teachers can't always give you. It is important to broaden your horizons and "take risks" in order to find out who you are. Giroux also addresses the issue of ethics and relations. In critical pedagogy focusing on differences can be very helpful in understanding how other social groups function in a democratic society and also how to interact with all of these other social groups. Overcoming racism and gender differences are essential in communicating and operating in a free democratic society. It reminds me of Derrida and the concept of difference vs. differance and De Saussure: "In language there are only differences". The same could be said about critical pedagogy.

I feel like I have been lucky with my educational experience and that I have viewed school similar to the way Giroux speaks about it. I weight my learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom equally. My life experiences sometimes help bring in knowledge I have been taught in school and it’s what makes the information really make sense to me. There are endless possibilities and education never ends. "What kind of citizens do we hope to produce through public education in a postmodern culture?" (385) I think that we want well rounded citizens who are experienced and look at life critically.

Starfish Giroux

Henry A. Giroux discusses education in a way I think directly links to this class, CMC 300. “Education must be understood as producing not only knowledge but also political subjects. Rather than rejecting the language of politics, critical pedagogy must link public education to the imperatives of critical democracy” 384. What Giroux is saying is education should not just be one person learning information, but a person being taught to look at the information critically. This reminded me of our class because the education we are gaining from it allows us to do just that. We are viewing the world around us, this postmodern society, with a critical mind.

“The language of critical pedagogy needs to construct schools as democratic public spheres. In part, this means educators need to develop critical pedagogy in which the knowledge, habits, and skills of critical rather than simply good citizenship are taught and practiced. This means providing students with the opportunity to develop the critical capacity to challenge and transform existing social and political forms, rather than simply adapt to them.” I think this quote pretty much sums up the critical media major. The critical media major educates us to develop critical pedagogy. We look at the world with a critical mind, and I notice that I actually am more critical when watching television, or even just looking at the world around me. I have learned to analyze the things I see. I have learned not to just accept them but think about them in depth.