I have heard many wonderful arguments against the school systems in the US. People often bring up great names like Einstein and Bill Gates who did not complete college educations. I understand this argument and even find validity in it, but Dewey raised another point that caught my attention. To point it in basic terms, the world is not simple anymore. A man's daily routine used to consist only of providing food for the family. That simple structure has been replaced by complex societal structures, and an education now consists of more than just specialized skills. A proper education now must include the transferring of cultural identity from one generation to the next. This is much more than the farm boy learning how to plant, now the farm boy must know the laws government has placed on certain chemicals, proper business management and distribution of his product, and any number of complications our modern society has thrown into the mix.
While watching Resolved I saw this same principle at play in the form of competitive debate. Having no experience with high school debate teams I was shocked to see what they actually looks like. I was under the impression that two teams calmly discuss a relevant topic until a conclusion is reached, but when I heard the speeds at which they spoke in order to fit their argument into an appointed time limit seemed absurd to me. The documentary went on to explore and explain the structure and rules of high school competitive debate, and the more I heard and saw, the more strangely counterproductive it seemed. I was impressed, to be sure, but it was the same sort of "impressed" I would use when talking about a man that can fit a pool ball into his mouth... amazing, but is it at all useful?
Just like our society has evolved into a complex structure, the debate world too went from a necessary part of political decision making to a silly fast-paced game of words. My favorite part of the documentary comes from Richard Funches and Louis Blackwell. To me, they were not just declaring the entire debate competition system to be a waste of time and money, as the people I mentioned before do the school systems. They were trying to bring reason back to a complicated system which had become bureaucratic. Instead of speeding through as fast as they could, they calmly presented a relevant topic in hopes to make a change. I absolutely loved the reaction shots of the apposing teams when they were faced with meaningful and relevant topics to people in the room. They were completely shocked, as if to say "Are you kidding? We not trying to accomplish anything here! Who do you think you are to try and make this worth while!?"
Early in the documentary there was reference made to Freire and the idea of classrooms being a bank, the teaching depositing knowledge into our minds. More than crying out against the entire schooling system I think we could all be a little more like Richard Funches and Louis Blackwell who worked within the system to try and create change. We need not abandon hope on our education structures as long as we are continuing to question the nature of what and how we are being taught. Like those two awesome debaters, we can strive to bring rhyme and reason back to a bureaucratic system.
P.S. Resolved was one of the most interesting and inspiring documentaries I have ever seen. And I'm not just saying that cause I love Brad... although his cool points definitely went WAY up for being a part of it.
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