Sustainability Thinking: A Major Paradigm Shift in Philosophy, Pedagogy,

and Learning Theory

Kurt Love, Ph.D. Central Connecticut State University

!New England Philosophy of Education Society

October 24, 2015 Central Connecticut State University

Schooling the MassesSpent over a million dollars around the turn of the 20th Century influencing U.S. public education. Financed the General Education Board which put out this statement in their Occasional Paper One (1906):

John D. Rockefeller!Co-Founder (1839-1937)!Standard Oil Company

In our dreams...people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [intellectual and character education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple...we will organize children...and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.

Schooling the Masses

Wrote in the Columbia Teachers College Dissertation of 1905 that schools were to be seen like factories “in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products…manufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry”

Ellwood P. Cubberly !Dean (1917-1933)!Stanford University Graduate School of Education

Schooling the MassesBill Gates has been the richest person on the planet since 1995 (net worth of $76 billion in 2015). He and Melinda Gates also run the world’s wealthiest charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (net worth of $34.6 billion)!!According to a Washington Post article entitled “How Bill Gates Pulled Off the Swift Common Core Revolution” by Lindsey Layton (2014), he has been the single greatest influence on the design and promotion of Common Core State Standards.!• In the summer of 2008, Bill Gates meets with two pro-standards reformers, Gene

Wilhoit and David Coleman who argue that public schools all states need to follow a set of common skills in reading and math.!

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided about $200 million to not just provide the funding for the development of what became the Common Core State Standards, but also to persuade state governments and other organizations like the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers (the nation’s two largest teachers unions) to politically adopt this reform.!

• They also funded research to both conservative and liberal groups in order to provide their support of the standards.!

• Former Gates Foundation staffers who worked with President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan undoubtedly influenced the formation of Race to the Top competitive state grants that utilized stimulus money (in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). In order for states to rank high on the rubric, they had to adopt curriculum standards that made students “college and career ready.” States had the option of creating their own standards that did this, as long as universities agreed that these standards would meet the requirement of “college and career ready.” Or, states could simply adopt the Common Core State Standards. !

• By 2010, 45 states plus the District of Columbia adopt the Common Core State Standards. Also, 100 out of 176 Catholic diocese adopt them for their schools. Kentucky became the first state to adopt the standards. They did so before the final draft had been published.

Bill Gates!Chair, CEO, Advisor (1975-Present)!Microsoft!!Chair (2000-Present)!Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Learning is Not Neutral

Nearly all of learning as we know it today was conceived and formed under the auspices and

demands of creating mid-level workers.

Manufactured LearningNearly every mainstream understanding that we have about teaching and learning at this point has been developed with

the primary goal of creating mid-level workers.

Standards

Lobbying, Donations,

Business-Government

Coalitions

Educational Research

Workers

“College and Career Ready”Being successful in today’s school-to-corporation pipeline means

becoming efficient in a system that is creating unsustainability

Remember when people died of “consumption”?

Our planet is dying of “consumption.”

Sustainability Framework

Sustainability !

Environmental!

Social!

Economic

A healthy, balanced economy is dependent upon a healthy, balanced society. A healthy, balanced society is dependent upon a healthy, balanced environment.

Ecological Pressures

The latest UN Report on the Climate (by the IPCC) released said: Fossil fuels need to be phased out completely world-wide by 2100 Renewable energies growth needs to increase from its current 30% to 80% by 2050

!Another report by ecologists (Worm et al., 2006) said:

Currently, 29% of salt-water edible fish have declined by 90% representing a total collapse in fisheries A total extinction predicted by 2048

Sustainability - Environmental

The Earth has the ability on global and local scales to replenish itself within a human generation (25 years) - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, TE

Evolving mindset of humans as interwoven parts of nature and the Earth- Social Studies, Science, English, Art, Music

Social and Cultural Pressures

Social and Cultural Pressures

• Dominance and privilege create “blind spots” and defensiveness

• People suffer immeasurably in the current practices of globalization, which is a misnomer. Global westernization is a more accurate experience for those receiving it.

• Global westernization injects societies with commerce based largely on addiction and narcissism.

Sustainability - SocialWorking towards peace (non-violent conflict resolution) - Social Studies, Health, English, Art, Music, PE, Music,

Solidarity - Affirmation - Critique of Power - Social Studies, English, Social Work, Art, Music

Health & Wellness- Health, PE, Science, English, Social Studies, Art, Music, Tech Ed, Math

Economic Pressures

The Super Wealthy In 2015, the wealthiest 0.1% in the U.S. (about 160,000 families) had about as much as the bottom 90% (about 300 million people) (Saez & Zucman, 2014) In 2014, 58% of new income went to the wealthiest 1% (Saez, 2015) The Koch Brothers have about $80 billion combined. The Waltons have about $90 billion combined. !

Median Wealth In 2011, the median wealth for White households was $111,146 In 2011, the median wealth for Black households was $7,113 In 2011, the median wealth for Latino households was $8,348 (U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Program Participation) The racial wealth gap is driven largely by U.S. policy

Sustainability - EconomyStrong local economies and responsible global commerce- Social Studies, English, Art, Math, Science, Tech Ed

Reintegration of the cultural commons - Social Studies, English, Art, Science, Math, Music, Health

Convergent Thinking & Sustainability

• Convergent thinking is the predominant way of thinking in U.S. public schools

• The central goal of behaviorists, industrialists, and curriculum (standards) designers since the beginning of public schools in the U.S. has been to move all students towards convergent thinking exclusively.

• Convergent thinking creates uniform thinking and is routinely decontextualized from local and global communities (aka the “real world”).

• Since peace and sustainability require different ways of thinking about problems and solutions, convergent thinking is contributing to an unsustainable planet.

The pedagogy of the “right” answer is the wrong answer for peace and sustainability.

Decontextualized Learning

Uniform Learning

Compliance & “Efficiency”

Competitive

Convergent Thinking

“Truth”Standardized Thought

(Behavior)

Behaviorism (Traditional)

“Blank Slate”

Teacher Student’s Brain Student’s Performance

Convergent Thinking (pedagogy of the “right” answer) - All paths lead to a single destination. This is rooted in a belief that there is only one “Truth.”

Convergent Thinking

Cognitivism (Traditional)

Standardized Thought (Memory)

“Memory Maker”“Truth”

Teacher Student’s Brain Student’s Performance

Convergent Thinking (pedagogy of the “right” answer) - All paths lead to a single destination. This is rooted in a belief that there is only one “Truth.”

Not the same as brain-based research!

Prior Thought

Prior Thought

Constructivism (Liberal/Progressive)

scaffold

scaffold

Teacher Student’s Brain Student’s PerformanceStudent’s Brain

“Truth”Standardized

Thought (New Schema)

Schema

Convergent ThinkingConvergent Thinking (pedagogy of the “right” answer) - All paths lead to a single destination. This is rooted in a belief that there is only one “Truth.”

Convergent Thinking

20th & 21st century learning theories (fueled by wealthy business interests) have failed the masses and the planet. They deliberately create compliance and dependency in the poor and middle classes. !In an unsustainable world, we need learning theories and teaching practices that create balance, solidarity, and interdependence.

Re-contexualize + Re-conceptualize = New Education Paradigm

If we re-contextualize teaching and learning out of the “jobs” purpose and into the “peace and sustainability” purpose,!

!We have to re-conceptualize teaching and learning foundations (philosophy, pedagogy, policy, learning theory) and practices

(methods).

Divergent Thinking & Sustainability

• Divergent thinking is key for us to become more sustainable, peaceful, and more prosperous. Divergent thinking offers ways towards health, wellness, and happiness.

• Divergent thinking is “the ability to see lots of possible answers to the question, lots of possible ways interpreting a question… you think not just in linear or convergent ways. To see multiple answers, not one.” (Ken Robinson, 2008)

• Since peace and sustainability require different ways of thinking about problems and solutions, divergent thinking allows more for contextualized learning because it recognizes unique sets of needs and various possibilities.

Peace and sustainability are contextual and complex. So must be our teaching

and learning.

Sustainability ThinkingTo be prepared to create more peace and sustainability, students will become adult members of society who need to be able to:

• Identify issues in specific communities (in context) that affect peace and sustainability

• Understand ideologies and philosophies that are at the root of environmental, social, cultural, and economic issues

• Communicate productively with people of all social, cultural, and political backgrounds

• Inquire and experiment with possible solutions that move us towards sustainability

Peace and sustainability are contextual and complex. So must be our teaching

and learning.

At the core is the ability to do divergent thinking

Info

Divergent Thought (New Relationship)

Critical Constructivism (Transformative)

CommunitiesCritical

Questioning

Teacher Student’s Brain Student’s PerformanceStudent’s Brain

scaffold

scaffoldPrior Thought

Prior Thought

Divergent Thought (New Relationship)

Divergent Thinking - Explore many paths in authentic settings with questions that have no predetermined answer, but do require content knowledge.

Divergent Thinking

Sustainable and Peaceable Thinking

Divergent thinking that is contextualized in community. This provides students with opportunities to explore how content is thought about and practices in local and global community, especially with: !

1. Anti-anthropocentric mindsets

2. Democratic discourse 3. Wellness 4. Balanced, responsible

economies

ReferencesBateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. Bowers, C. A. (2006). Revitalizing the commons: Cultural and educational sites of resistance and affirmation. New York, NY: Lexington

Books. Doppelt, B. (2010). The power of sustainable thinking: How to create a positive future for the climate, the planet, your organization,

and your life. New York, NY: Routledge. Gatto, J. T. (2006). The underground history of American education: A schoolteacher's intimate investigation in the the problem of

modern schooling. New York, NY: Oxford. Gatto, J. T. (2002). Dumbing us down: The hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling. Gabriola Hickel, J. (September 23, 2015). Forget 'developing' poor countries, it's to 'de-develop' rich countries. The Guardian. Retrieved from

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/sep/23/developing-poor-countries-de-develop-rich-countries-sdgs

Layton, L. (2014). How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

Nieto, S. (1994). Affirmation, solidarity, and critique: Moving beyond tolerance in multicultural education. Multicultural Education. Saez, E. (2015). Striking it richer: The evolution of the top incomes in the United States. Berkeley, CA. Retrieved from : http://

eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2014.pdf Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2014). Wealth inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from capitalized income tax data.

Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w20625. Worm, B., Barbier, E. B., Beaumont, N., Duffy, J. E., Folke, C., Halpern, B. S., . . . Watson, R. (2006). Impacts of biodiversity loss on

ocean ecosystem services. Science, 314, 787-790.