It seems to resonate with a lot of folks, embracing the ideas of do-it-yourself, anti-authority, share and share alike, and so on. The anti-corporate part of it resonates with Blackboard-bashers as well.
But though I share many of these values, I'm just not comfortable with the label. It carries a lot of baggage. We don't really want total anarchy in the classroom, do we? We do have goals and objectives for our students, don't we? We may rebel against giving multiple-choice tests, but we do want students to know that the Civil War happened before WW2, right? Is CBGB really a learning environment that we want to emulate, with used needles littering the vomit-stained floors? (Given, there are some students stuck in facilities not much better.) Is Sid Vicious really a better role model than Jaime Escalante?
I just can't get into punk as a model for learning. I never was a punk; I never wanted to be a punk. But what if we took some of those ideals and recast them slightly?
- We can protest against injustice and foolishness when we see it.
- We can use the good things of the past, and update them to be relevant for today.
- We can collaborate to create new things out of old things.
- We can share and learn together.
- We can celebrate our individual unique styles.
- We can join our voices in harmony rather than screaming and spitting on each other.
Besides, at my age it's a lot easier to grow a ponytail than a mohawk.
