Dave Cormier has asked fascinating questions to open #rhizo14
When is cheating learning? How can you use cheating as a weapon?
Teachers all over the world have had to accept the compromise of focusing more on test-taking than learning. Students become obsessed with their marks and competition buries the sort of social interaction that is essential for the construction of knowledge. It is contradictory to expect students to be independent, innovative, critical thinkers who all do as they are told. As Howard Zinn claimed, “Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.”
I like the story of the Australian heart surgeon who became so frustrated at seeing the impact of smoking on the operating table that he subversively joined the graffiti group BUGAUP (Billboard Utilising Grafitti-ists Against Unhealthy Promotions) in his spare time, as he felt he would have more success preventing heart disease in this way: Billboard bandits
The Australian SAS have a policy of disciplining candidates caught cheating on their selection course, but lauding candidates who cheat and get away without being caught. A bit like the ancient Spartans, effective cheating is seen as an admirable skill to develop.
Maybe the best teachers cheat the system.
Our problem is civil obedience. Obedience is easy, no need for thinking, no responsibility. Obedience can make one suffer, but always someone else to blame.
I like your use of the word ‘maybe’ because how would we actually know? The bigger question is how can we support such disobedience, rather than restricting or denying it.