Food for Thought

Dave’s blog is the blog that I have decided to focus upon this week.  I was interested in responding to his thoughts because they made me think a lot about topics such as women’s rights, the authenticity of interdisciplinary education, and the role of the educator as a teacher of morals.

I do not specifically remember what Professor Bradley said regarding women’s rights in Ghana, but I do remember her mentioning that women were very rarely, if ever, master drummers. While this might seem like an act of oppression on women’s rights, perhaps we do not have to look at it as something that runs that deep. While this might be an example of women being viewed as inferior in Ghana, maybe women are never master drummers because it is merely tradition. Maybe women do not opt to be drummers because it is such a physically taxing experience.  Professor Bradley did mention how the drummers would play for hours on end with only a twenty-minute break.  In the United States, the construction business is a predominantly male field.  Is it because women are not capable of doing construction work? No. The truth of the matter is that construction is something that tends to be a male profession due to its physical demands.  That’s not to say that women are not capable or allowed to be part of that field, but it just happens to be a job that is chiefly male.  This is not something that we, as Americans, are up in arms about.  It is something that we see as being normal.  Now, if someone were to say that women are not allowed to be construction workers because they are incapable of such a job, then I could understand being upset about such a close-minded statement.  I do not recall, however, whether or not the culture in Ghana purposely keeps women from becoming drummers or if it is just a tradition that is considered normal amongst the general population. While it is a definite possibility that the lack of women drummers is a result of a female inferiority mindset, I do not know if that is a conclusion that we should be so quick to make.

As far as the idea of learning and teaching Ghanian drumming in a way that is authentic and that stays true to the culture, I do believe that as educators we should know exactly how their music is carried out.  That meaning that we not only learn the music itself, but the context in which it is taught and performed as well.  As far as the transference into the classroom, however, I do not know if it is necessary to maintain authenticity in every aspect. While it is ideal to keep the experience as authentic as possible, it is also our job as educators to teach in a way that is most appropriate for own classroom community and in a way that allows everyone to experience what is being taught.  Women might not be drummers in Ghana, but that should not mean that we exclude them from learning how to drum.  Being aware that the Ghanian culture teaches and performs in a very specific way is something that we might want to mention to students, but the heart of what we are teaching is music and everyone should have an equal opportunity to experience that.

Lastly, Dave’s mention of “moral teachers” is one that got me thinking a lot about morals in the classroom and how far educators should go when teaching morals and values rather than strictly sticking to the curriculum.  I honestly do not know where exactly to draw the line. I do think, however, that the teaching of morals is inevitable if you have a human being teaching you.  There is no way that one’s morals or values will not be displayed in the way he/she teaches, but as educators, we should try to be as un-biased as possible, despite our own personal beliefs.  Presenting more than one side to every argument or situation not only encourages students to think outside the box, but it encourages them to think for themselves. Yes, we are supposed to be teachers, but our ultimate goal should be promote a greater sense of individual thought.  They will not always be students in our classrooms and when they are gone, we hope that they carry what we teach into the real world; the world beyond the classroom.  If this is so, then teaching only the values and morals that we hold will never achieve this goal.