TY - CHAP
T1 - Receptive praxis.
AU - Rychly, Laura Jean
PY - 2012/1/1
Y1 - 2012/1/1
N2 - In some ways, the model of public education we have in place at present is failing many, if not most, children and young adults. Erikson et al. describe a continuum of toxicity, ranging from "increasingly toxic," to "manageably toxic," to "relatively positive" to qualify students' experiences of school. Ken Robinson explains the high numbers of children taking prescription drugs for attention deficit disorders as being necessary because students require anesthesia in order to make it through long days of passively sitting that are counter to their other experiences in the world. Many scholars have directed their attention toward contributing ideas about how schools can be places where children awaken to themselves, recognize themselves as powerful thinkers and problem solvers, and learn to participate as necessary members of our nation's democracy. My suggestion for a way to protect a dynamic between teachers and learners that would make school a more satisfying place for both to inhabit is for a receptive praxis to exist prior to our responses to students. This prior moment would apply to all students, the "universal other". Receptive praxis is a way that we suspend our understanding of another, withhold our knowing, silence our certainty, so that whomever emerges before us enters a space that expects them to just be exactly as they are and not as who they are plus who they should be. Such a praxis adheres to Freire's explanation of transformative human activity as being action and reflection, theory and practice, happening together. We can learn to pause our impulses to know and name. When we receive students in this way, we re-open our expectations of them, which gives them back all of their possibilities for being. We do respond to them, but we do so keeping in mind that our response is based on our perceptions of our students' language, behavior, appearance, and achievement. Students have their own perceptions of themselves, and receiving students means we remember not to privilege our perception above theirs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
AB - In some ways, the model of public education we have in place at present is failing many, if not most, children and young adults. Erikson et al. describe a continuum of toxicity, ranging from "increasingly toxic," to "manageably toxic," to "relatively positive" to qualify students' experiences of school. Ken Robinson explains the high numbers of children taking prescription drugs for attention deficit disorders as being necessary because students require anesthesia in order to make it through long days of passively sitting that are counter to their other experiences in the world. Many scholars have directed their attention toward contributing ideas about how schools can be places where children awaken to themselves, recognize themselves as powerful thinkers and problem solvers, and learn to participate as necessary members of our nation's democracy. My suggestion for a way to protect a dynamic between teachers and learners that would make school a more satisfying place for both to inhabit is for a receptive praxis to exist prior to our responses to students. This prior moment would apply to all students, the "universal other". Receptive praxis is a way that we suspend our understanding of another, withhold our knowing, silence our certainty, so that whomever emerges before us enters a space that expects them to just be exactly as they are and not as who they are plus who they should be. Such a praxis adheres to Freire's explanation of transformative human activity as being action and reflection, theory and practice, happening together. We can learn to pause our impulses to know and name. When we receive students in this way, we re-open our expectations of them, which gives them back all of their possibilities for being. We do respond to them, but we do so keeping in mind that our response is based on our perceptions of our students' language, behavior, appearance, and achievement. Students have their own perceptions of themselves, and receiving students means we remember not to privilege our perception above theirs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
KW - Learning
KW - Public School Education
KW - Social Interaction
KW - Teacher Student Interaction
M3 - Chapter
T3 - Curriculum and pedagogy
SP - 179
EP - 189
BT - Excursions and recursions through power, privilege, and praxis.
A2 - Sams, Brandon
A2 - Job, Jennifer
A2 - Jupp, James C.
PB - IAP Information Age Publishing
CY - Charlotte, NC
ER -