June 14, 2023--If I asked you, what does it mean to be human? How might you answer? What data, experiences, philosophers, or spiritual traditions might you draw from in answering this question? What if I added the word “fully” to the question, what does it mean to be fully human? What if anything do these questions suggest about the nature of teaching, learning, and the people involved in that endeavor?
I have been engaged by these questions recently because I hear more and more teachers speaking of the value of humanizing their pedagogy. Their intention is to create learning spaces where students can bring their full selves to the classroom and to become more fully human. I also hear policy makers and curriculum writers note the importance of instruction that is attentive to the whole child. This is a necessary and important conversation given the history of educational practices which often limit or prevent students from accessing the fullness of resources such as cultural, linguistic, or lived experience. Embedded in both humanized pedagogy and whole child perspectives on education are implied notions and definitions of what it means to be human.
Becoming more fully human through intellectual, emotional, and spiritual development is a worthy goal and focus for education. But the nature and depth of these qualities can vary depending on the philosophical or practical orientation guiding the classroom practices of teachers. For instance, the Cartesian orientation posits that to be human is to fully actualize the mind. Paulo Freire describes this style of learning as a form of indoctrination that he terms the “banking model” of education. To be human according to this metaphor is to accept a limited and oppressive sense of human potential grounded in reason and objectivity. In a counter response to the primacy of reason, the postmodern tradition emphasizes the very human attributes of storytelling, the body, and reciprocal relationships with nature among other qualities not associated with the mind. To become human means an individual journey toward wholeness and affirmation of self.
I’m inclined to answer the question of what it means to be human through a holistic/spiritual tradition. A stance that elevates notions of humanness beyond the singularity of a person or social context to include indefinable qualities and the more than human world. To be human is to be connected to self, the world, and others. In this sense, humanness is deeply relational and informed by spiritual energies.
What is the human spirit? A question that stirs deep reflection for me and invites me to think beyond the narrower confines of rationalism. The spiritual elements of teaching are more ineffable as they are less concrete and definable as discrete elements. Many Eastern, Indigenous and Western mystical traditions have perfected the skill of describing the essence of something by what it is not. This allows for some level of precision in terms of a shared understanding without falling into a space that confines and traps something that is inherently fluid and alive.
It strikes me that "spirit" in education may be better defined by what it is not, rather than what it is. In short, then, for me, the human spirt is any form of human flourishing that is not static, confined, commodified or subject to images of power and control over.
To become fully human involves deep transformation. It engages the body, beliefs, and spiritual foundations of selfhood. Because the spiritual essence of humanness can be experienced but rarely quantified it is often hard to sustain. The dominant narrative of rationalism is always pulling learners back to various forms of disempowerment through the measurement of learning. It is a constant task for educators to liberate the hearts of learners as students often revert to ways of learning and being that were conditioned under power over learning spaces instead of power with.
To be fully human is an act of becoming more fully integrated with that which is greater than self and self knowing. Learning that is transformational is spiritual. When you think of the phrase humanizing pedagogy or the goal of being fully human, what elements are you drawn to?
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