Critical Theory

^ Photo 6.3 The Whitwell Tennessee Holocaust Memorial and Paper Clip Project is an example of a progressive, collaborative learning strategy with community involvement.

FOCUS What aspects of progressivism appeal to you as a teacher? Which appeal least? Why? Are there elements of progressivism you would like to incorporate into your philosophy? The students collected paper clips from their family and friends, set up a web page about the project, and asked for donations of clips. Although they collected 100,000 clips in the project’s first year, the goal of collecting 6 million paper clips seemed insurmountable. When Lena Gitter, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, learned about the project, she contacted two German journalists, Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand, who were doing research at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Intrigued that American children in a small Southern town were engaged in a unique project to honor the victims of the Holocaust, the journalists wrote articles about the project that appeared in Germany and Austria. After that, the school was deluged with paper clips. The Schroeders visited the Whitwell school and community. Their visit was a culturally enriching experience for the students, who met persons from another country for the first time. It was especially significant because the Schroeders were from Germany, the country whose Nazi leaders had perpetrated the Holocaust. The Schroeders wrote a book about The Paper Clip Project that was published in Germany.60 During the project, students developed an array of skills. They recorded correspondence and contributions in a ledger, wrote letters to acknowledge contributions, and responded to e-mails sent to their AP Image/Mark Gilliland website. Although none of Whitwell’s students had ever met a Jew when the project began, several Jewish Holocaust survivors visited and spoke to the students and residents of the town. In 2005, Whitwell eighth graders visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

The students decided to house their paper clip collection in a German railroad car, like those that transported Jews to the extermination camps. With the help of the Schroeders, an actual German railway car was brought to Whitwell. With the help of the entire community, the students created a permanent museum, in which the paper clips, stored in the car, are a memorial to the Holocaust victims (Photo 6.3).

The Whitwell Holocaust project illustrates the open-endedness of the project method. The project’s activities permeated the school and the community, bringing residents and students together in a collaborative effort. It would get the attention of the president and vice president of the United States, become the subject of a book, and become an international cause. When they began the project, the Whitwell students and teachers had no idea how many lives they would touch. A student, summing up the project, said, “Now, when I see someone, I think before I speak, I think before I act, and I think before I judge.”61

6-10 CRiTiCAl THEoRy

critical theory (critical

pedagogy) A theory of education which contends that some public-school systems limit educational opportunities for students marginalized due to race, class, and gender biases. Proponents argue that teachers should be “transformative intellectuals” who work to change the system. Also known as “critical discourse.” Critical theory, an influential contemporary theory of education, urges a rigorous critique of schools and society to uncover exploitative power relationships and bring about equity, fairness, and social justice.62 Many of its assumptions are derived from

60Peter W Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand, Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children’s Holocaust Memorial (Minneapolis, MN: Kar-Ben Publishing Co., 2004). Also, see the DVD, Eliott Berlin and Joe Fab, Directors, Paper Clips. 61Smith, Washington Post. 62Douglas Kellner, “Critical Theory,” in Randall Curren, ed., A Companion to the Philosophy of Education (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 161–175.