Gert Z. Nordström
Article based on the book:
Bilden, skolan och samhället.
Nordström, Gert Z. and Romilson, Christer.
Aldus/Bonniers 1970.
Up to the present the teaching methods that
have: been used in our schools have been, almost without exception,of authoritarian type. This is quite logical in a society whose main aim is to train people to fit in to a
given situation and use specific technical
skilIs. Individuals who think in conventional
terms, accept direction from above, work like
machines and consume somewhat more than they can afford are quite simply ideal for a
cynical society that is striving to conserve
its structures and its hierarchy. Today the
Swedish school system is to an increasing
extent abandoning authoritarian teaching
forms in favour of 'free' forms, which do have
certain advantages as far as individualisation,
non-imitative work and so on are concerned
(and art teaching has led the way in the
uevelopment of non-imiative teaching methods during the forties and fifties) but the
freedom is only apparent and the ultimate
aim is still the conservation of a given social
structure, since pupils are left at the mercy
of inflexible conventions adopted without
any genuine alternative in thought, methods
or work situation.
A teaching method wvhich could be used in
place of the authoritarian methods or the
combination aurhoritarian-"free" must strive
to develop the individual's potential consciöusness.
This requires a dynamic teaching
method which activates, provokes, reveals
and informs. In short: a teaching method
which at the same time as it is liberating
its pupils, is teaching them to discover new
tools relevant to present-day society.
In order to make the essentials of this alternative
method more clear, we can describe it
in the following way: In a picture of a sphere
and its centre, wve let the surface of the
sphere represent the phenomena being studied
while the centre represents the pupils
and the teacher -the group. It is important
that the group expriences itself to be in this
situatioon -in the middle of a conglometion
of conflicting political and economic
systems, religions. aesthetic theories and
so on.
A "free" teaching method can also be described
in this way with a 'pluralistic' sphere,
but the difference is that in the alternative
method described above -which we could
call the method of polarisation- we polarise
the subject matter, that is to say, we
emphasise the opposites in different ways of
living, acting, thinking, and so on.
This emphasising of opposites involves
amongst other things a detailed analysis of
the way in which everything is formed by
the interplay of conflicting elements within
istself -how this can change and which
forces are the decisive ones- and the order
of importance of the various opposing pairs
of elements. Since this method of polarisation
does not content itself with a superficial or
isolated analysis of a situation, it must, at
least in those cases where it is intended to
expose basic values and attitudes, distinguish
![[ ]](teachbypol/teachbypol_3_methods.png)
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between primary and sècondary conflicts.
A distinction must also be made between
gcneral conflicts of more abstract nature and
the practical, concrete ones that occur in
everyday life.
This method of teaching by polarisation consists
of three main parts each of a pedagogic
nature: analysis, information and production.
Since this method assumes the integration
of practical and theoretical activities, none
of these main parts can be omitted or regarded
as of minor importance.
There is no definite order in which these
three main parts must he applied. It is reasoable
to begin with a certain studly area
(theme) and analyse it. There is however
no reason why one couldn't begin the other
way round with productive activity (practical
work of various kinds) leading to analysis
and iformation which could in turn 1ead
to a group spontaneously choosing a study
area. This implies that teaching by polarisation
has no concluding phase: it is continually
on the move and evolving new ideas
and new thngs to do.
The Pedagogic Analysis
There is no doubt that people in our society
base their decisions and their actions on
conclusions drawn from very narrow and one-sided
references. I say one-sided because they
always implicitly involve acceptance of the
patterns for co-existence already established.
Only a little elite of philosophers and writers
are permitted to speculate beyond the normal
frames of reference. A so-called ordinary
person has never been offered a non-conventional
starting point for his conclusions, and
this leads to its quite natural consequences.
In the same way we can see that any analysis
carried out by the pupils in a school
Îs predestined to arrive at certain conclusions.
Someone has always decided what it's to be
analysed and how it is to be analysed. The
rules of the game -here as in all other
matters -have been formulated by a little
group of decision makers.
The narrow and specialised roles to which
we have been brought up or been obliged
to accept more or less against our will inhibit
various possible forms of activity. The
"obiectivity" of the expert contrasts with
the undeveloped and subjective impressions
of the ordinary idividual who need not be
taken seriously. Schools contribute to conserve
this inhibiting categorisation by glorifying
science, research and all kinds of expert
opinion in all situations. Large numbers
of examples could be quoted to demonstrate
this. Society has equipped itself with "holy cows"
to which the man in the streef has
no acccss. Schools assist in the mystification
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TEACHING BY POLARISATION
Teaching by polarisation comprises three
main parts namely analysis, fnfonnation and
production with followlng-up. The difference
between analysis and fnformation is that the
former consists of observation of the present
situation and environment while the
information takes up things about which
there was little or no knowledge. The production
is the practical work taking up those
problems that have been treated theoretlcally.
None of three main parts can be excluded, but there
is no defin!te order to be observed.
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of reality -everything is presented as being
more complicated than it actually is. In this
way, any spontaneous activity can he neutralised
by saying, "you do not understand the
situation" or "you are not acquainted with
the facts" and therefore you are only a "layman".
In consequence people express no
opinion in discussions about important problems
and choose meaningless and uncontroversial activities
in their spare time.
The alternative to the expert analysis that is
florourishing in our schools and in society
in general would be a "folk analysis" in
which everyone was encoura~ed to take up,
both theoretically and practically, the questions
that involve them. It is necessary to call
in question and to attack the present selection
of information offered to us and to make
serious evaluations with other premises and
other conclusions. Let us take an example:
We have a picture on page 21.
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It was
published as a fuIl-page advertisement in Life
on 22nd. July 1968. We see a man in the
foreground and two couples in the background;
the interior is from a restaurant.
There is a heading in the middle of the picture:
"Who is he?" To begin an analysis of
the picture we can take up the following
central questions:
1) What does the picture depict?
2) What are the formal characteristics of
the picture and the text? this description
should also take up details in the picture.
3) For whom is the picture and its text
intended? Who is the sender and who is
the receiver?
4) What purpose lies behind the picture?
5) What basic evaluations characterise the
picture? Can we find political, economic
or social aspects?
The analysis ought also to include the technical construction of the advertisement and a
discussion of the entire process of production
from the sponsor and the picture-maker
via the distributors to the so-called consumer.
The Pedagogic Information
The method of polarisation does not imply
a definite routine; it consists of a large number of variations. Two of these are of such
obvious importance that we will give them
special consideration.
One kind of polarisation is a way of working
applicable to a definite object, event or culrural phenomenon. It has been described
above under the name pedagogic analysis.
Another type of polarisation is based on rhe
comparison of different identities in place
and time. This has bern termed pedgocig
information. It is this that gives us the wider
pcrspectives, the gIobal aspects and the
alternatives to our ordinary range of experience.
The pedagogic informatÏon has in turn been
divided into three parts. The fitst of these
is information about historical events, the
second comprises the non-Western alternatives
and the third information about the future
-what is likely to happen in various
fields and how this can be influenced.
We can take an example to clarify the
discussion. Suppose that we have chosen
CARS as the subject of our study. Part of
out analysis will be the critical evaluation
of the car as a means of transport. We can
amongst othcr things compare different types
of car with one another. We can also compare
thc car with other relatcd transport devices
of the present day such as the bicycle, motorcycle
or bus. Here the most important question is the decision between private and colIective systems.
But this is not enough. Before we evaluate
the car as phenomenon we wish to know how
other societies with different references and
olher systems of values have solved the problem
of moving people from place to place.
With the three kinds of information discussed
above we get the folIowing;
1) HISTORICAL INFORMATION.
In this
case we must go back to the time before
cars were invented. We might take a
stagecoach or a sulky as examples.
2) NON-WESTERN INFORMATION.
Here we might take up an East Asian
perspective and choose a coolie and his
rickshaw as object of Dur study.
3) INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUTURE
We are presumably most interested
in how cars may develop in the immediate
future. We can of course see trends in
the experiments being carried out by the
car industry. We can also turn to authors
comic strip artists and experimenters
working with projects of science-fiction
type.
We should pay special attention to one of
these three types of information; the historical information. Despite the fact that much
time is devoted to history in our obligatory
schools, th1is has not resulted in progressive
attitudes.
When one bears in mind that historical research
has never been carried out by (or on
behalf of) anyone except the ruling class in
society, this is not really so strange. Our
history hooks reflect their systems of values.
It is therefore easy to understand yhy the
teaching of history has never had any ambition
to expose class struggle or exploitation,
or why it has been a means of conserving and
strengthening attitudes and preiudices already
in existence. Our selection and usage of
historical information needs thorough revision
in order to become a significant tooI in
the building of a fairer and more effective
society.
Information concerning the future has recently
acquired new importance and relevance,
amongst other things as a result of the discussions
that have taken place about the
planning of the environment. It has become
evident that if people are to have a say in
the planning of their immediate environment
then they must have access at an early stage
to the general lines for development that the
responsible architects and local administrators
have drawn up. At the moment the experts
can take sole responsibility for this work
without any interferenèe from outside; we
so-called consumers can at most make small
adjustments after the main work has been
clone.
Education's reply to a negative development
trend is to give everyone more knowledge
about the ways in which society and its
planning function. This is the only way in
which people will be able to receive their
share of responsibility in the planning and
changing of society.
![[ ]](teachbypol/teachbypol_pictures_polarized.png)
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An example of the polarisation of the litarary content of two pictures. We see here two pictures that speak of
violence in different ways and for different purposes. Working with polarisation as teaching method it is quite
natural to contrast violence against violence. It is also possible to polarise within each picture; in the Manhattan
picture we can discuss the contrast manly-womanly, in the other violence-tenderness. We could also take up a formal
analysis of the pictures end questions of distribution, effect, range, etc.
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The Pedagogic Production
The third component of teaching by polarisation
is creative activity; but it is better to
avoid this term and talk about pedagogic
production instead. The meaning of the word
'creative' has become more and more .confused.
For many people it is only art and
craft work that is creative activity; for other
people it is many other things, including
almost all school activity and all construction
and development in society. The word production
says more about what we are concerned with here,
namely the production of
such concrete things as essays, poems, pictuces,
films, plays, concerts, news-sheets,
pamphlet5, exhibitions, and son on.
How many functions could the above activities
not fill in today's schools! Now the pupils
could really receive tools which can be
used in their own interests. At present most
production forms are imitative. We perform
Moliére, interpret Bach or recite classics -
which is not wrong in itself: the mistake is
that we do not see that we could also work
non-imitatively. Production can be a means
tor stimulating us to form and express
opinions.
But our production will not become effective
communication merely by being non-imitative.
Nor does it suffice to let the pupils learn
things in the formal and technical fields. A
study of the middle period of art education,
that I referred to earlier in this article as the
'free' method, shows this most clearly. During
this period much of the art teaching in our country
was based on non-imitative methods; this was the first altemative to the authoritarian methods in our obligatory
schools. The copying of an originial by van
Gogh or Rembrandt was a cardinal sin and
all exact realism was abandoned.
Unfortunately this initeresting experiment
continued to be just a reaction; nobody developed
it any further. I lacked a constructive
and social orientation. Most of it remained
on the private psychological level. The pupil's
creative activity was free from the authority
of thc teacher but seldom succeeded in leading
to any important communication. If one
further bears in mind the strongly emphasised
division between art and politics that was
prevalent during the forties and fifties, and
also had its influence on school activities,
then it is easier to understand the isolation
and the thinness of creativities and their
preoccupation with individual problems.
Development beyond this 'free' period required an awareness of alternative ways in which
one could work and of the general economic,
social and political situation. It is at this
turning point that we stand today.
There are schools of thought in education
which argue that information and analysys
inhihit production. A common postulate is
Ihat "too much talking causes a reduction
in crcativity". This is not in fact the case what
does occur is a highly temporary reduction
of level during the change from the old
way of ,vorking to the new one. People need
time for this change and the greater their
eariier lack of awareness the more time they
may need. Nor is it a bad thing if some
people change their minds and decide to
devote themselves to same other activity.
The most important thing is that they are
doing what they believe they will get most
out of. In most cases, however, a new production
is soon under way. This may be in
a new form: perhaps film-making or the
compilation of an exhibition may replace
throwing or drawing. But consciousness will
be greater, expression more alive and important and language more clear.
Following Up
The pedagogic continuation is a development
of the proouction in more and mlore concrete
forms. This usually results in an exhibtion,
a play, a musical performance or something
of this nature. At present this is often
difficult to carry out.
If, as we hope, our schools can be developed
from pieces of artificial and bureaucratic
machinery into more organic and living wholes,
this must involve the present mechanical
division into 45-minute lessons and 10-minute
breaks being abandoned. Work periods will
be adapted to the people instead of the other
way round.
Until we have achieved such a radical and
anti-bureaucratic solution of the school situation
we must make adjustments within the
present system. That this is necessary depends
not least on the fact that many ideas and
suggestions that arise during our school work
must be utilised in order that radical changes
can be made in the furure. Under the present
system teachers are only present during lesson
time (and in the evenings when it is perhaps
most necessary there is no qualified pedagogic
help at all), some subjects have been
allocated too little time, others have been
Jeclared 'theoretical' and are carried out in
the absence of sensible work areas and equipment,
and so on. One way in which to improve on this
situation and at the same time
pave the road for progres!iive ideas is to
work with various projects or themes wher
sevcral teachers and subjects take part
togcther.
Some schools have already made experiments
with such projects which have also been followed
up in the form of a common production,
but this has only been able to happen in
cases where a foresighted school administration
has assisted by placing certain subjects
together in blocks on the timetable and
where the teachers involved have contributed
a lot of voluntary work. In other words, the
problems associated with the fragmcnted
school are considcrable and inhibit sensible
and necessary pedagogic following-up; they
must be taken into account in any theoretical
model of a total teaching method.