Authoritarian Teacher Analysis
2.2 Authoritarian Teacher
The preceding section has depicted the figure of “authoritative teacher” as a de jure and de facto authority within the teacher-centred approach. It is now turning to a discussion of the “authoritarian teacher”. The word “authority” has negative connotations with “conformism” and “unquestioning obedience” (Wilson, 1977), leading to the unpleasant impression of teachers as authoritarians. Teacher-centred scheme in essence attempts to cultivate a student attitude of “docility, receptivity, and obedience” via the “imposition from above and from outside” (Dewey, 1998, p.3-4). This type of imposition, however, is in most cases exercised by the authoritarian teacher.
Before proceeding to illustrate the image of “authoritarian …show more content…
Firstly, I explain how an authoritarian teacher establishes the hierarchy of power in educational settings with reference to Hannah Arendt’s (2006) discussion on the hierarchical nature of the authoritarian order, and analyse how this hierarchy of power liberates and oppresses students. Secondly, I point out the inequality of intelligence between the authoritarian teacher and students, mostly by referring to Jacques Rancière’s (1991) “stultification” and Paulo Freire’s (1996) “banking …show more content…
According to Foucault’s (1983) reasoning of power, “power is exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free” (p.221). It seems that the hierarchy of power brings human beings into free subjects. Following Foucault’s idea, Thompson (2013) suggests that the liberation is achieved by “addressing both parties with productive effects on their identity” (p.290). That is to say, within the hierarchical power relation, the authoritarian teacher confirms his or her teacher-subject with superiority in front of the students. In contrast, students realise their student-subject in relation to the authoritarian teacher. Both parties, the authoritarian teacher and students, are somehow actively engaged in this power relation. In this sense, it could be argued that the search for an authority with superior power gives meaning to the students’ free development of themselves, and allows them to find their true
The preceding section has depicted the figure of “authoritative teacher” as a de jure and de facto authority within the teacher-centred approach. It is now turning to a discussion of the “authoritarian teacher”. The word “authority” has negative connotations with “conformism” and “unquestioning obedience” (Wilson, 1977), leading to the unpleasant impression of teachers as authoritarians. Teacher-centred scheme in essence attempts to cultivate a student attitude of “docility, receptivity, and obedience” via the “imposition from above and from outside” (Dewey, 1998, p.3-4). This type of imposition, however, is in most cases exercised by the authoritarian teacher.
Before proceeding to illustrate the image of “authoritarian …show more content…
Firstly, I explain how an authoritarian teacher establishes the hierarchy of power in educational settings with reference to Hannah Arendt’s (2006) discussion on the hierarchical nature of the authoritarian order, and analyse how this hierarchy of power liberates and oppresses students. Secondly, I point out the inequality of intelligence between the authoritarian teacher and students, mostly by referring to Jacques Rancière’s (1991) “stultification” and Paulo Freire’s (1996) “banking …show more content…
According to Foucault’s (1983) reasoning of power, “power is exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free” (p.221). It seems that the hierarchy of power brings human beings into free subjects. Following Foucault’s idea, Thompson (2013) suggests that the liberation is achieved by “addressing both parties with productive effects on their identity” (p.290). That is to say, within the hierarchical power relation, the authoritarian teacher confirms his or her teacher-subject with superiority in front of the students. In contrast, students realise their student-subject in relation to the authoritarian teacher. Both parties, the authoritarian teacher and students, are somehow actively engaged in this power relation. In this sense, it could be argued that the search for an authority with superior power gives meaning to the students’ free development of themselves, and allows them to find their true