The Sociological Imagination

Teaching a sociology class can be an opportunity for a lot of reflection, both for educators and students. For students, it is often the first time that they have looked at themselves as personalities molded and created by social forces and external expectations. There are myriad norms in school that provide raw material for thought and experimentation.

For an educator, it is an opportunity to use what C. Wright Mills called "The Sociological Imagination" to reflect on how the close-up world of classrooms and school are related to the more remote social patterns that are connected so closely to the day-to-day struggles of period 1.

This is the model class to ask questions such as, "Why is history so stressed in education, but the social sciences are given short shrift?" Most are electives, if you are lucky. "Why has reading become so important in US politics, but the content of reading once you learn it is out of sight, out of mind?" There are no Colorado standards for Sociology. No national testing of student knowledge of culture, group dynamics, social mobility, social status and class, social movements, ethnic and race-based bias, criminal behavior, aging and agism, and . . . this is but a short list of Sociology content. I have yet to hear Bill O'Reilly railing against student ignorance of basic research methods, reasoning, and understanding the basic processes of social control. He would rather focus on the tawdry isolated pedophile wrapped in simulated indignation. Where is the outcry?

Well, I have to admit I'm somewhat thankful that there are no committee- and bureaucracy-generated standards. I'm glad there is no Colorado Sociology Assessment. And I'm ecstatic that there is no generalized, watered-down curriculum that must be taught come hell or Katrina.

All this has nothing to do with avoiding accountability. On the contrary, I am more accountable for what these students learn, simply because there is no pre-fabricated education jargon and state curriculum guide that I can fall back on or blame. It is all me. A professional with the opportunity and responsibility of actually educating students in a subject. My supervisors and school administrators hold me accountable, and they know more about these students, my work, and our mutual expectations than any governor.

Let the real learning begin!