One of the many goals of education is getting pupils to begin to think independently. It should be the ultimate goal of every teacher to teach pupils so that they do not need a teacher.
As education theorist Thomas Carruthers observed: “A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.”
The ideal SA classroom should be a centre of knowledge production where pupils are encouraged to ask questions and not be passive collaborators in a culture of conformity and compliance. To entrench a culture of enquiry, healthy dissidence should be taught and supported.
Dissent is a practical manifestation of critical, independent thought and moral courage and thus an educational goal worth pursuing. When pupils are only engaged in the lesson through answering questions by the teacher, this teaches them to be consumers rather than producers of questions. Teaching pupils how to ask good questions is the first step in encouraging dissent.
In turn, pupils will be able to crystallise their thinking by asking penetrating questions often based on their observations of apparent contradictions. To this end, pupils should be encouraged to read fictional and nonfictional accounts of dissidence as a way of inspiring and informing them. In history classrooms, the lives, writings and speeches of Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko and Matin Luther King Jr, can be examined.
This will help to shape the pupils’ thinking on how dissent can influence socio-political events and inspire change. Classrooms should become spaces which encourage the creation of climates that welcome dissent. Pupils should be taught to ask open-ended questions such as those that begin with why, how and to what extent instead of closed questions that begin with is, does, or do.
It is important not to view dissidence as subversion but as a way of constructing enduring institutions that can withstand public scrutiny and improve society. Dissent can also help to counter the effects of groupthink or herd mentality which refers to the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group, resulting in unchallenged, poor-quality decision-making.
This practice was on full display during the Nkandla debacle when the ANC chose to defend this monstrosity and had to be stopped in its tracks by the highest court in the land. This is what enabled the congenitally flawed Jacob Zuma to survive several parliamentary motions of no-confidence as he “permitted, supported and enabled corruption and state capture,” as the Zondo commission found. This is clear evidence that convergent thinking or the illusion of unanimity is detrimental to national prosperity.
Dissent may be connoted as nonconformity and contrarianism while for others it may be seen as an essential part of civil life that gives citizens the power to help democracy thrive. In some quarters, dissent is derided as rocking the boat while in others it is lauded as speaking truth to power. US senator J. William Fulbright wrote in 1966 during the escalation of the Vietnam War: “To criticise one’s country is to do it a service and pay it a compliment.
“It is a service because it may spur the country to do better than it is doing, a compliment because it evidences a belief that the country can do better than it is doing... Criticism, in short, is more than a right, it is an act of patriotism, a higher form of patriotism.”
In other words, dissent is motivated by allegiance not obedience. To this end, teachers who engage their pupils’ critical consciousness through debate, deliberation and thorough study help them to learn and determine the direction of their lives. It is the goal of education to ponder the challenges of the day and formulate solutions that can improve people’s lives.
In the classroom, a collaborative atmosphere should prevail that will enhance team building and interdependence through group work. Furthermore, a growth mindset should be inculcated where mistakes are not frowned upon but regarded as a pathway to learning. The revision of old papers is embarked on as a reflection of learning growth.
Pupils conduct research and information vetting to establish fact from fiction. For a protest-focused society such as SA, American novelist Wendell Berry has this advice for protestors to give voice to their dissent, “not with a sign or slogan, but with facts and arguments”.
“A crowd whose discontent has risen no higher than the level of a slogan is only a crowd. But a crowd that understands the reasons for its discontent... will have to be reckoned with,” Barry said. “I would rather go before the government with two people who have a competent understanding of an issue, and who therefore deserve a hearing, than 2,000 who are vaguely dissatisfied.”
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