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Erikson, Lakota Education, and Us - Workshop 2
By Thad Curtz

Please form into groups of six, working with other people who plan to teach at roughly the same level you do.

Introduction

As Erikson never tires of reminding us, his theory interrelates three kinds or levels of organization (or analysis). As he puts it. 'A human being, thus, is at all times an organism, an ego and a member of a society and is involved in all three processes of organization.' Thus any piece of behavior or action can be considered in three ways simultaneously. 1) As a matter of the person's body, considered as a biological organism. 2) As a matter of his ego, his own individual personal way of organizing experience and dealing with inner and outer problems. 3) As a matter of his social role, something he shares with other members of a group in a particular cultural and historical position.

Here is a summary of Erikson's first set of categories, in case you didn't write the one you worked out last week conveniently into your copy of the book for future reference.

Part 0 (5 minutes)

The left column above is a list of zones. However, they are also the labels for stages. What's the relation between a zone and a stage? If your group has trouble with this, you might consult the last paragraph on page 71 after a bit.

Part 1

We would now like you to trace this scheme of Erikson's through his interpretations of traditional life in a couple of tribes. Please divide your group into two trios. One trio should work on the Yurok for each question in this part, the other trio should work on the Sioux. (Please do your best to stay aware of the negative weighting in Erikson's '50s language at various places, and remember that some of these "facts" are disputed.) At the end of the time for each question, you should briefly share and compare what you have worked out about Erikson's claims about that stage and the culture you are considering.

lA. - (10 minutes)

Now, consider the first stage. Describe, in as much detail as you can, the traditional child-rearing practice centered on this stage. Next, describe the ego traits or personality characteristics in children and adults Erikson links to this stage. Third, explain how he relates one or more features of adult life in the culture to this stage.

lB. (10 minutes)

Repeat this process for the second stage.

1C. - (10 minutes)

Repeat it for the third stage.

ID. - (10 minutes)

Lastly, go through this process for the fourth stage.

Part 2 (20 minutes)

Choose a scribe to put your work in this next section up on the paper on the wall after you are finished with the section.

Now we would like to switch your attention to current American culture, and to the schools. On Erikson's account, children have had their central formative experiences with each of the four stages we are working with today before they have done much in school. Spend five minutes on each one of these four stages, and make a list of some ways in which Erikson might suggest the social modality related to each stage is expressed in the school lives of children and teachers at the level you plan to teach in. That is, in what ways is life in school organized around forms of 'getting', of 'taking and holding on', and so on?

Part 3 (10 minutes) - (Your groups's scribe should go put your group's ideas about the preceeding question on the paper on the front wall while the rest of your group works on the following question:.

Read through the Xerox labeled Descriptions. It is two pages from an ethnographic study of an elementary school in a Midwest farm village in the 1980's. (West Haven: Classroom Culture and Society in a Rural Elementary School, Norris Brooke Johnson, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1985, pp. 140-141). This is a 'high classroom' in the second grade. We have temporarily removed the author's annotations from the central column. We would like you to try to interpret and comment on the observations down the middle of the page as if you were viewing them from outside the culture, like a traditional Sioux, say. What is the culture, 'the way of life of the classroom', to which these children are being accustomed? To quote Johnson a little more: 'to what values and habits of mind are the children at West Haven initiated and conditioned to adhere? What forms of social relationship do public school classrooms consistently emphasize?'

Part 4 (10 minutes)

Now take the sheet labeled Interpretations and fold in the edges so that the column of print will fit down the center of your Descriptions page, where it belongs. Study the interpretations to see what they are based on in the descriptions. Discuss any of them which seem unjustified or unsupported with your group.

Part 5 (5 minutes)

What aspects of development, as Erikson sees it, would you say are most centrally involved in how well or badly children cope with this classroom's activities?

Part 6 (10 minutes)

Which aspects of the 'way of life' you see displayed in the West Haven classroom would be most difficult for a child accustomed to the 'way of life' depicted in Rodriguez's description of his childhood? (We are interested in other answers here than 'speaking fluent English' and 'not celebrating Hispanic holidays'.)

Part 7 (10 minutes)

Go study the sheet of paper on the front wall.

Part 8 (25 minutes)

General discussion of the culture of schools and its relation to psychological development.