Ira Shor's "Empowering Education"

        I would like to do a reflection on this text named "Empowering Education" by Ira Shor, because in my high school many teachers did not encourage asking a lot of questions and they would teach by having us just copy everything down and then have tests or quizzes. It definitely helps to do interesting activities that involve critical thinking, since kids will get bored or fed up with just copying information, then they will take the tests and have no problem forgetting everything from that class afterwards. 

        Personally I do not think that the education system should be showing students to be dependent on authority. Teaching them discipline and being obedient to their teachers is very important, but the students should be taught how to make the right decisions on their own and how to learn independently. This also effectively teaches them to be leaders which is certainly beneficial for their futures and in any jobs they will get.

        It is weird that I catch myself feeling uncomfortable every time Ira Shor states the word "social" or "socialize"? In school I have always been taught that socializing was bad and it meant that I wasn't being obedient in class. Socializing with friends outside of school was obviously alright, but it was not a good thing to be doing during class when you are meant to be paying attention. I understand that he is not using the word in those terms, but it still just seems like a strange word to use so much in an article about schooling. If I could guess, he might mean it as socializing with a teacher, as in asking good questions and keeping engaged with the material, is the best thing to do in the classroom because communication helps with better understanding of everything.