Photons and students by Sakiko Ikoma

In physics, light has the properties of both a particle and a wave. When we consider light as a particle, we call it a photon. During my graduate study in physics, I did experiments to explore the dynamic structure of water molecules. In order to understand behavior of water molecules, I aimed a laser beam at amino acid solutions, collected photons into a photon counter, and analyzed the data. In order to gain precise data, I spent hours adjusting several reflex mirrors one by one to let the maximum amount of photons come to the photon counter.  One might wonder at this point what this has to do with education!

After a year of my graduate study in physics, I started my career as a teacher in a small, private tutorial school in Tokyo, Japan. At the tutorial school, my responsibility was to raise my student’s test scores and lead them to prestigious universities. Caught up in my obligation, I would frequently feel as if I treated my students much as I did the photons. That is, I could not help but feel I would spend much time adjusting instructions and materials (instead of mirrors) to lead my students to the “right” test scores and “right” places.

It is undoubtedly clear that photons and students are different. However, looking at the past, I would continuously ask myself a question much like the one I asked in the physics lab throughout my time in education. Instead of “How many photons can you lead to a photon counter by adjusting reflex mirrors?,” I ask, “How many students can you lead to the “right” positions by adjusting their educational settings?”

Clearly, being a scientist is not the same as a teacher, and students are not photons to be manipulated. However, setting aside ethics, I could not see many clear differences between these questions. A potential difference can be the fact that a photon’s behavior is highly predictable because it strictly follows physical laws, whereas a student’s behavior can be unpredictable because they have free will. From the sociological perspective, there is a premise that an individual, utilizing his or her own agency, can act freely within given social structures. That is, even though there are some constraints of norms, rules, and expectations in the structures, an individual still has free will to take desired actions. However, even if an individual can exercise free will within the social structure, education can always play a role of leading youths to proper positions, in order for them to follow certain norms, rules, and expectations within our society. In this sense, a student’s behavior can become rather predictable based on this specific role of education, especially in the modern times.

I would frequently feel as if I treated my students much as I did the photons. That is, I could not help but feel I would spend much time adjusting instructions and materials (instead of mirrors) to lead my students to the “right” test scores and “right” places.

How teachers can lead youths to proper positions may have been an easier question to answer in ancient times. As Plato describes, in 380 B.C.E., teachers were only responsible for giving lectures about a static body of knowledge. It is not so hard for us to imagine that the ancient teachers from atop the orator’s platform may have exercised authority onto their followers.  For those teachers, the “right” position for their followers to assume was clear – to believe what they were told. As an experimenter leads a photon to a photon counter, the ancient teachers would convey the body of knowledge and lead the followers to master the knowledge. Perhaps in those days, we could recognize these two questions as equivalent.

In modern education, however, teachers play a role not only as educators who give students content knowledge, but also mentors who help students seek and question the meanings and values of what they are and what they want to be. Teachers, I believe, as many do, should serve to academically and emotionally support each student’s socialization process.

Given those contextual differences between the past and present, it seems the key distinction between photons and students lies within what it means to be a mentor. Again, ancient times provide an example, when mentoring indicated manipulation that led youth to corruption. In this situation, Philosophy—seeking and questioning the meaning and value of what we are for the best state of our souls, according to Plato—was certainly a threat to shake not only the ruler’s authority, but also the loyalty of their society as a whole.

In contrast, things became complicated in modern times. On the one hand, mentoring connotes some favorable form of teacher-student relationship; building trust with students and guiding them towards personal fulfillment is a crucial aspect of teachers as mentors. On the other hand, however, the current political climate in U.S. education could allow teachers to manipulate students in a certain way, by reducing the variety of school curricula and focusing heavily on test-taking strategies for accountability.

It seems to me that the difference between mentoring and manipulation depends on how we define “right” position for students. The tricky thing is that what is “right” significantly varies according to different perspectives. For example, even if a teacher strongly believes that he or she mentors students, students might recognize it as a form of manipulation.  Even if a parent criticizes a teacher for manipulating their children, the students might give respect to the teacher as their perfect mentor. Even if all the students, parents, and even the principal of school feel a teacher is a perfect mentor for students, the federal requirement could label this teacher as failure if the test results of the students were significantly lower than others.  Yes, “right” position for students can be extremely fragile when it is seen from different perspectives.

Even if the difference between mentoring and manipulation is surprisingly subtle in the current times, it is still natural to think there is nonetheless a boundary between them. What can draw a distinct boundary between what it means to be a mentor and what it means to manipulate? In response to the question, Plato’s view of philosophy that I touched upon above—seeking and questioning the meaning and value of what we are for the best state of our souls—might shed a ray of light on one very important point. By seeking and questioning the meaning and value of who we are for the best state of our souls, teachers, too, can have an opportunity to seek the truth in the uncertainty of reality in order to make their own lives fruitful. Indeed, it is frightening for teachers to be in the middle of a climate that questions the meaning and value of their role and the nature of education. However, it is when teachers confront the uncertainty of reality that they have put their ability as educators to the test.  And, I believe, it is when teachers admit they are also in the process of learning and questioning the meaning of self, that a boundary between mentoring and manipulation clearly emerges within teacher-student interactions.

Reference

Plato. 2002. Five Dialogues. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc.