"A building circular... The prisoners in their cells, occupying the circumference. The officers in the centre. By blinds and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed... from the observation of the prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of omnipresence. The whole circuit reviewable with little, or... without any, change of place. One station in the inspection part affording the most perfect view of every cell." - Jeremy Bentham
My undergrad degree was a B.A. in Technical and Professional Writing, but I actually also have a minor in Criminal Justice, so I'd actually explored the writings of Bentham before, which I found really interesting. The one thing I'd never conceived of would be the applications of Bentham's machine through a Foucault lens. This MA program got me thinkin' I'd left my CrmJ roots behind...not true apparently.
From a Criminal Justice perspective, some theorists saw the Panopticon as the ideal containment method. It reduced the number of guards, bars and patrols. Foucault reduces this feeling to a discussion of power relations, in which the prisoner knows they are being watched but cannot see by whom.
It reminded me of the computer labs at my high school. Of course they were firewalled so that MySpace (back when it was the "thing") and PartyPoker were not the order of the day, but instead studying. Everyone knew that they (the nebulous "they") could tell who was logged on where and at what time, but no one knew who monitored these sites or when punishment might occur.
"...if they are schoolchildren, there is no copying, no noise, no chatter, no waste of time..." (qtd in Foucault 201).
To apply this sort of control to the FYC classroom, is to cement the hegemony of instructors in place. To expect each student to act -- and learn -- in the same way is ludicrous, an age old lesson that seems to be having trouble exiting the teaching methods of some. "...the worker would sink to the level of general and undifferentiated labor power, adaptable to a large range of simple tasks..." (qtd. in Ohmann 24). If we expect our students to succeed we need to, as Selfe encourages, accept all the literacies that our students bring to our attention but also endow them with the ability to expand those literacies as the definition of that very word changes with them.
Maggie, as you spoke about your experience with computers in high school, and the monitoring that was happening to "ensure proper usage of the computer(s)", I became curious when you stated that "To expect each student to act -- and learn -- in the same way is ludicrous..." in reference, I think to the very specific activities that your instructors were allowing you all to use the computer(s) for...
ReplyDeleteAs I read your reflection of your experience in high school I began to think back to the Ohmann piece where he stated that "We are told that computers will transform the workplace and the home, not to mention the school, and that in anticipation of this change, we need to provide "computer literacy" for everyone, or at least for the young" (26). I reason this to be relevant to your high school experience because as an instructor now, I would do the same thing if I could. I'm incorporating computer technology into my classroom and pedagogy, but it's become quite the challenge when I'm in class (AML) and my students aren't at the sites I'm telling them to visit - instead its facebook or a multitude of other sites that hold my students attention. One of the main reasons that I'm trying so hard with computer technology is because I know of just how much of a benefit it is to my students, but it becomes harder to justify its use when I cannot regulate their use of techbnology...but at the end of the day, I feel somewhat ok with it, becuase that could have been the class that put computer literacy into the hands of a student that may not have had the opportunity before.
I guess all I'm trying to say is that monitoring the use of the computers while the students are in school and placing them at the same level of learning may not be all that bad. Those who are more advance could take this as the opportunity to help their classmates, and more than anything else - all of the students in the class were able to use computer technology to, hopefully, advance/compliment their learning.
The other bad thing with computers is that they are like cells since they alienate students from one another. Think of these blogs, for example. Everyone of us sits in his/her room blogging his/her ideas. Although we see what everyone writes,we miss many features of social interactions such as facial expressions as if we were cosmic beings from other planets. This leads me to question the idea that technology fosters our social relations.
ReplyDeleteMaggie, it's rare in English Studies to run into someone who comes at the panopticon from the CJ angle instead of the Foucault angle--this is really cool! I'm curious if thinking of this structure metaphorically as a system of power for all for all of us has changed your opinion of it? Do you think we all exert a self-monitoring gaze upon ourselves when we think we may be being watched? How does this impact our sense of self?
ReplyDeleteOn a more practical level, I do think monitoring student activity on computers is probably just an honest act in some way. Maybe? When we encourage their use, we in a way have to take responsibility for how they're used. Then again, do you let students doodle on their notepads? Is this different than letting the fb during class?
Finally, I'm torn on Anwr's point here. For me, technology does foster my relationships w/ may people and while I may miss things in the process (smell, touch, general issues of corporeality) it keeps me connected to friends in a way I wouldn't otherwise have. For eg, my best friend had a baby 2 weeks ago, and I get to see pictures of him on Facebook every few days. She lives 1500 miles away, so I wouldn't see him otherwise.
In the classroom, however, maybe this distance, this "realness" changes somehow? I do think there is something fundamental to being physically present with others that you can't quite capture on screen. I think....