Exercise of Power

To understand Bell Hooks article "Engaged Pedagogy", I first had to look up the word pedagogy because like several of the other words used in this class, I did not know what it meant going into the reading. Webster's dictionary defines the word so simply as "the art, science, or profession of teaching."

After understanding the meaning of the word, I found the article to be something that I could relate to. Hooks talks about the forceful style that many teachers use to teach and how she did not like this. She was looking more for a teacher who engaged the students in learning by using methods other than dictating. She says that she "...needed to know that professors did not have to be dictators in the classroom" (70). Alike to her experience I have had teachers who taught only to fulfull their duties as a teacher and to get through a lesson in a class period's time and furthermore failed to connect with their audience; the students. On the other hand I have also had many great teachers who put passion and feeling behind their words which made me feel blessed to have them. When given such teachers "I learned, along with other students. to consider myself fortunate if I found an interesting professor who talked in a compelling way. [Some] of my teachers were not the slightest bit interested in enlightenment. More than anything they seemed enthralled by the exercise of power and authority within their mini-kingdom, the classroom" (Hooks, 70). This to me could account for the worst classes ever; showing up and sitting through meaningless lectures.