Roma children and discipline in the classroom

I'm currently attending the Fulbright International Summer Institute, where I'm taking a class on Bulgarian culture to prepare me to teach. Today, we talked about the treatment of ethnic minorities in Bulgaria, primarily Roma, Turks, and Pomak (ethnic Bulgarians who are Muslim and therefore considered a distinctly different group). Our lecturer said that the majority of Roma drop out of school and do not even attain a basic education because they are poor and cannot afford to buy books or to be away from home long enough to attend school. Further, many of them are bullied in school and made to feel inferior. Many are illiterate. She went further to say that one method of discrimination against the Roma is to require a basic education in order to receive a job in even the most basic of service industries. For example, hotel maids need at least five years of schooling (as in elementary school, not university level). Ilona, our lecturer, said that many Roma are upset because they do not understand why they need an education to get a job as a maid. They feel that they can clean just as well even if they are illiterate. Ilona defended the requirement, however, by saying that education provides discipline. According to her, the requirement is not just a matter of discrimination. Employers require schooling so that they know their employees have an understanding of basic "discipline." Apparently Roma are considered extremely undisciplined because their parents often do not put restrictions on their actions. They are allowed to roam freely, and the boys are allowed to treat the women in their family with less respect. One of the hardest aspects of education for Roma is the need to sit still for 45 minute periods, and the punishment for actions considered acceptable at home. When Roma become frustrated, they will sometimes bite or kick their teacher. Ilona implied that they kick or bite because they are not punished for doing so at home. I wonder, though, if part of their use of force is not behavior learned solely from their home environment but from their schooling. Roma students are bullied and beat up and segregated not just by the students but also by some teachers. Roma history and literature are considered irrelevant topics of study. Even the police occasionally play a part in the violence against Roma. I do not intend this to be a direct attack against Bulgaria. I understand that many countries, including the US, have problems with poor treatment of minority groups. I still vividly remember the Postville raid several years ago, and I have heard far too many people advocate a violent removal of Mexicans, even legal Mexicans, from the US.

Returning to my original point, however, I want to address the insistence that education's function is to supply discipline. Even in the US, discipline is seen as one of the primary functions of education. Even though many teachers hope to teach their students to love learning and to think independently, those outside of the teaching profession (and many teachers, as well) see education as a training facility for the workplace. We (I'm using the term "we" very loosely here...) want students and workers who sit quietly and do their work diligently. Who ask questions respectfully and only after they have been given permission to do so. For many teachers, the thought of a completely open classroom where students are encouraged to think independently and challenge their teachers and the instructions given to them is a nightmare, not a dream. We worry about losing control of our classroom and losing sight of our objectives. But what are our objectives? Having students questioning the information presented to them is not losing control. You only lose control when you try to stamp out creativity and questions or when you have no objectives and do not provide any sort of a structure. I don't believe in total anarchy in the classroom. I believe in some structures and guiding activities and goals. But I think that teachers should present materials as a launching point for discussion and debate, not as a chance to prove their own intelligence by condescendingly handing down the "right" answer to everything from the glorified heights of academia (that is, of course, an exaggeration of the way that most teachers operate in the classroom, but it is true that too many teachers think of students as empty vessels to be filled with the teacher's knowledge). Maybe it's my background as an English major, but I doubt the existence of a right answer. I think there are many, many right answers. And I want students to question what others perceive as reality. They should know what is expected in a workplace, but they should also know that those expectations are based on a certain view of reality, which is constantly changing. While they should know social norms, they should also understand social norms. Maybe I'm a dreamer. I don't know. But I think that it's unfortunate that Roma can't afford an education because they're impoverished and can't get jobs because they don't have an education, and all of this is based partly on the perception that they don't understand discipline, when in reality, they just don't understand the Bulgarian perception of discipline.