Interpellation

 'Getting with the program'

I enjoyed reading about the concept of interpellation.  I had never heard of it before but I certainly do it all day as a teacher, mum and just being human.  We are constantly helping to modify behaviour to make people fit in with society or with your ideology.

The examples from the reading resonated with me about the time he was in trouble and the feeling he was left with.  When I first started school I had a teacher who smacked me on one of my first days of school because I cried when my left me.  I can tell you the exact spot I was sitting with the teacher, how casual she tried to be about the conversation, the feeling I had (I was a typical 5 year old who liked to please my teacher) and the feeling I had of being smacked and told not to cry when my mum left.  I can't tell you if I cried the next day but I imagine I probably didn't out of fear as I can't remember crying when my mum left me again.  That teacher was pretty much telling me to get with the program but her methods left a huge mark on me.  So much so that when I was about 17 that teacher came into the supermarket I was working at and ordered some donuts from me.  I told her my story of her as my teacher and she promptly left left in shock - leaving her donuts behind.   I was interpellated by Mrs Hayes.

I really loved that idea of students not knowing what they learnt at school because some of the real lessons are just woven into our fabric so that we become highly functional members of society.  It also made me think about all the ways students are interpellated daily.  From the expectations of the classroom when they arrive in the mornings in the school uniform, how they wear their hair, amount of earrings etc... just at the basic level  to fit in with the schools ideology.   As a teacher a lot of what we expect and interpellate into our students are not 'norms' set by us but by others and we are having to make sure students follow and 'conform'.  Interpellation has occured to get teachers with the program to get the students up with the program. 

Interestingly as a teacher we have to expect things we don't necessarily agree with.  I have never been one to understand some of the expectations that I am expected to have students follow like hair colour.  I was 'modified' by a staff member who kept sending me emails and got others involved because they didn't think my students were following the standards with uniform because I wasn't pushing them and I then went to the opposite end being very aware of what my students were wearing because my emotions were heavily involved as I felt I was being unfairly singled out.  I realise these are surface examples but they are examples of how we all have follow others directives - someone else has the power to make the decisions that teacher have to follow and then get the students 'on board' too.

REFERENCE

Backer, D. I. (2019). The Gold and the Dross: Althusser for Educators. Brill. Chapter One: A beginner's guide to interpellation. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004394698