Paul Thomas makes an excellent point here.
Paulo Freire makes a distinction between “authoritarian” (“Do as I say, not as I do” and “Do as I say although I have never done it”) and “authoritative” (Let me guide you to becoming a writer because I am a writer”). And this is where I now see why authority fails.
Thomas cites this attitude in regard to leadership and decision making in schools, but there is another disconnect where this attitude prevails.
Technology.
Teachers use their phones and mobile devices as time keepers and to stay connect to their loved ones throughout the day at many schools, but have a strict no cell phone policy for students.
Don’t students have lives and loved ones to stay connected to as well? Haven’t we all been in a situation where we needed to be contacted immediately for some reason or another?
And yet the cell phone policy at most schools still remains strictly, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
No wonder students are confused.