Our discussion about social capital was really something that struck a chord with me. Social capital and individual difference are notions that can bring us together through a bridging of purposes that are imagined through varied lenses. I believe that this notion is something is rooted in the highly post-modern, cybernetic nature of the era that we have arrived at today. When we were discussing whether individual difference can impede the creation of true collective efficacy, I couldn't help but agree with how these differences giving each unit or system within a group a different outlook towards the same purpose, enriching their activities and allowing them to reach a resolution to their end in view.
Can collective efficacy help us become the detached academicians that we hope to become? Or, can it also lead to negative vicarious phenomena? When we look at lunch halls, dining rooms and the status quo situations within the high school and higher education spectra, it's clear that a collective efficacy dimension is definitely present through college-spirit/ school-spirit, and also within negative phenomena like bullying and hazing. But, is this because we don't give students a chance to have collective efficacy in the classroom that they then choose to associate it with these not so favorable things? The way education has steeped itself in instrumentalism has cast a shadow on practices that allow critical reflection to become like the staple food of the classroom. Personally I believe that critical thinking is developed through a classroom context that allows a seamless exchange of thoughts and has lower stakes than a stressful all-nighter right before an exam. Since persistence is so important, isn't the idea of a continuous classroom discussion and the progressive complexity of narrative or expressive (for the arts) reflection one that leads to more transformative learning. To facilitate detached discussions, this notion of collective efficacy could act as a catalyst.
We were discussing last class how technology leads to an objective response rather than one that is based on personally crafted attributions about other people. I cant help but think how this unbiased response could lead to the development of unbiased ideologies within the minds of students. Linking this to bridging and linking social capital, I feel that this notion of detachment is focal. Developing the extremely elusive notion of 'equity' in a classroom can help us bond with each other, bridge our social capital and then literally link them together towards developing collective efficacy. In this process, technology becomes the driving force, or in Vygotsky's words, the mediating tool that guides an internalization of these social processes.
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