Reading Notes: Up Against the NSTA by Dan Connell

"NSTA was also better prepared for us with the convention topic, ostensibly the relevance of science—”Alternative To Science or Alternative In Science?”—and with us as part of their program."

"analysis of the social and political implications of science teaching.. hidden curriculum which helps to prepetuate the cultural and political values of the class which dominates this society"

"One of the most useful discussions occurred when we spent an evening watching and analyzing an ‘educational’ film sponsored by the National Science Foundation which purported to describe Kit Peak Observatory in Arizona and the research that is done there. The film-makers’ clear attempt at mystification of science and scientists and the lack of real scientific content, typical of many science teaching materials helped to illustrate the problem we faced. As a result of our discussion, the film was shown by one of the in our group to his science class and a good discussion on the function of the film resulted. Remarks of the students were taped and played as part of the sound track for the movie at one of the NSTA sessions."

"Teachers who are overburdened with extra duties, lesson preparation, and frustration with their jobs will simply not find the time for political activity unless it feeds back directly into their work. Not surprisingly, those groups which dealt with curriculum analysis and development–for example, IIS Biology and the Herrnstein IQ study groups—generated the most enthusiasm and the most concrete results."

"we also became sensitive to the danger of becoming national producers of alternate curricula competing with but not confronting the established producers"

"we found both in the fall and at the convention, that conventional materials can often be more effective than radical ones in generating a radical critique.. A major effort to create new curricula could be enormously time-consuming and of questionable effectiveness"

"For the next three and a half days we found ourselves fully occupied showing films, selling literature, rapping with people and holding workshops in the evenings. The workshops together with discussions after films must have involved close contact with a total of about 500 people"

"interpersonal connections enhance our political effectiveness as a  group and will ensure our continuing work together. It has also helped us to see in practice that shit-work need not be alienating if the conditions under which it’s done and the ends which it serves coincide with our collective needs."

"Tasks at the convention, such as mimeographing leaflets, peopling literature tables, staffing our activities center, scrounging equipment, and so on were also assigned"

"As a result of our experiences, we feel that the collaboration of scientists and science teachers has tremendous potential. We strongly urge that groups such as ours be formed all over the country. We have a list of science teachers from many states who would like to make such contacts."

"One of the New York group was a media freak, and brought his videotape apparatus with him. He stayed with us for the whole convention, taping our discussions, actions and sessions and the response of people at the convention to our activities. He showed these tapes on a monitor at our literature table and in our suite, generating a good deal of interest and helping us to evaluate our performance. The presence of the camera at sessions also tended to act as a restraining force on our most vocal opposition"

"At a session sponsored by Union Carbide, two of us attempted to display placards questioning the company’s war-related work. The placards were taken from us and we were forcibly ejected from the meeting"

"One of our literature tables was closed down at the Sheraton and a disruption took place at a  session on lasers. When several SFP people tried to raise questions about military uses of lasers and the politics of technology, they were shouted down and threatened with arrest."

"There were those who felt that disruptions alienated potential allies, and there were others who felt that passive acceptance of the forms of the convention contradicted our basic position. It was suggested that some of us were more concerned with being correct than with being effective, and it became clearer that tactics were not independent of concrete situations."

"The disruption of this meeting (and it was thoroughly disrupted) was particularly effective because the other side was forced to precipitate it, and the audience itself participated in it."

"We invited everyone to attend and over a hundred people came, including not only sympathizers but also several who sought revenge by disrupting our meeting. They immediately asked who the chair was in order to focus their attack and in a brilliant tactical move one of our people proposed a rotating chair and called on one of our attackers first... finding himself in temporary control of the meeting, his anger diffused and he initiated a discussion on democratizing meetings."

"We believe that the materials we brought with us contributed in an important way to raising consciousness among teachers. The surprisingly large sale of pamphlets with radical analyses described earlier should have enough effect in itself to have made the trip to NSTA worth it."

"it is also clear that we antagonized a good number of teachers who had come to learn something about lasers."