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Dr. Gordon & Learning Psychology
Dr. Gordon & Learning Psychology
Born in a small, highly segregated “tobacco town” in North Carolina, Dr. Edmund Gordon enjoyed a comfortable childhood with his father, a practicing physician who had emigrated from Jamaica; mother, a former elementary school teacher; and two siblings. After earning both an undergraduate degree in biology and graduate degree in social ethics from Howard University, Gordon pursued a doctoral degree in psychology at Teachers College, Columbia. Gordon, married to his wife, Dr. Susan G. Gordon, M.D. for 62 years, cites their four children as their most important achievements.
Commissioned by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to help design the Head Start Program, Dr. Gordon also conducted research that would be used to prove to the Supreme Court that school segregation had harmful effects on children. In keeping with their commitment to serve others, Gordon and his wife, Dr. Susan G. Gordon, M.D., have established a museum, archive, and community center, the CEJJES Institute, near their home to commemorate the African American Diaspora and serve the citizens of Rockland County.
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Reflection #1: Individual & Society
Reflection #1: Individual & Society
Dr. Gordon talks about some of his early research into 'defiers of negative prediction'. With this work, he was attempting to help large groups of students improve their learning and grades by looking at individuals who were "predicted to fail, against whom the odds were stacked". Once you've watched the video, reflect on the questions below:
What conclusions did he reach in this line of research?
What are the implications of these findings for cognitive psychologists? In other words, should we focus our research on how to help individual students overcome their own learning hurdles, or should we focus our research on the effects of societal issues on individual outcomes?
Does this video leave you feeling optimistic or pessimistic about education in the U.S.? Why do you think you feel this way?
Interview with Dr. Gordon
Interview with Dr. Gordon
Interviewer: What first interested you about psychology?
Dr. Edmund Gordon: When I was in college, I thought I was heading into medicine. But after college, I entered divinity school ... what I was looking for in divinity school was preparation for a career in human service. I ended up in a position counseling students and realized that my divinity training was not adequate preparation for counseling people. I realized I was trying to practice psychology with no actual training in psychology, so I decided to go back and study it.
I was invited to the Center for Advanced Studies at Stanford, and it was out there that I got involved with several folks who were being tapped for President John F. Kennedy's ventures into progressive political, social and economic endeavors … [and] I was invited to take on the challenge of evaluating the Head Start program.
INT: Do you think that Head Start has been successful?
EG: As a political and social endeavor, it has turned out to be one of the most successful and effective of the federal government's experiments. When one looks at it in terms of its potential for what it could be, I'm more inclined to call it a failure because we are a long way from what we'd hoped for. It has become identified as a child development project and we had thought of it as a family and community development project…. The community development part of it, I think, was perceived by the politicians as politically threatening because some of the projects became instruments of political action. Those parts were pretty much stripped from Head Start and the concentration became exclusively on early education programs for kids....
When we look across the world at educated people and uneducated people, it's interesting that the educated people tend to be those who have access to the resources necessary to become educated. One could take that finding and say that the most important intervention ought to be in the placing of a floor under the existence of all people to raise their quality of life so they can live effective lives, including getting an adequate education. However, that is politically not a useful concept; society regularly rejects it as too socialist.
INT: What would you recommend to psychologists just starting their careers?
EG: Get as much and as broad an education as you can. Psychologists ought not limit themselves to the things we identify as "psychology." Most problems of the world aren't going to be solved by any single discipline. Students of human behavior need to be well versed in the sciences of behavior, the arts and the humanities. From the perspectives thus provided, professional and wise judgments can be expected.
(source)Reflection #2
Reflection #2
Dr. Gordon used his knowledge of psychology and cognition to make practical, tangible differences in the lives of real people. Thinking back to the readings and our discussions in class:
What areas of cognitive psychology (or psychology more broadly) would you use to make a difference in people’s lives?
Based on Dr. Gordon's advice, what educational strategy should you pursue to make this happen?
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