Never Alone — Schools as “Panopticosms”

Maker’s Statement

What I wanted to do with this project was convey the innate panopticosmic traits within education by referring to sources and mediums we’ve engaged through this year while retelling my Transition School journey. My non-written piece, the musical score, fashions different sections as different parts of my year. Within these different sections, I used the idea of motifs to first ground the panopticon theoretically. Additionally, I utilized a guitar to highlight certain sections, particularly with modes and canons. These became prominent towards the end of the piece, which I use to describe Winter Quarter, or when we learned about the theory of panopticism. Additionally, the Head of School, an “observer,” became a more prominent figure throughout the year. In my written piece, I wanted to focus on the instability a panopticosm causes. I believe Westover’s harrowing tale helps extenuate my point whilst returning to the idea that education is helpful. My found object is an umbrella, signifying the innate judgement that everyone has because of their natural biases. It is a stigma to use an umbrella in Washington State, while you might be regarded as idiotic anywhere else. Likewise, the culture of performativity requires you to know rather than to learn in school. Throughout this project, I highlight instability in our educational process.