Comics belong in the classroom | Gene Luen Yang

Prevodilac: Kristina Radosavljević Lektor: Ivana Krivokuća

When I was in the fifth grade,

Kada sam išao u peti razred,

I bought an issue of "DC Comics Presents #57"

kupio sam 57. izdanje „DC Comics Presents“

off of a spinner rack at my local bookstore,

sa stalka u lokalnoj knjižari

and that comic book changed my life.

i taj strip mi je promenio život.

The combination of words and pictures did something inside my head

Kombinacija reči i slika je uradila nešto u mojoj glavi

that had never been done before,

što se nikad do tada nije desilo.

and I immediately fell in love with the medium of comics.

Momentalno sam se zaljubio u stripove

I became a voracious comic book reader,

i postao sam halapljivi čitalac stripova,

but I never brought them to school.

ali ih nikada nisam donosio u školu.

Instinctively, I knew that comic books didn't belong in the classroom.

Instiktivno sam znao da stripovima nije mesto u učionici.

My parents definitely were not fans,

Moji roditelji definitivno nisu bili ljubitelji stripa,

and I was certain that my teachers wouldn't be either.

pa sam bio ubeđen da ni moji nastavnici ne bi bili.

After all, they never used them to teach,

Uostalom, nisu ih nikad koristili za predavanje,

comic books and graphic novels were never allowed during silent sustained reading,

stripovi i grafički romani nikad nisu bili dozvoljeni tokom ekstenzivnog čitanja,

and they were never sold at our annual book fair.

i nikada nisu bili prodavani na našem godišnjem sajmu knjiga.

Even so, I kept reading comics,

Uprkos tome, ja sam nastavio da čitam stripove,

and I even started making them.

čak sam počeo i da ih pravim.

Eventually I became a published cartoonist,

Vremenom sam postao crtač stripova,

writing and drawing comic books for a living.

koji je zarađivao pišući i crtajući stripove.

I also became a high school teacher.

Takođe sam postao i nastavnik u srednjoj školi.

This is where I taught:

Ovde sam predavao:

Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California.

srednja škola „Biskup O'Daud”, u Oklandu u Kaliforniji.

I taught a little bit of math and a little bit of art,

Predavao sam malo matematiku i malo umetnost,

but mostly computer science,

ali većinom informatiku,

i tamo sam radio 17 godina.

and I was there for 17 years.

When I was a brand new teacher,

Kada sam tek počinjao raditi,

I tried bringing comic books into my classroom.

pokušao sam da uvedem stripove u učionicu.

I remember telling my students on the first day of every class

Sećam se kako bih prvog dana škole učenicima svih razreda govorio

that I was also a cartoonist.

da sam ja takođe i crtač stripova.

It wasn't so much that I was planning to teach them with comics,

Nisam time planirao da počnem da ih učim iz stripova,

it was more that I was hoping comics would make them think that I was cool.

nego sam se više nadao da će zbog stripova smatrati da sam kul.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I was wrong.

Pogrešio sam.

This was the '90s,

Ovo su bile '90-e,

so comic books didn't have the cultural cachet that they do today.

tako da stripovi nisu baš imali onaj kulturološki status koji imaju danas.

My students didn't think I was cool. They thought I was kind of a dork.

Moji učenici nisu smatrali da sam kul. Mislili su da sam neka vrsta autsajdera.

And even worse, when stuff got hard in my class,

Još gore, kada bi gradivo postalo teško,

they would use comic books as a way of distracting me.

koristili bi stripove da mi skrenu pažnju.

They would raise their hands and ask me questions like,

Podizali bi ruke i pitali me pitanja tipa:

"Mr. Yang, who do you think would win in a fight,

„Gospodine Jeng, šta mislite, ko bi pobedio u borbi,

Superman or the Hulk?"

Supermen ili Hulk?”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I very quickly realized I had to keep my teaching and my cartooning separate.

Veoma brzo sam shvatio da moram razdvojiti predavanje od stripova.

It seemed like my instincts in fifth grade were correct.

Izgledalo je da je moj instikt iz petog razreda bio ispravan.

Comic books didn't belong in the classroom.

Stripovima nije bilo mesta u učionici.

But again, I was wrong.

Ipak, pogrešio sam.

A few years into my teaching career,

Nakon par godina predavanja,

I learned firsthand the educational potential of comics.

saznao sam iz prve ruke koji je obrazovni potencijal stripova.

One semester, I was asked to sub for this Algebra 2 class.

Jednog polugodišta, zamolili su me da predajem na zameni algebru 2.

I was asked to long-term sub it, and I said yes, but there was a problem.

Zatražili su da predajem na duži rok, i ja sam pristao. Ali postojao je problem.

At the time, I was also the school's educational technologist,

U to vreme, ja sam takođe bio i školski obrazovni tehnolog,

which meant every couple of weeks

što je značilo da bih svakih nekoliko nedelja

I had to miss one or two periods of this Algebra 2 class

morao da propustim par časova algebre 2,

because I was in another classroom helping another teacher

zato što bih bio u drugoj učionici pomažući drugom nastavniku

with a computer-related activity.

sa njegovom aktivnosti vezanom za kompjutere.

For these Algebra 2 students, that was terrible.

Za učenike koji su pohađali algebru 2, to je bilo užasno.

I mean, having a long-term sub is bad enough,

Ionako je dovoljno strašno imati dugoročnu zamenu,

but having a sub for your sub? That's the worst.

ali imati zamenu za zamenu, to je bila najgora opcija.

In an effort to provide some sort of consistency for my students,

Da bih obezbedio makar neki kontinuitet svojim učenicima,

I began videotaping myself giving lectures.

počeo sam da snimam svoja predavanja.

I'd then give these videos to my sub to play for my students.

Tada bih ove snimke dao mojoj zameni da ih pušta mojim učenicima.

I tried to make these videos as engaging as possible.

Trudio sam se da ovi snimci budu što zanimljiviji.

I even included these little special effects.

Čak sam uključio i specijalne efekte.

For instance, after I finished a problem on the board,

Na primer, kada bih završio zadatak na tabli,

I'd clap my hands,

pljesnuo bih rukama,

and the board would magically erase.

i tabla bi se magično izbrisala.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I thought it was pretty awesome.

Ja sam smatrao da je to baš fenomenalno.

I was pretty certain that my students would love it,

Bio sam prilično siguran da će se dopasti mojim učenicima,

but I was wrong.

ali sam pogrešio.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

These video lectures were a disaster.

Ova video-predavanja su bila katastrofa.

I had students coming up to me and saying things like,

Učenici su mi dolazili i govorili:

„Gospodine Jeng, mi smo mislili da ste uživo dosadni,

"Mr. Yang, we thought you were boring in person,

but on video, you are just unbearable."

ali na snimku ste nepodnošljivi.”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So as a desperate second attempt, I began drawing these lectures as comics.

Kao očajnički, drugi pokušaj, počeo sam da crtam predavanja kao stripove.

I'd do these very quickly with very little planning.

Radio bih veoma brzo, sa malo planiranja.

I'd just take a sharpie, draw one panel after the other,

Uzeo bih olovku i crtao jednu scenu za drugom,

figuring out what I wanted to say as I went.

stvarajući koncept u hodu.

These comics lectures would come out

Ova predavanja u vidu stripova

to anywhere between four and six pages long,

su imala od četiri do šest strana.

I'd xerox these, give them to my sub to hand to my students.

Kopirao bih ih i dao mojoj zameni da ih podeli učenicima.

And much to my surprise,

Na moje iznenađenje,

these comics lectures were a hit.

ova predavanja u obliku stripa su bila pun pogodak.

My students would ask me to make these for them

Moji učenici su tražili da ih pravim

even when I could be there in person.

čak i kada sam bio prisutan na času.

It was like they liked cartoon me more than actual me.

Izgledalo je kao da im se ja u stripu više dopadam nego stvaran ja.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

This surprised me, because my students are part of a generation

Ovo me je iznenadilo, zato što su moji učenici deo generacije

that was raised on screens,

koja je odrasla uz ekrane,

so I thought for sure they would like learning from a screen

pa sam bio ubeđen da će pre želeti da uče sa ekrana

better than learning from a page.

nego sa stranice.

But when I talked to my students

Ali kada sam pričao sa mojim učenicima

about why they liked these comics lectures so much,

zašto toliko vole ova stripovna predavanja,

I began to understand the educational potential of comics.

počeo sam da shvatam obrazovni potencijal stripova.

First, unlike their math textbooks,

Prvo, za razliku od njihovih udžbenika iz matematike,

these comics lectures taught visually.

ova predavanja u obliku stripa su ih učila vizualno.

Our students grow up in a visual culture,

Naši učenici su odrasli u vizualnoj kulturi,

so they're used to taking in information that way.

pa su navikli da primaju informacije na taj način.

But unlike other visual narratives,

Za razliku od ostalih oblika vizualne naracije,

like film or television or animation or video,

kao što su film, televizija, animacija ili video,

comics are what I call permanent.

stripovi su, kako ja volim da kažem, trajni.

In a comic, past, present and future all sit side by side on the same page.

U stripovima prošlost, sadašnjost i budućnost sede na istoj stranici.

This means that the rate of information flow

Što znači da je brzina protoka informacija

is firmly in the hands of the reader.

čvrsto u rukama čitaoca.

When my students didn't understand something in my comics lecture,

Kada moji učenici nešto ne bi razumeli u mojim predavanjima u obliku stripa,

they could just reread that passage as quickly or as slowly as they needed.

mogli su jednostavno ponovo pročitati pasus onom brzinom koja im je potrebna.

It was like I was giving them a remote control over the information.

To je bilo kao da sam im dao daljinski upravljač za informacije.

The same was not true of my video lectures,

Što nije bio slučaj sa mojim video-predavanjima,

and it wasn't even true of my in-person lectures.

pa čak ni sa mojim predavanjima uživo.

When I speak, I deliver the information as quickly or slowly as I want.

Kada predajem, ja informacije iznosim brzinom kojom ja želim.

So for certain students and certain kinds of information,

Za određene učenike i za određene informacije,

these two aspects of the comics medium, its visual nature and its permanence,

ova dva aspekta stripa kao medija, njegova vizualna priroda i trajnost,

make it an incredibly powerful educational tool.

su ga učinile neverovatno moćnom obrazovnom alatkom.

When I was teaching this Algebra 2 class,

Dok sam predavao algebru 2,

I was also working on my master's in education at Cal State East Bay.

pohađao sam master studije obrazovanja

na Kalifornijskom univerzitetu Istočnog zaliva.

And I was so intrigued by this experience that I had with these comics lectures

Toliko sam bio impresioniran iskustvom sa predavanjima u obliku stripa

that I decided to focus my final master's project on comics.

da sam odlučio da tema mog master rada budu stripovi.

I wanted to figure out why American educators

Želeo sam da shvatim zašto su američki nastavnici

have historically been so reluctant to use comic books in their classrooms.

toliko dugo protivili upotrebi stripova na svojim časovima.

Here's what I discovered.

Evo šta sam otkrio.

Comic books first became a mass medium in the 1940s,

Strip se kao medijum pojavio 1940-ih,

with millions of copies selling every month,

kada je prodavano milion primeraka mesečno,

and educators back then took notice.

što su tadašnji nastavnici primetili.

A lot of innovative teachers began bringing comics into their classrooms

Mnogi inovativni nastavnici su počeli donositi stripove na svoje časove,

to experiment.

kao eksperiment.

In 1944, the "Journal of Educational Sociology"

Godine 1944, „Časopis sociologije obrazovanja”

even devoted an entire issue to this topic.

čak je posvetio čitavo izdanje ovoj temi.

Things seemed to be progressing.

Stvari su naizgled napredovale.

Teachers were starting to figure things out.

Nastavnici su počeli da shvataju.

But then along comes this guy.

Ali onda se pojavljuje ovaj čovek.

This is child psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham,

Ovo je dečiji psiholog, dr Fredrik Vertam,

and in 1954, he wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent,"

koji je 1954. godine napisao knjigu „Zavođenje nevinih”,

where he argues that comic books cause juvenile delinquency.

gde iznosi tvrdnje da su stripovi uzrok maloletne delikvencije.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

He was wrong.

Pogrešio je.

Now, Dr. Wertham was actually a pretty decent guy.

Dr Vertam je u suštini bio veoma pristojan čovek.

He spent most of his career working with juvenile delinquents,

Veći deo svoje karijere je proveo radeći sa maloletnim delikventima,

and in his work he noticed that most of his clients read comic books.

i u svom radu je primetio da većina njegovih klijenata čita stripove.

What Dr. Wertham failed to realize was in the 1940s and '50s,

Ono što je dr Vertamu promaklo je da je u 1940-im i '50-im

almost every kid in America read comic books.

skoro svako dete u Americi čitalo stripove.

Dr. Wertham does a pretty dubious job of proving his case,

Dr Vertam prilično neuverljivo iznosi svoju tvrdnju,

but his book does inspire the Senate of the United States

ali je ova knjiga inspirisala Senat Sjedinjenih Američkih Država

to hold a series of hearings

da održi niz saslušanja

to see if in fact comic books caused juvenile delinquency.

kako bi proverili da li stvarno stripovi prouzrokuju maloletničku delikvenciju.

These hearings lasted for almost two months.

Ova saslušanja su trajala skoro dva meseca.

They ended inconclusively, but not before doing tremendous damage

Završila su se bez zaključka, ali ne pre nego što su naneli ogromnu štetu

to the reputation of comic books in the eyes of the American public.

reputaciji stripa u očima američke javnosti.

After this, respectable American educators all backed away,

Nakon ovoga, ugledni američki nastavnici su se povukli,

and they stayed away for decades.

i držali su se decenijama po strani.

It wasn't until the 1970s

Tek 1970-ih

that a few brave souls started making their way back in.

nekoliko hrabrih duša ih je počelo vraćati natrag.

And it really wasn't until pretty recently,

A tek odnedavno, možda od prošle decenije ili tako nekako,

maybe the last decade or so,

that comics have seen more widespread acceptance

stripovi su malo bolje prihvaćeni

among American educators.

među američkim nastavnicima.

Comic books and graphic novels are now finally making their way

Stripovi i grafički romani se sada konačno vraćaju natrag

back into American classrooms

u američke učionice,

and this is even happening at Bishop O'Dowd, where I used to teach.

čak i u Biskupu O'Daudu, gde sam ja predavao.

Mr. Smith, one of my former colleagues,

Gospodin Smit, jedan od mojih bivših kolega,

uses Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics"

koristi knjigu „Razumevanje stripova" autora Skota Maklauda

in his literature and film class, because that book gives his students

na svojim časovima književnosti i filma, zato što ta knjiga uči njegove učenike

the language with which to discuss the relationship between words and images.

o vezi između reči i slika.

Mr. Burns assigns a comics essay to his students every year.

Gospodin Berns svake godine učenicima dodeljuje esej u obliku stripa.

By asking his students to process a prose novel using images,

Tražeći od njih da prepričaju roman koristeći slike,

Mr. Burns asks them to think deeply

gospodin Berns od njih traži da razmišljaju dublje,

not just about the story

ne samo o priči,

but also about how that story is told.

nego i o načinu na koji je ona ispričana.

And Ms. Murrock uses my own "American Born Chinese"

A gospođa Marok koristi moj strip „Kinez rođen u Americi”

with her English 1 students.

sa učenicima engleskog 1.

For her, graphic novels

Po njoj, grafički romani

are a great way of fulfilling a Common Core Standard.

su odličan način da bi se ispunili Zajednički državni standardi.

The Standard states that students ought to be able to analyze

Po ovim standardima, učenici bi trebalo da imaju sposobnost da analiziraju

how visual elements contribute to the meaning, tone and beauty of a text.

kako vizualni elementi doprinose značenju, tonu i lepoti teksta.

Over in the library, Ms. Counts has built a pretty impressive

U biblioteci, gospođa Kaunts je izgradila prilično impresivnu

graphic novel collection for Bishop O'Dowd.

kolekciju grafičkih romana u Biskup O'Daudu.

Now, Ms. Counts and all of her librarian colleagues

Gospođa Kaunts i sve njene kolege bibliotekari

have really been at the forefront of comics advocacy,

su zaista bili na prvoj liniji odbrane stripova,

really since the early '80s, when a school library journal article

još od ranih '80-tih, kada je članak školskog bibliotekarskog časopisa

stated that the mere presence of graphic novels in the library

potvrdio da je sama prisutnost grafičkih romana u biblioteci

increased usage by about 80 percent

povećalo upotrebu za oko 80 procenata

and increased the circulation of noncomics material

i povećalo cirkulaciju materijala koji nisu bili stripovi

by about 30 percent.

za oko 30 procenata.

Inspired by this renewed interest from American educators,

Inspirisani ovim ponovnim interesom američkih nastavnika,

American cartoonists are now producing more explicitly educational content

američki crtači stripova sada proizvode mnogo jasnije obrazovni sadržaj

for the K-12 market than ever before.

namenjen osnovnoškolskom i srednjoškolskom uzrastu.

A lot of this is directed at language arts,

Mnogi su namenjeni jezičkim predmetima,

but more and more comics and graphic novels

ali sve više stripova i grafičkih romana

are starting to tackle math and science topics.

počinju da se fokusiraju na matematiku i nauku.

STEM comics graphics novels really are like this uncharted territory,

NTIM grafički romani su, u stvari, kao neotkrivena teritorija,

ready to be explored.

spremna za istraživanje.

America is finally waking up to the fact

Amerika konačno prihvata činjenicu

that comic books do not cause juvenile delinquency.

da stripovi nisu uzrok maloletničke delikvencije.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

That they really do belong in every educator's toolkit.

Da oni zaista treba da budu deo alata svakog nastavnika.

There's no good reason to keep comic books and graphic novels

Ne postoji dobar razlog za držanje stripova i grafičkih romana

out of K-12 education.

podalje od osnovnoškolskog i srednjoškolskog obrazovanja.

They teach visually,

Oni uče vizualno

they give our students that remote control.

i daju našim učenicima onaj daljinski upravljač.

The educational potential is there

Obrazovni potencijal je tu,

just waiting to be tapped

samo čeka da ga iskoristi

by creative people like you.

neko od kreativnih ljudi kao što ste vi.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)