In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

4 Doing Our Homework Reconsidering What Archaeology Has to Offer Schools PatriCe l. JePPSon Most U.S. archaeologists likely presume that any and all outreach to schools, kindergarten through twelfth grade, ultimately helps to benefit society—and to some extent this certainly must be true. But I have come to believe that, because of a myopic tendency on the part of American archaeology as a regional practice, the intentional benefits for society that there could be do not always result (Trigger 1984,1989).Moreover,because American archaeology’s outreach to schools remains largely critically unexamined,I think we risk producing unintended and undesired consequences for our society—and also for archaeology ’s future. Assuming that I am right in this assessment, can this situation be changed? And even if my conclusions are wrong, is trying to “save the world” with archaeology what we want to be doing?The answer to these questions lies in doing our homework, namely, in thinking about the goals and responsibilities we have set for ourselves in our archaeology outreach to schools. THE CURRENT ROLE OF U.S. ARCHAEOLOgy OUTREACH Most American archaeologists are aware of the great potential that archaeology offers school education as a resource. In general, archaeologists have taken advantage of educational opportunities to proselytize mainly for and about archaeology ’s needs (see, for example, Herscher and McManamon 2000). The primary purpose of these efforts has been to ensure continuing public support for archaeology and to enlist public cooperation in efforts to protect sites from looting, vandalism, and economic development. These are worthy efforts. At the same time, this motivation for archaeology education stems from the selfinterest of the profession. Fewer archaeologists build bridges to the commu- 64 • Patrice L. Jeppson nity of schools to help meet education’s needs (see Brauer 2000; Jameson 1997; Jameson et al. 2000; Jeppson 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001a, 2001b, 2003b, 2003a; Jeppson and Brauer 2000, 2003, 2007; Jeppson et al. 2003; Little, ed. 2002; Malone et al. 2000; Messenger 2000; Murphy 1998; Smardz and Smith 2000; Smith et al. 1993; Stone and MacKenzie 1994). And, indeed, educators would (and do!) like to use archaeological content and methods for their own needs— which involve, solely, educating the nation’s youth. The educator’s charge may or may not touch on the topic of archaeological methods (which is what a lot of archaeological outreach deals with) or on the need to preserve sites (whereby stewardship dominates archaeology’s outreach mission). THE PLACE OF EDUCATION IN AMERICAN SOCIETy Regularly overlooked in archaeology outreach to schools is the role, or “function ,” of the public school in American society. Our formal education system is our society’s main means of intergenerational transmission of culture—the site where our values and beliefs are learned (Levinson 1999; Levinson in Jeppson 2000, 2003b). American archaeologists could better embrace this realm of cultural production and reproduction on its own terms and thereby open up a greater space for archaeology’s participation in everyday life and as a way to work toward a change in the national culture to one that better meets archaeology ’s needs (see Jeppson 2000, 2003b). However, at present we don’t always do this. Archaeologists instead often operate at cross-purposes to what the target audience of educators want and need. In brief, archaeologists too often end up producing what one social studies curriculum specialist,george Brauer,has called the “ham and cheese sandwich conflict of professional agendas”: Archaeology outreach will offer students a ham sandwich (information about the methods and concerns of archaeology) while educators are looking to offer students a cheese sandwich—a way of using archaeology as a useful means for teaching formal, identified, educational skills (personal ocmmunication 2001). Brauer, who was founder and director of the Center for Archaeology in the Baltimore County Public Schools, 1985– 2007 (www.p-j.net/pjeppson/or), points out that “a ham sandwich is good, and a cheese sandwich is good, but a ham and cheese sandwich can be better .” This is particularly so in today’s world of standardized testing and set curriculums where there is no longer time for extracurricular topics (meaning topics offered beside or outside the curriculum), which is where archaeology often falls when provided via archaeology outreach to schools. (A discussion of curriculum-based outreach as opposed to extra-curricular outreach can be found in Jeppson and Brauer 2000, 2003, 2007). Importantly, this mismatch on the part of archaeology outreach—the re- [13.59.122.162] Project...

Share