I’m Not in Love with the Word Empowerment

Posted on by Bud Hunt

I’m not.  I cringe when I hear it used lately.  And I say that as someone who used to have it on my resume.  Right up near the top.  

Because for me to empower you, especially when I hear the word used by others, I’ve got to have something that you don’t have, and I have to give it to you.  That thing is, of course, power. ((Power takes many forms.  But at it’s simplest, it’s always something that has to be given in the context of “empowerment.”  Never discovered, or realized, or co-developed.  Given.  By me to you.  Or them to us.))

Power doesn’t work that way, at least, it shouldn’t. Not in the classroom.  Plenty of stuff that I have the ability to allow you to do wasn’t necessarily my thing to keep you from doing it in the first place.  And you came to my classroom knowing things that I don’t know, and won’t know, unless you tell me about them.  But that doesn’t mean that I was necessarily in the place of knowing what was worth knowing, doing, or being.  I didn’t have all the answers.  Still don’t.

Or, said another way, the only reason teachers have power sometimes is because they chose to adopt it.  Asking our students to make that choice isn’t so much empowerment, giving power to someone else, as it is helping them realize they had it already.  Asking our colleagues to realize the same isn’t about us having something they didn’t.  It might’ve been we noticed it first.  

So don’t be in the empowerment business.  Be in the “helping folks realize they can do things they didn’t think they could” business.  Or maybe the “huh, I wonder why we’ve always done it that other way” business.  

Let’s get out of the way more.

27 thoughts on “I’m Not in Love with the Word Empowerment”

  1. Steve Ransom says:
    September 16, 2014 at 6:41 am

    Interesting… and right on. However, how you describe “empowerment” is always how I have understood it.

    Reply
  2. John Hamerlinck says:
    September 22, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    I created this graphic a while back. It helps learners think more broadly about the concept of power.
    http://mncampuscompact.org/clio/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/08/power-infographic.pdf

    Reply
  3. Pingback: I'm Not in Love with the Word Empowerment | Lea...
  4. Pingback: Toward a New Model of the Information Professions: Embracing Empowerment | 694: Critical Perspectives in LIS
  5. Matt Karlsen says:
    September 29, 2016 at 9:56 pm

    I’m with you, Bud. Children arrive through school doors day one full of power, full of connections, full of stories. Learning environments that welcome those children, that listen to children, sustain that power; those that don’t, disempower.

    Reply
  6. Sarah Warren says:
    October 1, 2016 at 11:46 am

    Interesting take on it… How about “enlightenment” instead? or “inspiration!”

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Published by Bud Hunt