This Things I Believe (If Anyone Gets That Quote, I’m Impressed)

I believe that a teacher can…make a big difference in the life of a child and by extension a community. The human condition is inquisitive by nature. If not, we never would have left that meadow in Africa. As teachers, we should always be asking what can I do to open up possibilities for a child? How can I do it better, and what did I learn from that experience? I believe that an effective education does not teach randomly connected “facts” but should instead ask what is the nature of a fact. I remember the first time I read Plato, and I noted that all that Socrates, the so-called best teacher ever, did was ask a lot of questions. I took away the notion that the more we know, the more we don’t know. If a teacher can impart to her student that it is part and parcel of the human condition to ask questions and consider all the possibilities, then the true nature of education and knowledge, which is more of a continuous process rather than a finite noun, can begin. Once that process begins, we move forward in our progress toward a more understanding community and supportive culture through the mutual respect built up over time as we all consider the other possibilities and those bringing other options to the general discussion. I’m starting to go too big with this argument and I apologize. What it boils down to is that only when a person feels like their questions (i.e. their voice and by extension themself) matter will they feel empowered to change detrimental conditions around them. Teachers hold to power of showing by example that we take all questions seriously and equally consider all questioners.


I believe that children deserve…the truth. Children are much, much smarter than many people give them credit. They don’t need high marks on a standardized test to know when they are getting short-changed and they don’t need someone to tell them that by doing their homework they can achieve anything. I think it is a much better policy to lay the cards on the table when it comes to addressing our cultural inequities, in the proper context of course. The more you can demystify something like racism or poverty, the better prepared the students will be when it comes time to face them head-on or at least become empathetic to an unfortunate situation and maybe see the situation as something to solve rather than continue to ignore.

I believe that classrooms are…a microcosm for the larger world in which they exist. And whether we like it or not, children are learning the wrong things from many schools. Schools with scripted cirriculum and fill-in-the-blank tests only serve to create dead-eyed teachers, which in turn create dead-eyed students. It’s like a rat in a maze. Go to this school, take this test, learn these facts, get into this college, get that job, put money away for retirement, die. Seriously, and we wonder why this country seems apathetic. For generations now, students have been put through the same steps to get to the same suburban goals – and if not, then they face the living death of welfare or jail. Once we create schools with multiple voices and ideas, we will create a society with multiple voices and ideas. It may take many generations to achieve this kind of critical thinking as a norm, but it is possible.

Sorry to seem so negative, but you should notice my underlying hope and faith that we can change this treadmill of apathy and disengagement that our public schools have been producing throughout most of their history.

I think, therefore I ask, and then I can change.