Megan Rosker invites leaders to rise to this challenge: Education needs a rebel.
Martin Luther King, Jr and Abraham Lincoln were rebels. They weren’t rebels in the way we usually picture rebels in our imagination. There was nothing James Dean about these men.There was no leather jacket or motorcycle required.
These men didn’t act from a sense of being oppressed, worried or filled with doubt about who they were or what their people deserved.
Education needs a rebel.
A rebel is “a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition.”
The authority running our education system, the control that is held over our students and this long standing dysfunctional tradition must come to end in order for parents, teachers and students to have the voice they need to have as we transition our educational system to one of greatness instead of one of fear.
What are we afraid of? We are afraid someone will beat us, be better than us. We fear someone will rise up, that some other society will beat us to the punch.
So instead of waving our flag, we wave standardized testing banners and core curriculum standards. Is this ever how any great society has thrived? Is this ever how a nation has created innovators and leaders?
Look at history and you won’t find a single example of this being true. Always the cultures that rise, does so based on their innovation and they fall when their reach reaches too far and they try to force their countrymen to follow to completely.
We live in constant fear that our authority in the world will be questioned. And just as we fear this, it is happening. Why? Because usually what we fear most deeply materializes.
Where are the leaders? Where are the innovators? Where are the creatives?
Where are the rebels?
As long as we fear or doubt that we cannot give every child, no matter their race, gender or need, a superior education that allows them to foster life success, we will flounder.
We lean heavily upon data driven assessments and research because we feel we don’t have the fortitude to take action for what is right.
MLK ended his final speech, called I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, saying,
I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
These are the words of a man not leaning on data, but on his passion for justice and equality. He knew this was the right thing to do.
Do we have that kind of passion for our children or must we constantly look for proof in the research pudding to demonstrate that we are headed in the right direction?
Lincoln ended the Gettysburg address with these words,
…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
These are the words of a leader committed to leading.
Are we committed to leading our children?
Rebellion will happen when we have grown tired of our doubt, when we are finally frustrated with our limited options.
Rebellion is not fighting the person that represents the oppression, it is fighting the lack of fortitude and a faulty belief system.
MLK didn’t protest just laws that oppressed black men and women. He protested a belief. He opened the minds of all people in this country to a new belief and therefor changed the black experience.
Lincoln didn’t just abolish slavery. He abolished a belief that manifested slavery.
What are our beliefs about education?
What is the belief that is holding us back from change?
What do we choose to believe that doesn’t allow all children the chance for an excellent education?
We cannot overcome the failures in our education system until we feel that we are equal to the success that our children deserve. As long as we fear we cannot achieve, we never will.
About Megan Rosker
Very interesting ideas. As a middle school teacher who serves a population whose majority is labeled “economically disadvantaged” and/or “at-risk,” I feel that much of our trepidation as it relates to change stems from the awesome responsibility that we’ve accepted. In the interest of measuring twice and cutting once, we look for proof that our next move is the best move before we make it. We can’t let innovation be choked by our fear. Experimentation is part of the learning process. In order to move past old paradigms and adapt to a constantly and evermore rapidly changing world, we’ll have to do some things we’ve never done before and think in ways we never imagined possible. This opportunity for discovery excites me, and reminds me why I chose to do this in the first place.
Note: that exceprt is the ending of King’s final speech, called “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” He was assassinated the next day.
Two things:
First, two of my favorite education rebels are Salman Khan (Khan Academy) and Grace Llewellyn (Teenage Liberation Handbook and Not Back to School Camp). You might find them interesting as well.
Second, it bothers me that we have this mythical idea of Lincoln as some kind of rebel (or hero). Slavery was ended, yes, and rightfully and thankfully so. It was done under Lincoln, and so Lincoln gets some credit for that. Fair enough. But let’s not overdo it.
Lincoln didn’t abolish or even challenge the beliefs that manifested slavery. In fact, Lincoln was fine with slavery and himself viewed non-whites as lesser creatures. What he was not fine with was the idea of the United States breaking apart over this issue. It was to maintain the overall power structure that he chose to tackle what he saw as the less important issue of slavery to preserve the greater institution.
I give you his own words, straight from the renowned Lincoln-Douglas debates. I think these words speak volumes against the myth:
“I will say here while I am upon this subject, I have no disposition to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together on terms of respect, social and political equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there should be a superiority somewhere, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position…
I will say then, that I am not nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not, nor have I ever been in favor of making voters of the negroes, or jurors, or qualifying them to hold office, or having them to marry with white people…there must be the position of superior and inferior, that I as much as any other man am in favor of the superior position being assigned to the white man.
I will add to the few remarks that I have made, for I am not going to enter at large upon this subject, that I have never had the least apprehension that I or my friends would marry negroes if there was no law to keep them from it, but as my friend Douglas and his friends seem to be under great apprehension that maybe they might if there was no law to keep them from it. I give him the most solemn pledge that I will to the very last stand by the law in this State that forbids the marriage of white folks with negroes.”
Reference: The Lincoln-Douglas debates: the first complete, unexpurgated text
I wholeheartedly agree that education would benefit from some rebels. I know that I never learned this in school-not one mention anywhere from kindergarten through college. How many of us did? On the other hand, how many of us learned the sanitized, patriotic, government-approved version?
Leonce, I agree. Being from Atlanta where the scandal of the month is the Teacher- cheating scandal, I find myself wondering who of our kids is not “at risk”. I spoke with teachers who spend great amounts of their own minimal income to provide what is needed for their classroom, so iI am particularly incensed by the amount of money being spent to investigate, prosecute, and even defend, the teachers accused in this incident. Teachers and administrators who were under contract are still being paid, and it has created a need for an immediate hiring of approximately one hundred new teachers, which amazingly happened in about two weeks. Where does all this money come from? Why is it that we have it for that, and programs are being cut, school year calendars are being manipulated for budgetary reasons, and teachers are being asked to take days off. I am pissed, and don’t even have children though I am involved in a mentor type capacity.
Have we not simply come full circle where this discussion began years ago, in that parents seem to be delegating the authority for teaching morals and vales to the kids? Isn’t the whole “it starts at home” discussion more necessary than ever ? And if that is the case, and teachers hands are tied, by fear of reprisal or economic uncertainty by standards that are being set which do not even match the curriculum being taught with cheating being the seemingly only option, then aren’t all now, “at risk”
Geoffery Canada?
Yes! And the KIPP schools – the Knowledge Is Power Program:
http://www.kipp.org/
I’ve been a teacher for 15 years, and I sympathize with the feelings expressed in this article. I think the author’s heart is in the right place.
I have seen a lot of problems in the education system, but with all due respect, articles like this one are actually part of the problem: inaccurate interpretations of events, in service to some ill-defined direction, in the name of change for the sake of change. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion is not a very good strategy for change. However awful the system is today, however hard this is to believe, it IS possible to make the system worse. Even “innovation” and “rebellion” can make things worse.
Many of the people pushing for standardized bubble tests think of themselves as rebels fighting entrenched authority. Many of the people trying to destroy teachers unions think of themselves as rebellious underdogs. Every administrator who has reflexive lordosis for the latest pedagogical innovation thinks he or she is a trailblazer. Every person who gets a degree in “Education Leadership” and feeds on the problems in the education system has learned how to use the language of change and reform in very sophisticated ways.
(If we discovered that in fact teachers generally do a good job, that would mean the end of a huge consulting industry. Rediscovering and inventing problems brings in far bigger paychecks than teaching does. Such rebellion.)
As a history teacher, I have to point out the difficulty in using Lincoln and King as examples of rebels challenging traditions and authorities, at least in using them accurately for that. Lincoln was hardly a fully committed champion of abolition. The Emancipation Proclamation was actually a political/military half-measure, and it did not technically free any slaves. In terms of rebellion, the Proclamation was part of a strategy to STOP a rebellion. Remember that whole Confederacy secession thing? Obviously some rebellions are justified and some are not. I doubt Lincoln ever thought to himself “we need more rebels.”
The real MLK was a rebel. What the public school system and media give us every January is a watered-down, sanitized, feel-good icon who hardly says anything at all. The “I Have a Dream” speech may have been his least radical speech. Its language is uplifting and inspiring, certainly, but it’s also very non-threatening and therefore okay for public consumption. Even white supremacists like to quote the speech nowadays. Once King became an outspoken critic of military spending and suggested that maybe racism wasn’t just a Southern issue, white people thought “can’t we just go back to that whole dream thingy?”
If you are going to choose historical rebel models in order to make radical change, then choose some actual radicals – Tom Paine, John Brown, Rosa Luxemburg, Malcolm X. Heck, even the rich white male signers of the Declaration of Independence were willing to risk being hanged for treason. I say this even though I’m fairly conservative by nature. I just think if you’re going to call for radical change, then actually call for radical change.
If you try to fight the system with the models of rebellion that the system has allowed you to have, then you have already lost. You’re assaulting the fortress with a noodle.
The comment I posted a few days ago seems to be in moderation limbo, probably due to having embedded links, so I will repost it here without hotlinks:
Two things:
First, two of my favorite education rebels are Salman Khan (Khan Academy, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html) and Grace Llewellyn (Teenage Liberation Handbook and Not Back to School Camp, nbtsc.org). You might find them interesting as well.
Second, it bothers me that we have this mythical idea of Lincoln as some kind of rebel (or hero). Slavery was ended, yes, and rightfully and thankfully so. It was done under Lincoln, and so Lincoln gets some credit for that. Fair enough. But let’s not overdo it.
Lincoln didn’t abolish or even challenge the beliefs that manifested slavery. In fact, Lincoln was fine with slavery and himself viewed non-whites as lesser creatures. What he was not fine with was the idea of the United States breaking apart over this issue. It was to maintain the overall power structure that he chose to tackle what he saw as the less important issue of slavery to preserve the greater institution.
I give you his own words, straight from the renowned Lincoln-Douglas debates. I think these words speak volumes against the myth:
“I will say here while I am upon this subject, I have no disposition to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together on terms of respect, social and political equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there should be a superiority somewhere, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position…
I will say then, that I am not nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not, nor have I ever been in favor of making voters of the negroes, or jurors, or qualifying them to hold office, or having them to marry with white people…there must be the position of superior and inferior, that I as much as any other man am in favor of the superior position being assigned to the white man.
I will add to the few remarks that I have made, for I am not going to enter at large upon this subject, that I have never had the least apprehension that I or my friends would marry negroes if there was no law to keep them from it, but as my friend Douglas and his friends seem to be under great apprehension that maybe they might if there was no law to keep them from it. I give him the most solemn pledge that I will to the very last stand by the law in this State that forbids the marriage of white folks with negroes.”
Reference: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text
To tie this back to the original article, I wholeheartedly agree that education would benefit from some rebels. I know that I never learned this in school-not one mention anywhere from kindergarten through college. How many of us did? On the other hand, how many of us learned the sanitized, patriotic, government-approved version?