Why I'll Never Advance

I'll never have an "important" job in my life because I'm an idealist. I don't necessarily live in the real world. I freely admit that I'm not a realist. I live in a classroom which is located both in "today" and also firmly in "tomorrow." As a teacher I get to look at kids every day and see the tomorrow that lives within them.

Because I'm not a realist I don't do well with reality or often with authority. I don't do well with policies and all of the millions of "got tos" that people in positions of power have to contend with every day. I don't make policies, I don't police policies, and I probably spend too much of my time looking for the holes in them to be either good or healthy. I'll never advance into a position of authority because I love nothing more then the freedom of my classroom. While I live within a set of bounds and in a restricted environment, within those boundaries, I am free to do what I wish. I am free to push the edges and test the walls, even breaking loose occasionally.

Lately I've been questioning many things and I thank many people who have had much patience with me, but I'm also learning to accept many things about myself. I'm learning to accept that I'll never be someone with a title and a nameplate on my door. I'm learning to accept that my disregard for the way things "need" to be done will cost me throughout my career. I often have massive philosophical disagreements with tradition and the need to do things in certain ways when I feel that common sense should be enough to get us by. I'm also realizing more and more the importance of living honestly with yourself no matter what the cost may be.

Ideals win.

Comments

[Phil Ashman]

But doesn't it make life more exiting! I'm a college instructor teaching Network & Telecomm for the exact same reasons. I consistently question whether I should jump back into the fray and often get tempted by offers that would bring me back into the rat race front and center. However I only have to talk to buddies who are in the industry and working ridiculous hours with no end in sight to confirm the decisions I have made.

Challenging authority and pushing the bounderies of change to tradition drives necessary change. Although it certainly leads to some stressful moments, I thrive off bringing dynamic and sometimes radical ideas to the table. I can see this being difficult if you have no support from your peers or your administration, but that is why we socially network..;)...Your last couple of sentences sum it up perfectly. In the end we have to live with our decisions....and from a glass half full perspective, life is too short not to give 'er!

[William Kist]

It's too bad that we can't figure out a way for teachers to take on leadership positions and not have to totally give up teaching. We need people like you to take leadership positions, Clarence, but we also need you in the classroom! There's got to be a way to figure out organizationally how to do that.

[Erin Wallace]

Hi,
To me, you have the most important job because you see children everyday and nurture their tomorrows. As a community college teacher of early childhood education students, I teach adults about teaching young children, and I do have a title and a plaque on my door, which really mean nothing much at all. Like you, I resist authority, push the envelope and love the freedom of my classroom. As a newbie, blogs such as yours, which I read each and every day, inspire me to push my boundaries. Oh yes, your post inspired me to make my second ever comment to a blog, so if you decide to take up looking after bonsai trees or some other hobby, please keep blogging too as your ideas make a difference to me!

[Erin Wallace]

Hi,
To me, you have the most important job because you see children everyday and nurture their tomorrows. As a community college teacher of early childhood education students, I teach adults about teaching young children, and I do have a title and a plaque on my door, which really mean nothing much at all. Like you, I resist authority, push the envelope and love the freedom of my classroom. As a newbie, blogs such as yours, which I read each and every day, inspire me to push my boundaries. Oh yes, your post inspired me to make my second ever comment to a blog, so if you decide to take up looking after bonsai trees or some other hobby, please keep blogging too as your ideas make a difference to me!

[Ric]

Here, here, Clarence! I'm right there with you. The tough part about being a male in education is the "pressure" to become an administrator. It's as if you choose to be "just a teacher" you are not reaching your potential. I started in the Social Studies classroom, was asked to begin a Computer Applications class (and I did), then was encouraged to go to the "media center" to get teachers to use more technology. I've had my fill of being a "leader" of adults. I'm heading back to the Social Studies classroom next year. I'm grateful to my principal for understanding that is what I'm here to do.

You are a leader by you encouragement to your students, but also to those of us who read your words here. Paradoxically, you have become an important leader by not seeking to be one.

[Jenny]

Being a model for other classroom teachers is a powerful, wonderful thing. It doesn't come with a nameplate on the door, but it comes with a lot more impact on the lives of students.

[Lani]

Clarence,

I think you (we) have one of the most important jobs! I've adapted Shirley Hufstedler's quote just a bit (changed two words):

"The role of the teacher remains the highest calling of a free people. To the teacher, Canada entrusts her most precious resource, her children; and asks that they be prepared, in all their glorious diversity, to face the rigors of individual participation in a global society."

We need more teachers who view the world from your perspective--

Best,
Lani

[Mark Ahlness]

Clarence, I'm going to save this post and frame it. You say it so well. Can't tell you how many times colleagues have said, "You ought to go get a job at Microsoft!".

I am where I am because of who I am. It's not because I can't go farther. I don't want to. I feel incredibly lucky to do what I do. That's hard for some to understand. Thank you - Mark

[Rob Jacobs]

When I first entered education, my principal came up to me one day and said, "Stop that." "Stop asking why all the time." Stop asking why. That has always been a difficult thing for me to do. I can't imagine stopping asking why. That is what "idealists" or "sages" do. If on one end of the spectrum is those who rarely look up because the can grind out paperwork, details, number etc, and on the far end is the idealist sage who is always looking out to what the future holds or what new idea is on the horizon, I fall into the later.

Several years later and I now find myself in educational management. The shear amount of paperwork generated for "just in case" moments is amazing. What is a just in case moment? That is when people from the state, county, etc. come to see if you did what you said you were going to do. Nobody ever seems to care if the paper work is useful or necessary, what seems most important is that it is done. "Sorry I can't get to all the classrooms today, I have paperwork to do."

Leadership should be transformational, while management should be transactional. I must be a manager, because I am not transforming anything and I am completing lots of transactions.

But when I was a teacher........I was a leader.

[Clarence Fisher]

Once again, the value of the network I belong to can never be underestimated. I am going through some dark, frustrating times as you can tell from several of the last few posts. This has given me pause to reexamine many things in my life. I am frustrated and worried. I'm not disappearing and not running away but I am learning a few new things about myself. I'm learning about the true importance of my ideals and of my philosophy. I'm learning about me as an idealist and about the difficulties this brings when the rubber hits the road of reality. I've got a ways to come back and I promise I will do my best to try to keep it out of this blog. You didn't subscribe here to read about my difficulties but I do thank all of you for your thoughts and concerns.

[Ian]

"The achievements which society rewards are won at the cost of diminution of personality"
Carl Jung

[wmchamberlain]

Sorry, you can't give up your authority. Look at this community you have created. It is a huge part of our PLN's. You are making a difference, not just to your students, but to us as well.

When I get down I remember: I only have to reach one student. You already have.

[lucychili]

=)

[Rodger Levesque]

I came across this post through OLDaily. I've been thinking about it for days. I think it would be more accurate to say that I've been bothered by this post for days. You've hit on something, a way of thinking, that's been an opponent, something I've been struggling with for nearly twenty years. What's bothering me, is that you're learning to accept it. This isn't a criticism of you. You realize that living according to your ideals is "holding you back in the organization." And you've decided to accept that. don't. I'm writing this as much for myself as for you. Keep honing your ideals, but don't accept them, and what they're doing. And I'm not suggesting we rush into some battle against "them." Just hold the line. Don't accept it.

[Miguel GUhlin]

Clarence, forgive me for taking so long to post on your blog. I was having similar thoughts as you. However, I was saying, "I'll never finish my doctorate, why did I begin? Ahh who cares." And, "I'll never be a deputy superintendent or superintendent, but did I really want that?" Or, "I'll never be an A-List blogger no matter what I do because I can't get that deep thinking going. In fact, I don't like deep thinking at all."

And, then it hit me, I am special the way I am. And, at almost 40, it's nice to realize that. My children are growing up, I need to lay aside some of this hard-pushing to get ahead I've been doing (the rat race)...and it doesn't matter what rat races you're running, they're still just that.

Watching the Story of Stuff video clip on Presentation Zen, I'm reminded of a truth many of us forget. We don't have to have all the titles, all the stuff that others tell us define success to BE successful. Simply, what defines success is to maintain our integrity in the face of those who would change us to match their concept of what we should be. It is to acknowledge our mistakes without rancor, towards self or others; to be transparent about our learning so that our students can learn from us, not transitory content, but HOW to learn and live and keep on learning for the fun of it, rather than just the necessity of achieving success.

Maybe, it's a 40 year old thing...maybe it's a middle age thing, but I'd like to think that our real enemy isn't the other guy stopping us from trying to be like him, but ourselves trying to be like the other guy.

And, for me, those are lessons that ring true for me. May you find this offering worthwhile of gracing your pages.

More thoughts on this at
http://tinyurl.com/4jah95

Wishing you well,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

[Rodger Levesque]

Here is a post about someone quitting a blog, at least quitting a theme, giving up on social change. The post is interesting as a foil to what you're going through

http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=44244

[Joel]

Maybe I'm missing the point, but it seems to me that a classroom is full of policies. When I was teaching nearly 20 years ago now, I had three basic policies: Be prepared for class. Limit talking. Keep your hands & feet to yourself. As an assistant principal & principal, I had more policies I suppose, but the most important guiding principle was to treat students like people and to have systems for keeping each student safe. Schools are institutions that protect the past, and at the same time prepare our children to contribute to our democracy and our future.

Teaching is important. A teacher can put her/his name on the door, or at least on his/her desk--posting degrees like other professions do makes sense to me. From my point of view, a teacher has great authority and autonomy--in many ways more than those working in administrative roles. As an example, a teacher in Seattle recently refused to administer the WASL (the state assessment)--clearly a key job function (and one which thousands and thousands of teachers, parents, citizens, lawmakers and educational leaders have agreed is critical for each student) and yet this teacher remains on the job--although with a couple of weeks without pay at home. To me that's an example of unparalleled autonomy.

For me, focusing on the purpose and the goals helped me understand policy, procedures, and how different people get to common ends. Sometimes local communication is more difficult than global, but surely more important. I find this online community hugely impressive, and the reflection and value of good teaching to be inspiring. I suspect others do as well.