Why Haven't We?

"We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven't so far" (Edmonds, 1979, p.23).

The hard question is, "Why haven't we?" When I proposed this question, quoting Dr. Edmonds, to Linda Darling Hammond when she was in Salt Lake City, Utah for an Education Policy Forum on September 12, 2007, she responded with an enlightening and thought provoking question: "Who are the 'we'?"

I have pondered on her response, and I believe it is a very good point. It could very well be that what Walter Kelly's creation, Pogo said, applies: "We met the enemy and it is us." In other words, educators, and especially education leaders, have a responsibility to become part of the "we" that knows what works for diverse learners and then advocate for the implementation of those programs, policies, procedures, processes, peoples, and places that will support what works.

Although we educators are becoming better at fulfilling the first part of the responsibility--at least to a degree---we are not doing a very good job at fulfilling the second part. Even if we do advocate, nothing much changes. We must go back to Edmonds' quote, and ask why that is.

Referring back to yesterday's "blog post," much is due to how the bureaucracy of schools supports the status quo. It takes a lot of courage to confront a bureaucracy that rewards status quo and conformity.

In my book My Years As A Hispanic Youth Advocate..and The Lessons I Have Learned, I quote Parker Palmer from his book Courage to Teach substituting the word "I."
"Know that as I teach in ways that honor my own values without conforming to the situation, the force of the institution will come down on my head causing me to risk status, security, money, or power. The alternative rewards offered by living according to my values are fragile compared to raises, promotions, and status that organizations bestow on loyalists" (Lovejoy, 2004, p. 267).

If education is going to change for our diverse learners, we need educators who are willing to take the risk to be nonconformists: "Here in America we are descended in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, address, Columbia University, 31 May 1954

References:

Edmonds, R. R. (1979). "Effective schools for the urban poor." Educational Leadership, 17, 15-27.

Lovejoy, B. L. (2004). My Years As A Hispanic Youth Advocate..and The Lessons I Have Learned. Salt Lake City: Self-published.