TC PUBLIC SPACECommunity through dialogue,discussion, and dissent.

Volume III, Issue 1 Tuesday, September, 1, 2015

MAYOR DE BLASIO'S SCHOOL RENEWAL PLAN:IS THIS GOING TO DERAIL COMMUNITY SCHOOLS?

LONG WALK TO #ONETCChelsey Saunders

My first experience with a standardized testchanged my life. I cannot recall the subject of thetest, but I remember that while I was filling in thepre-test information – shading dark, full circlesjust like the example on the board, my teacherlooked over my shoulder and whispered that I hadfilled in the wrong bubble.

“Caucasian,” she said, pointing to the emptybubble next to it. In shy defiance, I explained,“But I am from Africa.”

In one word, my teacher taught me about race,and about the struggle between who I think I amand how society perceives me. She showed methat labels separate us not only from each other,but they also separate us within ourselves.

So What?

Gender, race, sexuality, religion, and politicsare socially constructed identifiers, but they canalso be tightly held truths about who we are.Recent events with Caitlyn Jenner, the CharlestonChurch Shootings, the NAACP Washington StateLeader resignation, Marriage Equality, the HateCrime Murders in Chapel Hill, and Fergusonshow that these labels can also radically shift ourlife path, our dignity, and our most basic rights tolive.

Joe Marinelli

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Photo Credit: Joe Marinelli, TCPS

tcpublicspace.wordpress.com

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:DO I BELONG HERE?

Matt Gonzales

“Education is the most powerful weapon whichyou can use to change the world.”

– Nelson Mandela

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In our time here at TC, we have theopportunity to question our labels. The urgency isreal. And this is the space to ponder self-actualization, contemplate intersectionality ofidentity, and critically reflect on what sort ofworld we want to create. For many of us, that iswhy we are here. For many of us, these reflectionsdo not come without costs – both financial andpsychological.

To be transparent, my first year here was oneof the most challenging years of my life. Istruggled to quiet the toxic and constant worryabout money. The dollar amount of my loans wasspiritually crushing. Almost every night, I wokeup in a panic. I also had never felt more alone,

more different, and more confused. There is a griefthat comes with success and a loss that comes witheven the best changes. Though earning mydoctorate was a life-long dream, I missed myfamily, my community, and my identity as a highschool English teacher and soccer/cross countrycoach. If I am being honest, my entire first monthhere, I wondered if TC had made a mistake lettingme in. I have since learned this anxious second-guessing is called “Imposter’s Syndrome.”Nonetheless, to cope with my fear of notbelonging, I relied on Netflix TV marathons, longruns in Central Park, and insurmountable readinglists from my classes.

I also survived through tiny attempts at...

One year ago, I walked through the halls ofTeachers College as a TC student for the first time,astounded and a bit overwhelmed by theinstitution’s legacy and repute. During theorientation program for new TC students insideLerner Hall on Columbia’s main campus, Iremember thinking to myself, “I cannot believethey accepted me. Do I belong here? What does itmean to belong to Teachers College?”

Around the third week of the semester, afterreturning to my residence hall one evening, Idecided to check my mailbox. Inside, I wassurprised to find a copy of TC Public Space’sSeptember issue. I had heard of the ColumbiaSpectator before, but never TC Public Space. Onceback in my room, I began reading the issue. Oneop-ed piece, titled “Be Young and Shut Up,”particularly struck me. Basically, the author calledout TC for its lack of any “real” communitydespite the school’s increasingly high price tag. Inthat moment, I felt like a foolish consumer. Had Imerely been dumbstruck by the TC brand?

In hindsight, however, that experience – thefeelings of fear and angst evoked by reading thearticle – served as a much-needed call to action. Irealized that “taking advantage” of the opportunityto attend an Ivy League institution meant morethan showing up to class, participating, andgraduating with a master’s degree. It also meantsharing in the journey of getting there with fellowclassmates...

The rush by Mayor Bill de Blasio’sadministration to introduce an education plan hasresulted in a School Renewal Plan* that has someadvocates concerned. As one advocate from theCoalition for Educational Justice put it, “It’sgoing to be amazing, or it’s going to be the deathof community schools.”

Mayor de Blasio’s “Turnaround Plan” intendsto convert 128 schools into “communityschools.” The community school model has beenaround for decades. This model encouragespartnerships with business and non-profits toprovide a range of services tailored to the needs ofthe surrounding community.

Community schools evoke an argument madein the famous Coleman Report, Equality ofEducational Opportunity, that out-of-schoolfactors like poverty and low-SES have a largerimpact on academic achievement. The mayor’splan seeks to address those very factors.

The school renewal plan announced by Mayorde Blasio early last November would overlap witha similar plan announced in June to convert 128 ofthe cities most struggling schools. The new planwould work on a three-year timeline providing$150 million. The academic components of thisplan would include an extra hour of instructionaltime each day along with extra professionaldevelopment training for teachers.

This approach is a clear departure from his

predecessor’s. In twelve years, former MayorMichael Bloomberg oversaw the closure of over160 traditional public schools. This policy as oflate has been widely rebuked, but the “collateraldamage” (thoughtfully worded by Chancellor JoelKlein) that followed overwhelmingly centered onstudents, teachers, and communities in low-income and minority neighborhoods.

Mayor de Blasio campaigned on a platform topromote public education...

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TC PUBLIC SPACE Page 2tcpublicspace.wordpress.com

As we explain to others that we plan to go into education, we continuallyhear the encouraging, but slightly exasperating, “Well, good for you! I couldnever do that.” While business and computer science majors graduate with theexpectation of success and comfort, future teachers enter into a workforcesomehow already oriented to the sacrifices they have made.

This selfless, “pedagogical saint” model thrives while our nation’seducators are notoriously underpaid and overworked. Teaching, one mayargue, is a profession of duty, one we do out of love, care and concern for thefuture generations; however, with this model comes the question of self-careand the overwhelming statistics of teacher burnout. Countless teachers inAmerican society are praised, rewarded and upheld as role models throughtheir frequent hours of after-school and weekend labor. To sacrifice one’s owntime, family, or health is never raised as a concern for teachers working inunderfunded, high poverty schools.

Educators, it is argued, went into teaching for this – to help. And bysigning onto such a position, they forfeit any possibility to argue for their ownneeds, agenda, or personal interests. The exploitation of educators’ labor isalways assumed to be productive toward the betterment of children’s lives.Never is it questioned that the teacher’s excessive work is in itself a “gift” toeither the children or the institution.

Education’s ethos of “service” (not coincidently existing within a highlyfeminized field) is propped up through the rhetoric of the “helpingprofession;” helping professions place demands on an individual that areeither highly unattainable, or require a large amount of emotional, mental andphysical labor outside their job description.

Overcrowded classrooms, inadequate resources, and scarce prep periodsvirtually stipulate that teachers use their own time to try and meet all thedemands placed on them. The rhetoric of the “helping professions” hasmasked this exploitation as a personal and professional virtue. In thisenvironment we forget the economic reality in which schooling exists, andhow the manipulation of teachers’ labor is not implicit in the educationalexperience, but rather a byproduct of budgetary decisions and higherauthorities.

This result has developed alongside the neoliberal push to automatize andrationalize the teaching profession (toward the vain of technicians ormanagers), wherein any need for personhood behind the teacher isdisregarded. By allowing corporate-backed curricula and high-stakes testingto relentlessly guide classroom activities, school systems have relinquishedteacher autonomy to the hands of outside investors. By distancing teachersfrom classroom activities, we not only abandon opportunities for growth anddevelopment, but also deprive students of learning with a self-aware,reflective, and involved educator.

Jessica LussierA TOAST TO EDUCATION

Paula Impalli Davis

I’d like to propose a toast, a toastto education.

Here’s to education for today,education that is not preparation, butlife itself.

Here’s to education that fulfills ourlives in the present, that leaves usfeeling curious, loved, exhausted.

Here’s to education that acceptsyou as you are, that asks, “You, whatdo you want to learn?”

To education that makes us askmore questions, that shows us how tolearn (not what to learn) and howsatisfying learning is.

Here’s to education that inspires alove of learning, education with afaith that that love will take youfurther than this or that set of facts.

Here’s to teachers who are co-learners. Here’s to teachers who standbeside instead of in front of students,teachers who teach by example,teachers who make discoveriesalongside students.

Here’s to teachers who don’t giveyou the answer, and teachers who tellyou when they don’t know theanswer. Here’s to teachers who knowyou and what you need. Here’s toteachers who step back when needed,who hold your hand when needed,who challenge you when needed.Here’s to teachers who answer yourquestions with new questions: “Whatdo you think?” “How do you think wecould find out?” “Where should welook?”

Here’s to students guiding theirown learning. Here’s to granting themthat right, that power, showing themthey matter. Here’s to knowing we’llall have gaps.

Here’s to admitting I forgot halfthe facts from high school,

RECLAIMING TEACHER LABOR

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RETURN ON INVESTMENT SCHOOLINGMatt Hastings

There is a well-worn comparison made between public schools andfactories. Students are moved through school systems along assembly lines.Teachers work on the students as they pass in and out of classroomscoordinated by a system of bells. The end product of this assembly is somekind of standardized person, who has certain skills and knowledge that arevaguely understood to be relevant to having a good life.

I think this comparison should be taken one step further. Students are notthe end product of the school system. Instead, data, usually in the form ofstandardized test scores, are the product of school systems. Students havebeen taken off the conveyor belt of the assembly line and put to work,churning out test scores.

Now, both of these comparisons may seem unfairly shallow. Of course theexperiences and learning that students and teachers have in schools is far morecomplicated and rich than the bleak industrial descriptions above. However, Ithink there is some truth about students now being understood as workerswhose job it is to produce test scores.

The main reason I think there is some truth to this understanding is thefinancial importance of standardized testing data. With policies like No ChildLeft Behind and Race to the Top attempting to lead the country's thinking onschooling, schools are understood in terms of returns on investment, andrising test scores are seen to be the sign of money well spent.

From a financial standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. A lot of money isspent on public schools. Often education makes up the largest cost to local andstate governments. With all this money being spent, it is natural to want toknow whether or not the money is doing any good. However, it is difficult topin down exactly what "good" is when it comes to education. And, perhapseven more so, it is difficult to determine whether that good is beingachieved.

Standardized testing can be understood as an attempt to create anassessment system to determine whether the public money spent on educationis yielding a good return. It simplifies the conversation about what successfuleducation looks like by creating a pretty clearly understandable metric: eitherthe scores are going up or they are going down. If the scores are going up,money is being well spent. If the scores are going down there is a problem.

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but knowing I’ll never forget the a-hamoments, the times that I figured itout, the feeling of solving a problem.

Here’s to learning how to live welltogether. To education that shows uspeople unlike ourselves, and shows uswhat we have in common. Here’s toeducation that allows us to find thesimilarities we have, and thedifferences, education that allows usto know one another. Here’s toeducation that acknowledges theimportance of communication, ofopenness and honesty, education thatlets us grapple with the challengingissues of our time.

Here’s to education that teachesyou to believe in yourself, to stand upfor yourself and your ideas.

Here’s to field trips, to learning inbetween the lines. Here’s to educationoutside of the walls of school. Here’sto interacting with the world, withnature, with people outside ofourselves. Here’s to blurring the linebetween school and “the real world.”

Here’s to education that adapts,education that reflects, education thatknows how and when to stand itsground.

Here’s to accepting that it depends.That each student learns differently,that each teacher learns differently,that each day could go differently.Here’s to pushing each child to betheir best, here’s to eschewing theidea of competition as an educationaldriver. Here’s to true cooperation,here’s to true community, here’s toacknowledging that these values areas important to learning as anythingelse.

Here’s to bringing this education tolife. Cheers.

ORIENTATIONNick Fortier

Orientation implies a process. Whensomeone attends an orientation theygenerally expect to be oriented towardsomething: a culture, a code ofconduct, an approach to the set of tasksat hand. Orientation also implies adirection or trajectory – a goal.Attendants are entering a newinstitution that they are hoping tounderstand, and it is an attempt tointegrate their personal goals into theinstitution they are entering. But hereinlies the trick. How is one oriented tothe landscape of education today? Thetask is enormous. Where does onebegin? Policy is generally locked in abattle between public and privateinterests with both sides unsure of whatthey are hoping for as an outcome.Teachers are vilified. There arediscussions of school autonomy, butthen strict oversight, which can last foryears, is imposed on schools that stepout of line.

School funding is tied to metricsthat change every few years, which,from my limited understanding ofeconomics, would make it difficult todetermine the effect of the measuresthemselves. I often feel that the generaleducational landscape is a room full ofbickering adults, attempting to discusswhat is in the best interest of children,all the while ignoring the children rightin front of them. The concern is wherethey will be and what they will be, butvery often this overlooks who they areand where they are now.

The conversations in education and,in turn, the mechanisms that arederived from them often treat studentsas a unit in a set. Outcomes aregenerally of most concern because theyare most easily measured. Baselines forschools are derived by what isunderstood as the minimum of an“adequate” education. Students aretested and probed for information, as ifthey are lab animals, to access whetherwhat we have...

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TC PUBLIC SPACE Page 3tcpublicspace.wordpress.com

LONG WALK TO #ONETCcontinued from page 1

...showing up. In order to fight thefeeling of isolation, of not belonging, Irealized I had to be a present memberof the TC community. I talked to thestranger next to me in class; attendedpanel discussions in GottesmanLibrary; ate by myself in Grace DodgeCafeteria with the hope I might seesomeone I knew; and nominatedmyself for Student Senate. It was allterrifying, but once I realized myacceptance to one of the mostprestigious graduate schools in theworld was not a mistake, I realized Ihad to have the courage to embrace theprivilege.

Why Are You – We – Here?

We are all privileged to be at TC.But what will each of us choose to dowith that privilege? This is not aquestion we ask or hear very often.Instead, during orientation we willhear, “So, where are you from?” Someinterpret that question as a micro-aggression; however, I see it as anopportunity to tell my story of origin. Ioften think the practice of tellingwhere we are from, of sharing ournarrative with our own voice – fromthe beginning – is a chance to nameour world and rediscover our purpose.

For example, my accent reveals Iam from the south – I am Tar Heelraised. But due to my family’saudacity to be teachers, engineers,nurses, and missionaries all overAfrica, I was born in Cape Town,South Africa, when the violence andhatred of Apartheid was at its height.The word “apartheid” in Afrikaansmeans “the state of being apart.” Italso labels a period of time when thewhite Afrikaans minority used theirpower to create a system of laws toseparate people based on the color oftheir skin. A person’s demographicbubble clearly articulated her freedomor lack thereof. We were asked toleave when I was barely one year olddue to my father’s teaching and workagainst Apartheid. To this day, he willnot share what he saw or much of whathe did, but he has never hesitated toexplain to me why every humandeserves dignity and freedom nomatter how different they may look orseem.

Ever since, I have wanted tounderstand the power of difference toseparate us. I became a teacherbecause I saw ignorance as one of thegreatest perpetrators of injustice. Likemy father and mother, I believe it ismy purpose to continue this work ofbuilding community, developingleaders, and walking the long roadtoward social justice. I see it now inmy research and in the role of StudentSenate President.

Overcoming the Apartheid ofTC

In the last two years, I havediscovered that TC struggles with itsown version of apartheid. We exist inour own silos, grouped into paradigms,departments, and programs. Due to therigorous coursework, the pressure toproduce original research, and theimmensity of the New York gestaltweighing on us to be bigger, better,faster, stronger, it is understandable forall of us – professors and students alike– to settle into our separate rhythms as ameans of survival. I was part of thisculture my first year, and, perhaps, it isa reasonable norm. But for a schoolfounded on social justice values, ourgoals of integration and innovationseem forgotten far too easily.

We must do better. My mission thisyear is to recognize us as theindividuals we are – separated bydreams, interests, and identities – and,as the community we can be, findingcommon ground to learn with and fromeach other to be #OneTC.

The First Step is StudentVoice

Being a part of Student Senate isonly one way to overcome theexhausting loneliness and isolation thatimpacts all graduate students– especially in a city that eschews sleep.I encourage you to discover the bestway to move beyond the apartheid: thewalls, the labels, and the boundariesthat separate us at TC.* I encourage youto tell people your story of origin whenthey ask where you are from. Open upyour narrative to embrace the roots ofyour homeland and then dare toredefine the journey beyond the sociallyconstructed bubbles. I encourage you toask your colleagues (and soon to befriends) why they are here, and toremind yourself every day why youdecided to take the first daring step tocontinue your education here.

This is your road, but you do nothave to walk it alone. For us to be onecommunity and #OneTC, we need yourvoice. I sincerely appreciate your takingthe time to hear mine.

SCHOOL RENEWAL...and made a clear distinction betweenhimself and the policies of Bloomberg.His “School Renewal Plan” and theexpansion of “Community Schools” ishis attempt to keep that promise. So,why are advocates so worried?

There are three main concerns thatare keeping advocates up at night.First, the rush to introduce such anambitious plan will invariably lead toproblems with implementation. Thisrapid expansion has left little room forstrategic planning and input fromcommunities, and has even beencriticized by those within theadministration. Deputy Mayor RichardBuery told the education blogChalkbeat (ny.chalkbeat.org) that the“Community Schools Initiative” isakin to, “building the track while youdrive the train.” That usually leads to atrain wreck.

Secondly, the de Blasioadministration has relied on places likeBoston, Tulsa, and Cincinnati asmodels for its program, but seems tohave missed some of the key details.Boston had a plan in place for nearly adecade before expanding. Tulsaprincipals planned for multiple yearsbefore converting to communityschools. And Cincinnati still showspoor academic performance.

Lastly, the lack of detail on theacademic components of this programis cause for worry. There is concernamong advocates that if these schoolsdo not produce academically, it will beblamed on community schools, whichwill diminish future efforts to promotethis model.

P. S. 50 in East Harlem has usedthe Community School model foryears and still struggles with low-testscores and graduation rates. Theprincipal of Boys and Girls HighSchool in Bedford-Stuyvesant, whorecently resigned, brought incommunity organizations, but theschool’s curriculum and instructionstill had flaws.

It is not time to lose hope, yet.There are some actions that can andshould be taken to make sure this trainkeeps pushing forward. First, Mayorde Blasio and Chancellor CarmenFarina should genuinely engagecommunities in the strategic planningand implementation of communityschools.

Second, the administration shouldextend the timeline for implementationof this program from three years tofive years, with staggeredimplementation. This process willprovide a year of planning to allowCommunity Advisory Councils(CACs) to clearly define goals anddevelop a strategic plan forimplementation.

Lastly, Mayor de Blasio andChancellor Farina must set clearacademic goals for this program.

ROI SCHOOLING

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They must utilize CACs to help definethe particular academic andinstructional supports needed toproduce more positive outcomes.

Each of these recommendationshave been developed and elaboratedon in a recent education policymemo** directed at the de Blasioadministration and Chancellor CarmenFarina.

The community schools model isnot a silver bullet, but it can providemuch needed support to communitiesthat were left drowning by theBloomberg administration.

Mayor de Blasio, it would be ashame to crash the train because wedid not have the foresight to build thetracks.

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What this return on investmentthinking has done, by assigningfinancial consequences to theproduction of impressive test data, isto create an incredible incentive forschool leaders to organize schoolsaround the production of this data.Now, you might say that this is great!If a school aims to have its studentsperform well on standardized tests,and then the students do – well, thismust mean that the students arelearning exactly what they need tolearn to do well in life. In some sense,this is true. Standardized tests do testfairly useful skill sets and knowledge,such as reading, writing, and math.

However, it seems more likely thatwhat students are really receivingunder this incentive system is jobtraining. They are being trained toproduce testing data, because the testresults justify the money being spenton the school. It isn't a stretch to seethis arrangement as a version of childlabor. The children are learning on thejob. They are learning the generalknowledge and skills that allow themto perform well on standardized tests,which makes their schooling look likea strange kind of unpaid internship.The school itself amounts to a kind ofdata production company.

Again, this analogy is not perfect,but it seems important to think abouthow a student's relationship to schoolis changing as schools are increasinglyunderstood and treated as economiccenters for investment – especiallywhen considering that economicallyvulnerable communities are muchmore reliant on high testing scores tosecure funding than are the wealthycommunities that are not necessarilyreliant on test scores to raise thenecessary funds for local schools.

*To learn about the #OneTC pillars, theOne Listen event, or to read more steps youcan take to "show up," visittcpublicspace.wordpress.com to read theonline version of this article.

Have a conversation youwould like to start? Want torespond to an article in thisissue? TCPS is open to avariety of written and visualsubmissions. Email us attcpublicspace@gmail.com.

*To read De Blasio's School RenewalPlan, visit: schools.nyc.gov/aboutus/schools/renewalschool.

**To read the policy memo in its entirety,visit: tcpublicspace.wordpress.com/linksand download the PDF file.

TC PUBLIC SPACE Page 4tcpublicspace.wordpress.com

TEACHER LABORcontinued from page 2

WELCOME TO LAPES

The diversity of populations in LatinAmerica, as well as the region’spolitical, cultural, and economicachievements and challenges, have alluniquely shaped education philosophiesand practices within it. Likewise, avariety of education philosophies andpractices within the region have hadenormous sociological, political, andeconomic impacts on the region’spopulations. There exists within LatinAmerica a rich tradition of philosophiesof education for the most part unknownand unexamined in the United States.

Since 2012, a group of TeachersCollege Philosophy and Educationdoctoral students have been co-directing the Latin AmericanPhilosophy of Education Society(LAPES), which is hosted within theCenter for the Study of Ethnicity andRace (CSER) at Columbia University.With support from CSER, the TeachersCollege Department of Arts &Humanities, and other independentsupporters, LAPES is committed toadvancing its central premise: that bystudying Latin American philosophiesof education, scholars, teachers, andstudents can expand their own ways of

theorizing education, as well asdevelop techniques for improvingeducational practices in the UnitedStates.

To advance this aim, LAPES worksto make resources available toindividual and collective partiesinterested in inquiring into LatinAmerican questions on philosophy ofeducation, through professionaldevelopment activities, the translationand publication of the works of LatinAmerican philosophers of education,and other intellectual projects andevents.* We hope that over timeLAPES will come to include a diversemembership of scholars, students, andteachers from the New York City areaas well as beyond who are willing toexamine Latin American philosophyof education in a collaborativemanner.

We are always interested in havingmore students join our ranks. Visitwww.lapes.org for more info.

The question is simply “How do Iarrive at the point I have been told toarrive?” Not, “Why is that where Ishould be?” Or, “Why can’t I go overhere?”

The ability to participate in critique– this act of questioning, is somethingthat must be exercised. Otherwise, likeanything that needs exercise, it willatrophy. When education facilitatesany type of atrophy in an anesthetizedsystem, something is horribly wrong.When we attempt to fix a brokensystem with quick fixes and a lack offaith in the individuals most concernedwith its success, teachers and students,we undermine the most significanttools we have in creating a bettersystem – these same teachers andstudents in a classroom attempting tosort out the world around them. Tobring life and energy back toeducation, as the bickering adults inthe room, we must constantlyreevaluate our own orientation to theworld. Our motivations and drives,goals and trajectories must constantlybe questioned so that they are not takenfor granted and cloud our vision. Wemust attempt to exercise our ability tocritique the world as it is today, ratherthan being overly concerned with whatit will be tomorrow, so that perhaps wecan realize something better, or in thevery least pass on the tools to do so.

Of course, institutional expectations are never met without tension. Whenthe teacher is forced to adapt to the system, to adopt the ways of the institutionwhile simultaneously distancing oneself from the process, this is toaccommodate what Maxine Greene described as “kitsch,” in her article,“Teaching as Project: Choice, Perspective, and the Public Space.” Kitsch isthe vague, new school slogan that no one seems to understand, but everyoneshows support for. Kitsch is the annual reinvention of testing procedures thatteachers readily know is pointless, perhaps even harmful, but they adapt toanyway. Kitsch occurs when the teacher encounters a tension between herselfand the system and she silences her internal protest in order to yield to theinstitutional context. This objectivity is precisely what Greene argues must bequestioned if teachers are to claim any amount of autonomy and self-development in their teaching.

Greene goes on to write that in order for teachers to claim their teaching asproject, they must first identify the apparent inexorability of the system andcome to critically understand the context within which their labor exists. If weare unable to identify the social and economic boundaries that the school ispositioned within, we will continually be blind to the political and humaninterests involved in the institution’s makeup. In coming to critique theirinstitutional contexts, teachers take the first step in reflecting on their teachingas project, in building a dialectical relationship with the school andconfronting the possibility of their compliance in an unjust system.Reclaiming their space within the classroom as both personal and political,teachers reject the selfless model of teaching that cannot, and should not,exist.

By harnessing the power of our professional spaces, we as teachers cometo recognize the authority we hold in shaping the notions of teaching and theprofession. The possibility of teacher flourishing is uncovered when theteacher works to obtain small amounts of autonomy; we must not be afraid toquestion policies, curricula and default classroom relations that we find to beunjust and destructive to the learning process. The ability to set certainparameters of our work invites teachers (and other laborers) to incorporatepersonhood into our profession and reduces the alienation we experience fromour labor.

Although we may not be able to reduce our class sizes, we are able toquestion such things as the competitive and high-stakes environment thatstandardized testing demands. By pushing back on policies such as these, welay claim to the small amount of authority remaining in our vocation andreach for more. By democratizing parts of the education process and allowingfor relative amounts of teacher autonomy, schools may begin to incorporatethe self-development of teachers within their profession. As current and futureteachers, we must challenge the very idea that selflessness is a virtue in thepractice of teaching, and recognize the validity of self-care in the teachingprocess. When we come to see our teaching as project, we not only engage ina shared learning process with our students, but also orient ourselves torecognize the power we hold in shaping the profession we know as teaching.

FROM THE EDITORcontinued from page 1

Tomás Rocha

This is not simply the case at TC.Many of the “best” education schoolsin the country are all leaning in thisdirection, developing and refiningmethods of accessing instruction andstudents. This means that people beingtaught to teach, administrators, etceterado not have any other point ofreference than the failing systems ofaccountability that are currently inplace. Innovation simply seems to be totake a model from another field andapply it to education. Most notablymany of the mechanisms that are usedto manage large corporations arereinterpreted to manage schools.Incentives are set in place for both theteachers and the students in a setting sodepressing that they can no longermuster the internal motivation tocontinue to participate.

All wrapped up in this truncatedstatement is a picture of the future. Afuture where every student is a“success.” Success today, in its mostsuccinct definition, is being college andjob ready. However, is this all thatsuccess is? Implied in education is thedevelopment of certain internal ways ofbeing in the world, most notably amature attitude toward the world. Bymature, I mean an ability to respond tosituations without defaulting to anauthority. An attitude that does notlook to a teacher to verify a “correctanswer,” and may not necessarily beconcerned with an answer at all, butmore appropriately concerned withfinding the right question. Incentivesand an eye on the future cloud theability to access and critique thepresent.

ORIENTATIONcontinued from page 2

...created to educate them is working,and in recent history we have foundover and over again that it is notworking. Students and teachers aredisaffected and demoralized with littlesay of what happens in their day to dayexistence in the classroom. And yet, wecontinue to attempt to refine how wetest and probe.

Disclaimer: TC Public Space is aforum for the TC community, thecontent of which do not necessarilyreflect the opinions of the editorialboard of Teachers College.

*To view a timeline featuring some ofLAPES’ activities from past, present, andfuture, visit tcpublicspace.wordpress.comto read the online version of this article.

Photo Credit: Joe Marinelli, TCPS

...making memories along the way sothat my experience did not becomehollow like a brand name. It quicklybecame clear to me that gettinginvolved in this newsprint publicationwas a way to substantively enrich bothmy own personal experience and thatof other TC community members.

To echo the overarching theme ofthe articles that comprise this“Orientation” issue, show up. Do notshut up – especially if you are young.Make your voice heard to those willingto listen. Likewise, listen to thosewilling to voice their opinions.

Whether through participating inStudent Senate, getting involved withTCPS, or seeking membership in anyof the more than 25 studentorganizations on campus – you havebeen admitted to a prestigiouscommunity of people in this world whoshare your same passion for education.Now, together, let us continue to buildboth community and world.

Living this shared mission, Ibelieve, is what it means to belong toTeachers College.