Wanted: Creative Resistance
Dear Diane,
Like you, I was immensely cheered to read that my colleagues were speaking truth to power! Yes, I agree with virtually every word that those Long Island administrators said. The sad fact is that this is so rare is troubling. As I speak around the country to teacher-educators I remind them that they should "go after" their university colleagues, who should be defending the independence of schools of education from inappropriate dictates, and recognizing that they will be next. The decision to define what it means to be a well-educated person—by way of test scores and even diplomas—has serious intellectual, social, moral, and political implications.
Besides, most would-be teachers take a majority of their courses in the regular liberal arts and sciences departments, not in ed school. They bear considerable responsibility for the quality of our teachers of the future and should be sitting down with us, not distancing themselves from us.
I had a splendid time at Kappa Delta Pi's 100th anniversary. It has an interesting history—they did not unite with Phi Delta Kappa (the other education "fraternity") because PDK didn't enroll women in its ranks 100 years ago! I
