An Urban Teacher's Education: On Schools, Health, and Success

An Urban Teacher's Education: On Schools, Health, and Success:

On Schools, Health, and Success

In the Western world, success is often thought of in terms of working hard to become upwardly , making a name for yourself, and, perhaps, accomplishing something of lasting importance.

Our notions of success, and the pressures they exert on our egos and superegos, have had varied effects on millions ofType A personalities in the modern world. (I include myself among them.) We push ourselves to the brink, attempting to fulfill societal expectations, and humblebrag about how many hours we spent working to get this contract signed or that task finished on our way up the career/reputation ladder.

We overextend ourselves, accumulate cortisol buildup from being overstressed, overeat, and die early. Our role models are those who sacrifice themselves for their work, whether the result of that work is a better planet or insane amounts of money.



Health - "a state of being free from illness or injury." 

A major contributor to health is balance. Imbalance leads to dysfunction leads to ill health. In the body, this is easy to understand. If you eat too much sugar (inflammatory) or not enough vegetables (anti-inflammatory), you run the risk of develop a host of illnesses, cancer among them.

By what standards should we judge the health of a school? I don't think it's all that different from how we should judge the health of an individual.

• Do students know how to deal with their emotions, so that they don't build up and lead to harmful stress? Do staff?
• Are students and staff generally happy in schools or angry?
• Is real food served? Are the meals balanced?
• Do justice matter?
• Is a sense of empathy cultivated?
• Is the workload of students and staff humane?
• Do students and staff have opportunities to build community and learn fromAn Urban Teacher's Education: On Schools, Health, and Success: