The Soul of Society

“The quality of your self-talk dictates the quality of your life because whatever you feed yourself is the source of your growth.”  --Marvin Marshall

“I am a slow unlearner.  But I love my unteachers.”  --Ursula K. Le Guin

This past week, in different settings, I ran across these quotations from two very different authors.  The first is from Marvin Marshall, who writes a monthly newsletter about classroom management.  I've followed him for a long time and highly regard his book Discipline without Stress, Punishments, or Rewards.  Marshall informed both my teaching and my parenting.

 

The second line comes from Ursula K. Le Guin, the award winning author and philosopher.  For many years I enjoyed reading her outstanding and thought-provoking science fiction and fantasy novels.  More recently, I have come to appreciate her philosophical insights as well.

I see a connection between these two quotes that I think may be important for those of us giving our professional hearts and souls in the service of public education.

Self-Talk and Unteaching

There is no question that statements, when repeated often and with authority, are soon accepted as fact, whether they are true or not.  For example, when you and I hear time after time about all the faults and problems in public education, we are in danger of believing many of the myths ourselves.  These negative words can become the self-talk that Marshall speaks of if we follow conventional wisdom and repeat the misconceptions as truths.

To avoid debilitating self-talk, we are in desperate need of unteachers, people who point out fallacies, inaccuracies, and misconceptions.  As far as I can tell, Le Guin, in a commencement address to Bryn Mawr College, coined this term.  She spoke of being a slow unlearner, but also of the great value of her unteachers.  She was speaking specifically about the hard work of unlearning many of the common misconceptions that were instilled in her as a youth about a woman’s role in society, but we can draw similarities to the current misconceptions about public education.

We don’t need to look far from home for examples of common misconceptions about public education.  This week our state legislature is in the news.  Representatives and our governor are putting forth proposals about school funding, new testing requirements, and expansion of vouchers.  These bills will have a direct impact on us at HSE.  Furthermore, and perhaps more damaging, the rhetoric accompanying these bills is often disparaging about the efforts and results of public education.  In this political climate, seldom is credit given where credit is due for all of the good work and successes of public schools.

From the Indianapolis Star this week...

Like Le Guin, I am convinced that we need unteachers to speak truth about the common misconceptions surrounding public education.  Perhaps more to the point, we may need to be the unteachers to others about what is really going on in in public education across the state, in all HSE schools, in Hamilton Southeastern High School, and in our classrooms.

We must be the voice that speaks of the good and noble and essential aspects of public education, especially in the current political environment.

My Unteachers

In that spirit, this week I participated in a short intellectual exercise.  I made a list of those people who have served as unteachers to me in all walks of my life.  When I finished my list, I found that it was fairly extensive and included great authors I have never met and a handful who I have been able to meet, albeit briefly.  It also included co-workers who have mentored me, great teachers and administrators, family and friends, and even one person whom I married!

One quality all of the people on this list have in common is that they challenged me—and continue to challenge me—to think critically and continue to grow and improve.  Unlearning is not an easy task.  In fact, it is disconcerting to find that some truths I hold are not truths at all.  But these unteachers have been essential to my growth as a person and as an educator.

I found this exercise worth doing for two reasons.  First, I was able to identify some of the sources of my self-talk and make sure I was feeding myself a high quality diet.  Secondly, I prepared myself mentally and emotionally to address misconceptions I hear about public education, to point out the inaccuracies and fallacies often repeated as fact, or at the very least to add a counterbalance to the discussion.

Make Your List

I encourage you to try this exercise, even if it is just in your head.  We are in for some tough days ahead in public education, and there is no better time to fortify ourselves for the events on the political horizon.  We must speak up for what we believe.  Our reality is that we cannot expect others to do so for us.  We must be the ones to address fallacies when we hear them, we must feed ourselves high quality self-talk about the importance of the work we do, and we must become unlearners of faulty conventional wisdom when necessary. 

Perhaps most importantly, we must become unteachers whenever we can.  Public education continues to be the great equalizer, and it needs our support now more than ever.  

I hope your week is a good one, HSE.  Keep up the good work of teaching and unteaching, of learning and unlearning.  Regardless of the negative rhetoric in our political discourse, it is a great day to be in education and a great day to be Royal.

Phil

In case you are interested, this is my list, in no particular order, of my much loved unteachers.  There are others, including many of you reading this entry.  These people taught and untaught me.  They give me hope and help me find my voice on a wide variety of topics.

Jonathan Kozol	Carol Dweck	John Shelby Spong
Jim Kirkton	Thomas Guskey	Steve Barone
Phillip Schelechty	Carl Weaver	Kylene Beers
Marvin Marshall	Grant Wiggins	Keith Graber Miller
Lucy Calkins	Jane Allen	Ruby Payne
Alfie Kohn	Bea McGarvey	Robert Marzano
Sheila Yoder	Thomas Sergiovanni	HSE Admin Team
Karen Armstrong	Jim Burke	Ann Graber Miller
My birth family and siblings	A Houseful of Lederach Kids	Lisa Lederach