Pride - Part 1

In my career as an educator, I have spent a lot of time observing people - Teachers, Administrators, Parents, Students, support staff, bus drivers, community members, board members. . . a lot of characters in the daily play that makes up an average school day. A lot of those observations have been in my official capacity, but most of them unofficially. . . casually. With the sheer volume of people involved, it is interesting to watch the rhythm of the interactions between each unique person within their peer group as well as within the other unique groups. I have noticed two consistencies no matter where I have been: (1) The younger the person, the more honest or transparent the presentation, and (2) Adults tend to maintain an invisible "force field" of protection, shielding their authentic selves from others. I have deduced that the reason for these consistencies is quite simple. . . . PRIDE.

A young child has not developed the concept of pride, and adults allow their pride to control their actions and interactions.
If we could read the invisible fields put up around us, we would see that very rarely we get to see a clear picture of the true essence of most people in our lives. Pride perpetuates and feeds off of individual insecurities, low sel-esteem, jealousy, lack of confidence, and other personality cancers that prohibit us from connecting with others.

People walk around wearing masks or facades that present to the world the person they believe the world wants to see or the person they want the world to believe they are. As a result, people are relegated to staying an arm's distance away, and never really connecting with each other. These distances (or spaces) are incubators of tension, conflict, and misunderstanding. People like to say "I'm a what you see is what you get person," however, that is rarely an accurate statement. If that was true, there would be less posturing, gossip, and distaste, and more empathy and compassion.

My next three blog entries are going to look closer into the negative impact that pride has on us in the workplace, within our family unit, in our community, and pride's global implications. In the meantime, take a real look at yourself in the mirror. As Billy Joel wrote in "The Stranger" (I paraphrase) do you have a face that you hide away forever, and take and it out and show yourself when everyone has gone?" I think we all do. If we were conscious of it, and could control this, and were able to walk out of the house "maskless," I submit there would be more happiness. . . . more peace.

As I like to say, "If you allow your pride to be your guide, you are bound to get lost." Try and let your heart and sense of self be your social and emotional GPS.

Peace,
Randy

Wasting Time Studying Instead of Doing

I want to thank the members of the education community for inspiring me to FINALLY put together a blog. An honorable mention will go to my fellow parents, but I will save that for future entries. Today I want to discuss the STUDY of STUDYING. That's what I call people spending time and monetary resources studying the way schools are run, reporting on what they have observed, then going back to their universities or private offices and do some more studying.

It has been said that those who can. . . do, and those who can't. . . .teach. As a teacher, I always took exception to that phrase. I am not saying there isn't some truth to it; however, teaching in its own right is an art. . . a skill. . .a talent that requires a special person to connect with other people to inspire them to be better. There are, however, those burned-out teachers who are just riding on auto pilot and collecting a check. (I am sure I will blog about them soon too)

I would like to add my own part to that old phrase. Those who can. . . do, and those who can't. . . .teach, and those who can't teach. . . study it.

I am continued to be amazed by the money being spent. . . wasted. . . on studies that continue to report the obvious without any real solution. I read yesterday, for probably the 50th time, that there is a problem with the academic progress of our inner-city students. Our "minority population" is performing poorer than our non-minority popluation (Do we call them the majority?) How about, for once, someone decides to not just report on results of a study, or the results of standardized tests, and/or pontificate "what we should do" and actually roll up his/her sleeves and get back into the classroom, or the principal's office, or the superintendent's office, and make it happen.

That would require work. Real work. It would also require the risk of not being successful. It is easy and safe to observe and report.

I was prompted to begin this blog because once again I read about a person who wanted to study education for another 20 years. It was from an article in the New Jersey Paper, the Star-Ledger. A seven year study that resulted in the recommendation for another 20 year study. SO, come 2030 we will start implementing the results of this study - or start another one.

By then, I might have a grandchild entering preschool . . .comforting.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2010/01/princeton_university_researche.html