Please, share your experience with us. What you share, as well as your reflections on a single experience that captures why you state that, is what will draw more folks to the conversation.

For example, in Literacy with An Attitude, the author asserts the following:

When students begin school in such different systems, the odds are set for them. I’d like to hope that a child’s expectations are not determined on the day she or he enters kindergarten, but it would be foolish to entertain such a hope unless there are some drastic changes made.

He’s referring that different teachers–depending on their educational background–find themselves working in different places, teaching students destined for one of three different societal roles. Those include worker class (domesticated), artists (rise of the creative class appplies here), and executive elite (those who manage everyone else). Teachers who follow what you describe are actually domesticating children, teaching them functional literacy and little else.

From books like Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class” and Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind,” it’s obvious that worker bee learning isn’t going to cut it. But changing a system that has focused on creating worker bees is tough work.

I saw the connection between what you wrote and my experience in my school district in this way. As a teacher, you’ll do what you need to do to make your paycheck and keep working. What incentive is there for you to step outside of years of training and experience? What do I have to do as a district admin to help you get there?

Miguel