Mission Possible

Our national dialog on education, and especially public education has taken a decidedly political turn over the last two decades. It also, for the most part, lacks the depth, complexity, and frankly, reality, required for productive discussion. That reality of life and living inside the classroom, in concert with the larger issues, brings real meaning to the table. And there are immense stakes in the outcome of that discussion. What kind of culture are we? What are our political values? How is knowledge accountable to society? What is a citizen? What kind of people are we going to be? Is education a commodity? Do we believe in equal access, or what people can buy? Do we value teachers? We still struggle with segregation. We still deny the hard questions and grasp for simplistic answers.

I would like to thank the Colorado Education Association, which has kindly provided a forum for this kind of communication and dialog. To boldly blog and, well, see what happens. It is risky, innovative, and exciting. (It is worth repeating that the content here is solely my responsibility and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CEA.) This is the story and reflection of that surreal classroom where reality blends and jumbles with outside pressures, fads, ideology and power struggles. It is where I live almost every day. It's why I teach. The cast of characters includes students, teachers, staff, parents, guardians, professional associations, unions, politicians, school boards, corporations, huckters, and many, many surprises. I invite you to join me in that surreal class and, maybe, come to some answers for the hard questions. Nobody gets voted off the island, and there is no final exam; the final exam is what kind of public education--what kinds of schools--we choose to have.