When Least Expected™

Do You Have “The Courage To Teach?”

January 12th, 2007 at 01:02pm Manchild

On day 12 of 2007, a recent email from another teacher inspired me to take a moment to stand up and tip my hat to the great women and men with the inner strength of character and the “courage to teach.”  Let’s publicly recognize the exemplary, steadfast leadership of Ms. Marva Collins, who founded the Westside Preparatory School in 1975 as one of the many unsung sheroes who had the courage to teach the impoverished inner-city children of Chicago’s Garfield Park she valued enough to transform children public school authorities labeled as “borderline retarded” into respected scholars.  As documented in 1996 by the CBS program, 60 Minutes, and Ms Collins’ biography, “a little girl who had been labeled as borderline retarded, graduated in 1976 from college Summa Cum Laude.”  The Marva Collins Story starred Ms. Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman and first aired on television in 1982.  Ms. Marva Collins has always had my vote for “Secretary Of Education.”  Cast your vote and let me know who you believe deserves a nomination for 2007’s “Teacher Of The Year.”  The word for today is “Pedagogy.”

According to her bio, Marva Collins “graduates have entered some of our nation’s finest colleges and universities.”  Children once labeled as borderline retarded have “become physicians, lawyers, engineers, educators, and entered other professions.”  Imagine how different our lives would be today had it not been for that one underpaid, under appreciated unsung heroe, or sheroe, with the courage to teach.  During such a violent season as this, one too many of our teachers have thrown in the towel or have grown tired of trying to teach the uncooperative few who marred the educational experiences for one too many children.  Imagine all the possibilities that would happen if the annual salaries our teachers made matched the salaries we pay grown men to play athletic games and entertain us.  It’s fundamentally unfair to force a public school teacher to teach children who grow up and make more during one game than most teachers made during an entire school years.  As comedian Chris Rock would say, “That ain’t right!”

The book, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life, by author Mr. Parker J. Palmer, provides valuable insight about the “heart of a teacher” who does so in “a culture of fear.”For our resilient teammates, who are relentlessly pursuing dreams of becoming published writers and authors, how many days did you sit down last week to “sharpen your saws?”  How many days did you sit down an focus on writing new material for inclusion in the next best-selling book that may change your life and the lives of your readers forever?  How many different books did you choose to read last week?

Oh really!  Quick question.  Who befriended you and pretended to be your friend before convincing your gifted soul that learning to read books and reading books to learn wasn’t cool or in vogue anymore?  Obviously, you haven’t read the book, Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny, by author and actor Mr. Hill Harper.  Let’s congratulate all the great women and men who possess the courage to mentor and teach young boys and girls ready and willing to learn both inside and outside the walls of a traditional classroom.  I will always remain truly grateful for the privilege to actively participate in an educational process one too many impoverished children in third world countries seldom enjoy.  As reminded and suggested by the Ancient Asian Proverb I read on the Leadership Lifestyle website for the book, Leadership As a Lifestyle: The Path to Personal Integrity and Positive Influence, by author John Hawkins,

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Great men, women, and children with the love of God in their hearts will refuse to ridicule and humiliate their peers for carrying the same book bag they had last year because its color didn’t match the new clothes they got for Christmas.  Besides, the love in the heart of a real friend will inspire that great person to tell you that learning to read and reading to learn early in life will exponentially enhance your ability to excel and succeed later in life.  I’m a grown man who’s not ashamed to let my peers see me with a book in my hands every chance I get to keep the sun from setting on the same person twice.  I still carry around an ugly gray book bag I bought over ten years ago because I still read more than one book at a time.  Besides, there are far too many great teachers and mentors with gray hairs adorning heads held high who are still busy achieving great things and enjoying the privilege of reading more than one book at a time decades after we graduated from the high school, college, or university of our choosing. 

In closing, I challenge you to take a look inside the Book Store link, now located in the sidebar of the Home Page, to see the plethora of “treasure chests disguised as books” still waiting for you to benefit from its contents.  Feel free to share the titles of some of your favorite books.  The list is dynamic and will grow as we walk together and work together during this “year of firsts.”  Excited?  I hope so.  On day 12 of 2007, I also challenge each of you to teach another something they didn’t know to inspire them to dig deeper and climb higher than they did in 2006. Be forewarned.  Doing so will test your faith in unforeseen ways as the truth you share shifts the foundation of their false beliefs about the true lie that still hinders our God-given abilities to achieve great things.  The courage to teach your peers how to do something new will test your faith in God.  Nevertheless, what you choose to do with the first day of the rest of your life is still yours alone to make.  As we strive to achieve what we used to believe was an impossibility before learning, keep reaching out and teaching each other that impossible is still nothing to God.  May the peace of God be with each of you until we meet again.

©Copyright 2007 by Roderick O. Solomon.  All Rights Reserved.

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