An Educatee' Perspective

I have few credentials to blog on education in a society that values them ever more highly: I am not a teacher; I have no Masters or Ph. D. in Education; I have never been an administrator; and I don't have children, let alone kids in school. While I have taught in Panama and Honduras, I was not a full-time teacher, and the kids' success or failure was not my responsibility at the end of the day. I taught courses in college, tutored kids, and have taught English as a Second Language (ESL), but these are all fixed gigs. Volunteering is valuable and necessary, but it does not replace a functioning system. Suffice to say, I don't have "credentials," but I still feel like I have something to offer (or at the very least, some griping to do) because education was my salvation.

You see, I was born to a single mother who had not finished secondary school herself. After stints on welfare, countless evictions, being attacked by gangs on the way home from school, going to bed without dinner some nights, I statistically should not have finished school. As luck would have it, I have a Masters degree, speak several foreign languages, and have a pretty cool job that takes me around the world and hopefully helps people.

Luck, perhaps, is not the right word. While I have been lucky to have many opportunities, hard work, a passion for learning, and a hard-earned recognition that I needed to take advantage of the experiences being put before me allowed me to jump from being another statistic to being an outlier. My hope is that by starting a conversation on education, we can create a path forward for more kids who are in my situation or in far worse straights. I want to unearth more of the best practices to ensure that more kids share my passion for learning. I hope to figure out how I was fortunate enough to move past poverty and use that to help others.

In the coming posts, I hope to start this conversation by talking about my experiences. I will draw on my own experiences teaching and learning in the classroom. I will talk about what has motivated me and how I learn. I will analyze compelling articles, videos and books on education. I may relate tales of friends and colleagues who work in the classroom or on education policy. Most of all, I hope to get you talking, sharing your stories and ideas, and offering solutions. After all, we have all gone to school, and we all have something to contribute.

You see, we are a nation that is spurning learning. The only way to move past our failing education system and dying passion for discovery and innovation is to care enough to talk and to get involved. Agree with me, disagree with me, build on what I say...the important thing is to speak.