“The more experienced I have become as a teacher, the more I have started to filter out people who don’t bring any solutions to the table—even those whose educational ideologies match mine. It’s important for teachers to come together and air our frustrations. But some people seem to love swimming in quicksand, hoping others will join them, as if the movement downward is an actual movement. I love making an irreverent joke about Arne Duncan’s latest speech as much as the next activist, but after a while, my next question is always, “OK, and so?” When sarcasm and vitriol are the only ways of discussing educational policy, we all lose. Whether face-to-face or virtual, teachers’ lounges ought to feel like places for educators to recharge our batteries, not drain them out.
Being about it, any it, requires changing the way we talk about it, too.”
–Jose Vilson, This is Not a Test
Schools & Ecosystems 