The school systems educators follow aren’t us. They’re not even about us. They’re about someone else’s attempt to make managing us easier. (And we are going right along with it!) In our race to fit the school’s models, we’ve forgotten who we are. In most schools, this is clear in the dichotomy between mission and practice. Instead of pursuing success, we pursue the mission. We focus on gaming the system rather than going after what’s important. We blame the administration for not letting us do it our way, blind to the tragic reality that we did do it our way, and that our way is to give up control and then complain about the way it is. This takes a certain kind of courage.
It’s time, as educators, to remember that we are the protagonists in our own stories—not fictional ones, either, but real, live, actual, here-I-am-in-the-flesh-stories unfolding in our work with students and colleagues each day. We are all the stars of our own life stories, and our 'careers' are subplots. None of us should let that overtake our bigger life story—especially if we are engaged in education as a predictable, formulaic progression.
Can you think of a good story where the main character lives life from start to finish in a predictable, formulaic way, as if led by a guide wire.
When you’re on a guide wire, you can’t have a story unless you let go and see where you go from there. That takes courage. Only protagonists can know surprises, friendship, obstacles, twists, victories, villains, daring, love, temptation, loss, luck, setbacks, choices, laughter, tears… only protagonists can know success. Have the courage to take risks.
So step off your career path; let go of the guide wire, be the hero of your own story.
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