Upon reading "Stasis and Change: English Education and the Crisis of Sustainability" by Robert P. Yagelski, one thing immediately struck me on the very first page. When he wrote about a conversation he had with his colleagues, he spoke about coming away from the conversation "feeling overwhelmed by the power of institutionalized education and the pervasive and resilient culture of schools" (262). This is something that really catches me because I feel that a lot of the focus on
education in college, at least in my experience, focuses on the institutionalized problems that a lot of teachers and students face. I've seen my fellow students weeded out because of the negative image that surrounds schools of our generation, and it worries me. The fact that the author of this article speaks about feeling overwhelmed with the type of culture that exists in modern schools strikes a nerve with me because I often feel overwhelmed, too. Going into a profession that challenges institutionalized norms can feel like a huge weight on our shoulders, and I appreciate the things that this author has to say about it all.
Products of the Institution
Another really important point that Yagelski brings up in his article is the fact that often teachers have no problem fitting into the institutionalized culture that exists in schools because we are, in fact, products of that very same culture. This ends up creating a cycle of teachers who fail to challenge the norms. Teachers who bring nothing new to the table. Teachers who simply "go with the flow", as Yagelski writes. This is one thing that I feel really passionate about, and I hope that as a new generation of teachers comes into the picture, we can change the status quo.
School, the #1 Influence
I know we've all heard the cliche: "children are the future"...But in all reality, it's true. So when "But schooling ... is perhaps the single greatest influence on how we understand the world around us and our places in it..." (263), it's important to take note. What are we doing with this influence? We must prepare our students to understand the world they're walking into. However, the world is constantly evolving, and if we don't update our schooling to match this ever-evolving world, we are ultimately failing our students.
Then, English comes into play. Yegelski continues, "...and English instruction ... constitutes perhaps the most powerful vehicle for shaping our sense of ourselves as beings-in-the-world"(263). So where school very generally influences how our students see and understand the world, English helps our students find their voice in that world. This is why we, as English teachers, are so very unique and crucial to the children, to the future.
