Thoughts on "The Future of Teaching"

One of the messages in my inbox this morning came from the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ). The item announced the inauguration of TeacherSolutions 2030--an initiative to explore and help shape teaching as a "student-centered profession." There were references and links to the most recent blog posts at the Future of Teaching blog. Two that caught my eye were "Do You See What I See?" and "Medicine and Education."

"Do You See What I See?" reminds us that we must continue to fight for equity in education--equity in all aspects and across all borders. That took me to the question: What if in our attention to public education in the U.S. we also paid attention to, advocated for, and worked to ensure educational access for girls and women in cultures that consider females as property only; OR comprehensive primary education for ALL children across this globe--goal #2 of the MDGs? The current U.S. administration reminds us to think about and act on behalf of the common good. And isn't the common good wider than U.S. borders?

"Medicine and Education" picks up on the theme of advocating for what's right. All of us, not just educators, must be vigilant to speak out for quality, for education and for allocating ever-diminishing resources (and they've been diminishing since the beginning of time, haven't they??) for education. I, of course, jump to the larger discussion, and think, "Yes, and again...let's look beyond our borders. Let's look to the common good and strive to meet the needs of all who are denied voice and power. A lofty and unrealistic goal? Yes. But I suspect that the early advocates for civil rights in the U.S., the visionaries who imagined democracy in India, and William Wilberforce and William Lloyd Garrison were criticized for their lofty visions and unreachable goals.