Fit in or stand out?
"Why do you try so hard to fit in when you were made to stand out?"
Stumble It!
This quote turned up again, this time in my Plurk network. It strikes me in a sensitive place, as always.
I am different.
I have a hearing loss.
I wear two hearing aids.
And...
I teach.
I am educated.
I am articulate.
So which is it? In education we claim to value differences. However, I see more pressure to conform, pressure to follow the same path and be just like the others. We differentiate and adapt for our students, but not for each other.
Being a teacher and being different do not mesh well.
I may not always hear you perfectly, but when I know what you've said, I can address it and answer you in complete sentences. My hearing loss didn't stop me from earning an undergraduate degree from a Conservatory of Music and a graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I can write a research paper and quote the studies that support each point I make. I can write a letter that's short and succinct and yet complete enough for the newspaper to publish. I can write a grant application that brings my class and my school much-needed money.
So which is it? Square peg or round hole? Fit in or stand out?
I still don't know.
Labels: disabilities, teachers live at school
Stumble It!
posted @6:59 AM
5 Comments:
1. You fit in
2. When you listed things you do well you forgot your compassion for others, your passion for education-specifically reading, and your practical education you have from raising two children.
3. And lastly, YOU FIT IN.
Thus lies the great divide in multicultural education: let's CELEBRATE our differences by AMPLIFYING them and then expect to be treated DIFFERENT while still THE SAME. ARgh.
You not only fit in, you stand out in many very positive ways!
It's a sometimes precarious balancing act, isn't it?
Well, this could not have been posted at a better time for me. At our ages, shouldn't we be more secure in who we are and living with a definition of ourselves that WE wrote for ourselves? Don't some days still feel like you are a freshman in high school? Green Girl, you nailed it. Can I put that quote up on the board for my university class? I will, of course, give you due props.
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