Exchange With A Fellow Arts Educator.... (May / June 2017)
Below is an excerpt from an exchange with a fellow arts educator in May / June of this year. I decided to post it because it seems like such a spot on summation of what I'm struggling with at the moment. As well as being beautifully, eloquently put.
*Thank you. My gratitude for permission to post.
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Hi Jakey - I want to thank you for our conversation this afternoon. I have great admiration for your enthusiasm and intellect around social justice and the teaching profession. Your engagement and compassion is compelling and I'm sure that your students have had personal growth and discovery in your classes. Good luck in your years endeavors in San Diego and I hope your contemplations will lead you back to what we face in San Francisco.
Yes, It can often feel like bucketing out the ocean in our quest for sequential arts education, however, this is where the work needs to be done. At this stage of my career, I am rewarded by adult students regularly coming back to me and expressing their gratitude for what happened years ago.
I think it is important to remember that education alone cannot cure all the ills of society- structural racism and class discrimination has been a feature of many societies worldwide for generations. I would recommend to you the 1995 book Primal Love by Psychologist Douglass Gillette as a seminal work examining the parallels between human culture and those of our nearest relatives, the primates. We, the naked apes, exhibit many of the same characteristics, yet somehow think our intellect is governing our behavior.... I'm not so sure after years of observation.
..... I applaud your decision to take care of yourself and your parents at this stage and think it is important for us all to not go too far in our efforts, which is where trade unionism comes in- a fair days work for a fair days pay. Our work is very challenging and we must come to it with the highest degree of attention for success, yet, acknowledgement and accolades are probably not in our future- just the appreciation of those whom we help find out something new and wonderful about themselves...
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Great to hear from you too, and yes indeed! Next year I'm on a year's leave, and treating it like a personal sabbatical.
It's fortuitous timing, as my Mom's been in & out of the hospital for the past month, and my parents seem to be in the midst of some major life transitions.
I'm behind on all correspondence, and have just now had the opportunity to read the email you sent on May 25th.
Thanks so much for that. I value your perspective enormously, and am grateful for the kind & insightful words of encouragement; After a while, operating in large systems can become discouraging (at least that's been my experience), so surrounding oneself with optimistic, knowledgeable, professional, driven individuals is a must; Thanks you for being such a wonderful example.
I've put Primal Love on my to-read list ......
..... With best wishes for a great rest of the Summer :)
