From theory to praxis

In a just couple weeks I will officially hold the title 'Master of Education,' but this is not a title that I have rightly earned. Sure, I have met the expectations of an institution of 'higher' education and I have worked hard on my coursework and thesis. However, I can't help wondering whether the sorts of masters of education that my university trains are the masters of Audre Lorde's famous essay titled, The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House. If we are not becoming the masters, we are undeniably being trained to use the master's tools.

The title, itself ('Master of Education') reflects an unjust hierarchy, as if those who have access to 'higher' education are more uniquely qualified to 'teach' than anyone else. If you believe, as I do, in the profound role of educators as shapers of society, it is extremely dangerous to institutionalize the idea that 'educator' is a title that can only be earned in a university. In actuality, we are all educators and we are all learners. 

Oral traditions far predate academic institutions and few of our greatest cultural teachers are also institutionally recognized as teachers, professors, or educators. We must also recognize that many of the folks who make our lives possible, including many of those who do the important work of growing, harvesting, distributing and preparing our food, are underpaid, mistreated, and underappreciated. These folks are just as much educators as anyone else and, in fact, most of us need to be learning important lessons from them as our food systems are in crisis. But few look to the folks most connected with our food systems as educators. Few look at these folks at all. 

This is not to suggest that we entirely dismiss the modernist mode of production and distribution of knowledge in universities. Certainly, we need to look at how that knowledge is produced and who has access, but this system has produced a lot of important knowledge and trained many of our leaders and innovators as well as millions of people who we depend on every day (e.g., medical professionals). 

As Paulo Freire said, we must learn to read the word and the world. We read both through our own unique life experience and worldview. Thus, we each have a unique and beautiful perspective to share and we are all creators and distributors of knowledge. Our universities should simply support the work of education that we are all already doing. Again, we are all educators and we are all learners.

So, to me the title, 'Master of Education,' is not an accomplishment, it is a challenge to live up to my own ideal of an educator. I aspire to be a collaborator in education and to see everyone I interact with as a fellow collaborator in education. 

Finally, I don't want to dismiss my education or the journey that it has taken me on. In my time in graduate school, I feel that I have finally found a sense of direction and purpose. Despite that direction and purpose not being entirely aligned with the university, my college education was an important part of the process. I do believe that I have developed many useful skills that will help me collaborate as a co-teacher and co-learner and to share those skills with others. I look forward to starting a new chapter and finding my own way to practice restorative and socially just education for people and planet.