South Dakota Classroom
The Pedagodfathers: Lords of Education is a remarkable text — complex, multilayered and imaginative. It captures the wonderful world of educational discourse through the voice of an “old hand” sharing his thoughts and observations with a young educator at the beginning of his career. The book presents many keen insights and “pearls of wisdom.” In the words below, the old hand (mentor) offers his best and final advice: to treasure each moment, choose fresh beginnings and share the wine of life with others. In the passage below, we are told to expect no more of ourselves than this.
“Eliot understood hell better than Sartre. Not that Sartre was completely wrong. He wasn’t. He was even right as far as he went. Hell is, at times, others. The pedagodfathers certainly torture all of us…But hell, as Eliot so beautifully conveys the ugly truth, is also oneself — our drives and choices, their consequences; our fears, failures, pretensions, delusions; our extended, unending solitude; our loss of dignity and self; and our imprisonment as strangers. He offers an exit, however, unlike Sartre: fresh beginning, each moment of the day if necessary. Fresh beginnings, however, are almost over for some of us; but, there are plenty left for people like you and Sophia. I hope you’ll take advantage of them. We need educators and attorneys, even administrators, who choose to enjoy a good life as they seek to build, protect and extend a just, free, good and caring society. Our hope — individually, professionally, institutionally — rests in each person’s treasuring each moment, choosing fresh beginnings and sharing the wine of life with others. No one can ask more from us, and we dare not expect more of ourselves” (Simpson, 1994, p. 157).
It is interesting to juxtapose this advice with the notion expressed earlier in this book about the nature of success (See “On Doing What One Ought to Do“). Captives of our culture, we (educators, human service professionals) are advised to live principled lives as well as good lives, while dedicating ourselves to creating and preserving “a just, good, free, and caring society.” Two moral imperatives — to do what one ought (thereby redefining our conceptions of success), and to enjoy oneself while doing so! This reminds me of Martha Wolfenstein’s fun morality construct — the mid-20th century notion that parenting should be fun and enjoyable, and if we find it otherwise, there must be a problem! — EdProf
References and Photo Credit
Simpson, D. (1994). The Pedagodfathers: The Lords of Education. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Detselig.
Wolfenstein, Martha (1951). The emergence of fun morality. Journal of Social Issues 7 (4): 15-25. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1951.tb02249.x
Photo Credit: Classroom, by Mike Kamrud of South Dakota. Taken in 2010 and posted to Pics4Learning in 2011. http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=classroom.jpg
Tools of the dissertation writer’s trade. (All photos author’s own.) 
Educating Professionals 
