Procrastadabbler

Thus wrote Audrey Lourde in a stinging indictment of white feminism, patriarchy, and heterosexuality. These words are also ringing true these days as I think about educational reform and my role in it. I shudder to admit it, but I must do so, by being part of the system (as a teacher educator), I am complicit in the reproduction of an oppressive structure. I want reform. In my admittedly brief weekly forays into the public schools I see much that is cries out for improvement. I see the potential of so many youth quashed by institutional structures. I want reform and I’m feeling co-opted and helpless in creating that reform because I have become part of the system.

So what do I do? Where do I go? How can I affect change? Is it possible to affect change from the inside? The educational system worked for me. So how can I critique it? The role of institutions is reproduction. By becoming a member of that institution, I am complicit in the reproduction of an order I find oppressive and reprehensible.

So I ask again, what do I do?

I can’t just walk away.

Perhaps that’s why I’m interested in the new literacies. I see those as tools that do not belong to the master…so perhaps those are the ones that can dismantle the master’s house.