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Unread 01-04-2015, 00:50
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FRC #4607 (C.I.S.)
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Join Date: May 2013
Rookie Year: 2012
Location: Becker, Minnesota
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Re: Changing a culture of cynicism

Cynicism is right there along side apathy. Both are used to guard against being judged. This is not unique - we have experienced this in our little hamlet of Becker. Talking with other teachers and administrative types from other districts - this is a common phenomena. Walk the halls of your local HS - how many kids are wearing Letter Jackets these days?

Our collective culture has conditioned us to tamp down those that are successful. Look at the local news, tabloids, etc. Who is making the headlines? Either those we love to hate or those we hate to love. We cannot get beyond our own selves to congratulate someone else for their achievements - no matter how great or insignificant. We have become a pompous, arrogant, jealous culture.

How do we change this? Just look at what FRC has been doing for 25+ years... this is what we are missing in our communities. FRC demands that the teams get out their local community events and present our successes. It also demands that we get out to our local industry to ask for help.

In an off-the-cuff conversation my co-head Coach asked me this: "Why has education failed so badly the last 50 years?" I thought about it for a while before he answered this: "Because us educators have failed to recognize that the local community has so much to offer. We don't ask for their help. And that is why our team is succeeding when it shouldn't."

What does this have to do with the apathy/cynicism question? Everything. By asking/allowing others to help us - by asking them in to our fold - we will perceive them as judging us. And in the American Culture of the 21st century - that is taboo.

Or I may be off my rocker. But what FRC has taught me more than anything (as a teacher and a coach) is that I do not know everything, and the moment I think I do, my students will let me know that I do not.

I can also go down the road of 'Control vs. Influence' or even the relationship of 'Arrogance and Ignorance'... but I better not - I am just a Tech Ed teacher.
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