“He was one of the true romantics left in education.” Dave Green in his post, ONE OF THE LAST GREAT EDUCATION POLICY MAKERS PASSES: Will education pass with him?”, memorializing Dr. Thomas Sobol, “the New York State education commissioner for eight years, appointed by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo (the wise father of the tyrannical Governor of NY, Andrew) in 1987.“During Dr. Sobol’s tenure, the percentage of high school graduates going to college increased, as did the number of students passing advanced placement exams.”
Green explores the idea of romanticism in the context of education in a time when “It seems humanity has been sucked out of education.” and “Children and teachers fight constantly to not become cogs in this machine…” of data driven, STEM focused, computer controlled…age.”
He calls for more heroes of courage, compassion and serious thought….more heroic policy makers like Thomas Sobol who will ‘”ground his or her life in purer love that transforms…”’
I suspect these heroes can only come out of our school buildings. The people who are grounded in the reality of the struggle in our buildings and experience the joyful possibilities with our children.
Sobol put words to what drives many of us in school buildings. We carry a romantic picture inside ourselves of what we and our students can do together and in this world. It is our love of these possibilities that drives us. It is our love that holds our hearts open to be hurt as the juggernaut of corporatized educational policy keeps rolling over our pictures and possibilities. It is our love that binds us to each other, our work, the students, family and community.
As a diehard romantic, I still imagine we can prevail someday if we keep trying. It is very hard, it is tragic even, to give up on love.
“I love wisdom. And you can never be great at anything unless you love it. Not be in love with it, but love the thing, admire the thing. And it seems that if you love the thing, and you don’t just want to possess it, it will find you.” — Maya Angelou