teachers as care-takers
I went to a panel on the vote no on 1 issue at the medical school yesterday. It was packed, the response mostly positive, and it was neat to see how the other half lives for an hour. However, I came away with this weird feeling of dissatisfaction with education programs as compared to medical schools.
Maybe I’m generalizing, but it really seems that doctors are trained as care-takers in their schooling, not just as health professionals. When the doctors on the panel spoke they really talked to the med students as future doctors who concern themselves with not just physical health, but social justice as well. It seems obvious to me that teachers should be prepaired in the same way, with social issues as a central concern in the curriculum. However, that isn’t how it is. Future teachers are expected to be competent in disciplinary content and pedagogical strategies. Somehow the humanity of what we do is de-emphasized and forgotten along the way.
I’m sure some of the folk in the business of teacher preparation will disagree with me, but there was definitely a vibe at this medical school panel that I never get across the street in the education departments.