The Hero’s Journey J.L. Brown & C.A. Moffett Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development |
Preface vii
Our current structures for schooling are exhausted. They make it “agonizingly difficult” (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998) for educators at all levels to respond to the needs of children in a global society. Regardless of efforts to develop state and local standards, new forms of assessment, innovations in technology, or applications of new approaches to teaching and learning, these attempts at educational reform will not succeed without fundamental and heroic changes in the culture, structures, policies, and perceptions of the place we call school.
According to cultural anthropologist Joseph Campbell (1949), in times of darkness and confusion that test our minds, hearts, and spirit, we have often looked to heroes of other times and places to give us courage and hope. This is such a time in public education.
Preface ix
(Joseph) Campbell (1949) defines the hero as:
the champion not of things become but of things becoming. … The dragon to be slain by him is precisely the monster of the status quo. The hero’s task always has been and always will be to bring new life to a dying culture. (p. 20)
Page 1
“We have not to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the heroic path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.” Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Page 12
For Frazer, a hero is any individual (male or female) who transcends the norms of a group to embody the highest moral virtues reflected in the collective vision of the universe shared by the members of that group. The hero begins in a state of innocence and unconsciousness and ends in a state of grace and higher consciousness. The hero demonstrates, throughout the transformation process, a sustained commitment to ideals that represents the best to which anyone in the group can aspire. As part of the pathway to heroic transformation, Frazer and other writers in this tradition affirm, the hero always undergoes a series of tests and initiations that require moral courage, fortitude, assembled resources, and external support through companions along the way. The hero is ultimately an earthly manifestation of transcendental and enduring universal principles and patterns in human experience.
According to Jung:
The concept of the archetype … is derived from the repeated observation that . . . the myths and fairy tales of world literature contain definite motifs which crop up everywhere. … They have their origin in the archetype, which in itself is an irrepresentable, unconscious, pre-existent form that seems to be part of the inherited structure of the psyche and can therefore manifest itself spontaneously anywhere, at any time. (Storr, 1983. p. 415)
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The philosopher’s stone embodies the hope that is at the heart of the hero’s journey. Our assumption is that despite the chaos and complexity that typify much of education today, transformation is not only possible but inevitable. This reality is powerfully reflected in the New Science phenomenon of strange attractors. As described by Gleick, Wheatley, and others, these are archetypal basins of attraction that define and give ultimate form to what may appear, at times, as chaos and anarchy. In –hat subatomic physicists call “phase space,” we discover that seemingly random and chaotic elements ultimately find some outlying structure and order that superimposes stability on a seemingly out-of-control system.
Page 31
As Wheatley (1992, p. 12) suggests:
We are refocusing on the deep longings we have for community, meaning; dignity, and love in our organizational lives. We are beginning to look at the strong emotions that are part of being human, rather than segmenting ourselves or believing that we can confine workers [students] into narrow roles, as though they were cogs in the machinery of production. As we let go of the machine models of work [and education], we begin to step back and see ourselves in new ways, to appreciate our wholeness, and to design organizations that honor and make use of the totality of who we are.
Page 47
Another administrator reflected the same feelings:
From the time I was in the classroom-and that was many years – I always believed that we made decisions that were best for the kids. The further away I moved from the classroom, the more I began to see that this wasn’t the case. When I moved out of the classroom, it broke my bubble.
One such educator, who has spent her professional life working in a variety of parent and community outreach programs, described her awakening from innocence this way:
I think I began to lose my innocence when my children first started going to school. Before my first child started, I really believed in public education, and that everyone really wanted what was best for children. And then reality hit on the first day of kindergarten. The first interaction I had with the school as a parent was cold, distant. As if they were saying: “You just leave your son with us. Parents don’t come into school “
Page 24
The philosopher’s stone embodies the hope that is at the heart of the hero’s journey. Our assumption is that despite the chaos and complexity that typify much of education today, transformation is not only possible but inevitable. This reality is powerfully reflected in the New Science phenomenon of strange attractors. As described by Gleick, Wheatley, and others, these are archetypal basins of attraction that define and give ultimate form to what may appear, at times, as chaos and anarchy. In what subatomic physicists call “phase space,” we discover that seemingly random and chaotic elements ultimately find some outlying structure and order that superimposes stability on a seemingly out-of-control system.
Page 55
In education, we live in a world of gurus and experts. As Canadian educator Barrie Bennett (personal interview, 1998) notes, however, gurus may proliferate, but we see little evidence in education of their individual contributions making much of a difference. “I wish,” he told us, “that we would learn to internalize what these gurus have to say by putting their ideas into practice and learning from one another what works – and what doesn’t.” As Bennett suggests, no true change or transformation will occur within a system if its members cling to the outworn notion that some external expert – or set of experts – can ever save us.
Page 60
In effect, no heroic journey can begin without the presence of phenomena that embody the “dark side.” Chaos and complexity are the wake-up calls that challenge us to quest for new, creative, and more collaborative approaches to realizing our personal and shared visions for education. The problems, barriers; issues, and trends that populate the world of education today represent the dragons, serpents, shape-shifters, and tricksters found in myths and epics that make it inevitable for us to embark on the path of the hero’s journey.
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REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: The Heroic Educator
1. To what extent do I currently feel that my professional life is inauthentic?
2. To what extent do I experience a lack of connection with the shared purpose, vision, and mission within my school and its system? 3. What would have to be different in my professional environment for my sense of professional isolation to be eliminated?
4. What technical knowledge do I feel I am lacking currently?
5. From what professional development would I benefit, to address the issues I identified in # 4?
6. In what ways do I operate at cross-purposes with other staff members because of our differences in our interpretations of the meanings of terms and the purposes of key initiatives within our school and school system?
7. What areas within my subject area, department, or grade level would benefit from our staff arriving at operational language to describe our shared understandings of practices that support effective teaching and learning?
8. In what areas of my professional life do I tend to cling to the known and predictable?
9. How do I deal with new or innovative programs and practices?
10. How might I modify any resistance or denial I might demonstrate when dealing with the change process?
Page 69
Another principal we interviewed, Lorraine Monroe, described the experience some educators have when their attempts to make a difference deviate from organizational norms:
The other dragon was fear. If I do this, what will happen to me? Will they take my job? Will I be declared as someone is not quite on the team? I think you have to come into this work with a sense of yourself that is so strong that even when you meet caution and apprehension, the dragon that says, “Slow and steady, don’t rock the boat” you have the courage to say, “This is for the good of children, so I am going to do it anyway. Now if that means they will transfer me or say that I am incompetent, then I know I am working for the wrong system. The bottom line for me is doing what I know in my heart, is good for children.”. . . The battle scars can become beauty marks
Page 70
An urban principal we interviewed noted:
I had the opportunity to move to central administration. It was there that I met the dragon. It was there that I realized how the layers of bureaucracy get in the way of innovation and change. What I met full force was the pervasive fear of making radical moves even though the radical move was truly the right thing to do for kids. The layer through which decisions had to pass was the political agenda of so many who were there. I think what disturbed me the most was how long it for a great idea to get down to the people.
Page 85
As Pearson (1989) notes:
Becoming heroic means having attained a strong sense of self, an enlarged identity. We know who we are, what we stand for, and why we are here. We become fearlessly open with our values and beliefs. Our life feeds authentic to ourselves and to others. Gradually others become drawn to us, and our vision spreads…. As we begin to put ourselves out there and be seen … we attract to us people dike ourselves who want to live in the same kind of transformed kingdom. (p. 152)
Page 90
Self-Mastery as the Ultimate Jewel in the Lotus: Collective realization of a shared vision for schools can occur only if members of the school community are dedicated to self-mastery. As Senge (1990) states:
People with a high level of personal mastery share several basic characteristics. They have a special sense of purpose that lies behind their vision and goals. For such a person, a vision is a calling rather than simply a good idea. They see current reality as an ally, not as an enemy. (p. 142)
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As Palmer (1998) says in The Courage to Teach:
When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are: I will see them through a glass darkly in the shadows of my own unexamined life. And when I do not see them clearly, I cannot teach them well. (p. 2)
For example, a teacher we interviewed said: One of the biggest trials and tests is the isolation of the person with the vision by people who have made peace with the status quo.” A’, principal said: “To. retain your sense of hope and focus, you have to gravitate toward the people who still have the vision.”
Page 108
In Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Leadership Development for Teachers, Katzenmeyer and Moller (1996) note that increased teacher leadership is essential for school reform:
We can no longer ignore the leadership capability of teachers the largest group of school employees and those closest to the students. Empowered teachers bring an enormous resource for continually improving schools. School reform is dependent on teacher leadership being developed, nurtured, and reinforced both in the schools and throughout school districts. The potential for teachers to be leaders can be awakened by helping teachers believe they are leaders, by offering opportunities to develop their leadership skills, and by providing school cultures that Honor their leadership. (p. 2)
Page 142
An administrator in a prominent national educational organization told us:
A fundamental barrier is that we cannot achieve the goals we are trying to achieve within the existing structure. We are talking about a totally new structure for education. A different conception of teachers, of time, of place, of professional development – and of what learning looks like, who’s doing the learning, where “school” is. School is not a place, but we are still bound by the place.
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Is the work that I have described
the liberation of the genius and
goodness of all children,
the creation of the new mind
for the new millennium,
and the creation of learning communities
that invite and challenge the wonder and
awe of the human spirit
is this the work that you want to do?
STEPHANIE PACE MARSHALL
Page 150
As Joyce, Wolfe, and Calhoun (1993) note:
“The fabric of schooling is cut from moral cloth” (p. 79). The real question, says Meier (1995), is not: “Is it possible to educate all children well?” but “Do we want to do it badly enough?” (p. 4).