Be courageous. Ask why.

mark dziedzic
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

The staff meeting starts and a collective breath is held; Griff, stoically sitting at the back table by himself has just raised his hand. We all know what is about to come next. The meeting leader pauses, looks to Griff, and with resignation says, “Yes?” Griff responds as we have come to expect: “Why are we doing this?” Nearly everyone in the room rolls their eyes, figuratively if not physically, and the meeting heads down a path towards unproductivity: Griff asking why, the rest of us frustrated and trying to talk about what we need to do and how we are going to get it done.

In that moment years ago, I was frustrated and saw Griff as a curmudgeon hell bent on dragging things out for reasons I could not understand. Today, however, I wish I could find Griff and thank him for his leadership. While I, and certainly those trying to lead the meeting, interpreted the question as an attempt to derail the meeting or implementation of the next initiative, I now understand Griff was not trying to derail or hold us back. He was actually trying to get us out of our rut of how? and into a deeper and more-needed conversation rooted in why?

I didn’t know it at the time, but it was Griff’s insistence on regularly asking why that led me to my belief that asking and responding to an authentic why is a courageous act. It opens up a world of possibility to both the person asking and the one receiving the question. To ask an authentic why makes you vulnerable — you are admitting you do not know, do not understand, and this is a vulnerable position in a society that values knowledge and certainty. Responding to why is courageous because it places responsibility for your actions where it ought to be — on you. Responding authentically requires you to articulate a rationale for your actions.

Unfortunately, Griff didn’t often get an authentic response. He usually received some terse response that could be equated to “because I said so.” Facing what felt like a never-ending wave of initiatives coming at me, my attitude at the time was “just tell me what to do,” and it felt reasonable. In fact, it sometimes still seems like a safe response. However, I wish I or someone else in the room would have shown the same leadership and courage as Griff and had taken up his offer to consider why. An honest discussion of the rationale would have helped us get to the equally powerful, and also equally courageous, what if questions. It is in this shared space of an authentic inquiry grounded in why and what if that questions about how to can be truly productive and transformative conversations that help us create the schools we desire.

As teachers we need to take on this active role in asking authentic whys. In the go, go, go pace of schools, teachers are not often afforded the time nor space to ask and contemplate why. However, we owe it to ourselves to ask. We owe it to our students.

And we also owe it to our students to create a classroom climate where the students are allowed and encouraged to ask why. Students face the same barriers to asking and considering why and what if questions about their world, as well as about the content, pedagogy, and assessments taking place in the classroom. Students need to be afforded legitimate time, space, and opportunity to ask and explore these why and what if questions if we are going to move our world forward.

We cannot truly be education advocates without openly, honestly, and invitingly asking why. We cannot truly be education advocates without willingly, candidly, and thoughtfully responding to why.

So whether you agree or disagree with me, I ask you to be an advocate: Be curious; Be open; Be courageous. Ask me why. I cannot tell you what the answer will be, but I can tell you we will be challenged, more knowledgeable about ourselves and our teaching practices, and end up in a more enlightened space if you can ask, I can respond and we can discuss why we are doing what we are doing.

GMWP: Greater Madison Writing Project

Teacher as Artist, Teacher as Researcher, Teacher as Writer, Teacher as Teacher of Writing

mark dziedzic

Written by

GMWP: Greater Madison Writing Project

Teacher as Artist, Teacher as Researcher, Teacher as Writer, Teacher as Teacher of Writing

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