James A. Bryant, Jr.

One of my heroes is Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. In his book Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage, Freire describes being a teacher as a "politico-pedagogical career." As much as anything, that is what this site, as well as my new book, A Vocation at Risk: A Survival Guide for new Teachers is all about: acknowledging and confronting the truth that teaching is inescapably a job that exists at the intersection of politics, culture, heritage, family, faith, and so much more. As much as we might wish it to be different, the truth is as teachers we cannot succeed in the classroom if we try to stand aloof from the questions, controversies, and battles of our time. This is not a new development. The picture beside this text is of me and my Grandfather, Russell Norris. My grandpa was born in the Big Cove community on the Qualla Boundary, home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.  One of his most vivid early memories was a cake of lye soap being used to wash out his mouth for the crime of speaking a single Cherokee word in his third grade class in Cramerton, North Carolina. Schools can be both engines of change and renewal, but they can also be agents of oppression. In the final analysis, even with the moral cowardice and intellectual torpor of many professional educators, administrators, and politicians, it will be up to us, the teachers, to ultimately decided what kind of schools we have.