Teaching Hope: Disillusionment

I was glad for this chapter, because it shied away for a bit from the intense teacher/student relationships that dominated the previous chapters. It was also a bit more varied in the approaches to the testimonies, and by that I mean it seemed as if the reading seemed to encompass a lot of different issues that could fall under the moniker Disillusionment, rather than a specific theme like child abuse or racism (though there were a few stories that seemed to be linked by the military and teachers who were of middle eastern descent.)

I enjoyed some of these testimonies for their insight. It seems as though Erin Gruwell's horror story was not a one-in-a-million occurrence. I wonder if I will face any attacks on my teaching in my career. Also, the examples of teachers' personal lives, while mostly sounding whiny, brought me back to Earth. It made me think about what it is going to be like having a family with a job that requires you to keep tabs on 120 more children, or what kind of a relationship I will have with my wife after spending all of my energy at work.

I think that this chapter was fairly effective in taking the romanticism and philosophy out of teaching for a moment, if only to help me keep my profession in perspective.