Teacher as Public Art
by Sheila Wright
I entered the public art arena as an idealist optimist. Now,
two decades later,
I am a pragmatist realist. How did my dream of a populist marketplace
turn into a nightmare?
—Richard Posner, Artist vs. Public
Like Posner, many faculty members enter the academy as idealists, optimistic
that their goals for and the promise of higher education will be fulfilled
and their quest for knowledge inspired, only to discover years later that
they have become pragmatist realists. For many, change is necessary for
survival, career success, and fulfilling dreams. At what point, however,
might otherwise idealistic, visionary, and highly capable people become
oppressed, disillusioned, and/or marginalized as professors? Under what
conditions do professional dreams of transforming education and critical
pedagogy become frustrated by rigid adherence to the status quo? How might
initial aspirations of achieving a higher education become politicized
and racialized as seemingly inescapable nightmares?
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