Sharing Good Practice
ENVY IN EDUCATION
BY: LISA FATIMAH
I am sorry Buddha, what did you say?
I said, “three things cannot be long
hidden: the sun, the moon and the
truth.”
Who are you?
I am the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
What say you and why are you here?
“I am here for ENVY and I say, “The
specific contours of the emotional
syndrome of envy are controversial.
It is agreed that envy involves an
envier (Subject), a party who is envied
(Rival)—this may be a person or group
of persons—and some possession,
capacity or trait that the subject
supposes the rival to have (the good).”
Like many strong seasoned veterans
of our earthly existence, my late
grandmother, Susie, had a very
colorful way of guiding you through
the roads, roundabouts and highways
of life. Sometimes, like life, she would
look at you judiciously and hit directly.
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“Don’t you fool yourself. If you live
long enough, you’ll learn.” At other
times she would just listen and nod
as she waited for you to try to make
sense out of nonsense. At times, her
deep articulate southern voice was
punctuated with enlightened echoes
holding no words. “Um hum.” No
eye contact. The Chinese proverb
concurred with Grandma Susie’s
wisdom another way, “The gem
cannot be polished without friction,
nor man perfected without trials.” This
polishing, as legendary elder educator
Dr. Adelaide L. Hines Sanford asserts,
“is designed to see if you’re made
of tin – or gold.” For a great deal of
educators, it appears as if we are going
for the gold!
Teaching.
It is a dream realised.
It requires good humor, courage,
dedication, grace, vision, planning,
resilience, alertness, prayer and an
unwavering belief in the ability to make
a difference in the lives of our students
and hopefully, the world. Teachers
tackle the preterit, present and future
with aplomb.
Class Time
Unfortunately, academic practitioners
are not required to take a universal
Hippocratic styled oath like our
fellow healers, physicians.
State/
national standards and ethics are
understandably required. However,
there does not exist a worldwide “Do
No Harm” to colleagues (and invariably
students) clause. While Anthony Cody
penned an offering in his 2007 article,
“A Hippocratic Oath for Teachers,” in
Education Week Teacher, it does not
appear as if this oath has been adopted
worldwide. https://www.edweek.org/
tm/articles/2007/01/30/14tln_cody.
html
Professional positions both in and
outside of education, academic
training,
and
life’s
reoccurring
challenges prepare teachers to guide
their charges beyond curriculum
borders. Of course, the unscripted
“life lessons” are equally as important
as academic instruction. Yet, the
guidance, lessons and hard knocks
teachers receive themselves, can be
summed up by our Vietnamese elders
who foretold, “A day of traveling will
bring a basketful of learning.” This