To Change the World, Intro

This post was first published on November 25, 2020. 

2023 Intro: Since first posting this entry, I have continued to expand my understanding of myself, and the world. Here I write about getting myself cut off at the knees, by first two teacher colleagues that I had come to respect and trust; and then via a helpful point by a member of the University of Michigan School of Education faculty. It was particularly devastating, because the comments all came from teachers . . . you know, the people that are supposed to build us up and prepare us to become productive citizens. 

But that's the story of the Boulder for me. These teachers were the boulder for me then. Why did I want to "change the world"? You see, actually, these other teachers were right. I was trying to change the world. But isn't that why most of them became teachers? To change the world? How is it that they made it into a derogation, at least in my case? 

This is the Boulder in the years surrounding 2005. At long last, I have decided to go ahead and enter the career I wanted in the first place: teaching. But when I did, the same hurdles were placed in my way. Just like the greedy, political, agenda-driven characters in the corporate world. 

Something was in place, that made me a mark for Anderson. His deeds. The response of the University of Michigan, and my experience dealing with unethics at Nortel, had pounded me (at the time, I was unaware of it), and made me a bigger mark for people like that. I even became a mark for people that are not ordinarily bullies. 

Think about the best teachers you ever had. The memorable ones. The ones that made you want to excel. The ones that made you feel good about yourself. The ones that could get you to put forth your best effort. 

The ones that made you think you could change the world.

In my early twenties, I mapped my career out into thirds, each of fifteen years. It would go something like this:

Ages 25-40: Corporate Career. Ascend the latter, rapidly. Make lots of money and gain lots of credibility for being uniquely successful. Prove the hypothesis: Good people can and do get ahead. A high standard of ethics, plus the ability to be creative and collaborative, were the essential ingredients to success in the new economy. 

Ages 40-55: Community Service. "Giving back." Politics, charitable work, Put others first. (In this next section, I will share my lessons during these years, the successes, the failures).

Ages 55-70: Ministry. A focus on the spiritual, and family.

By the age of 40, I wanted to have savings amassed, and to have the credentials as a public speaker and writer. The transition to public service would be easy. I would form non-profits, and get involved in politics. I would take the lessons learned in business - skills in Total Quality Management and Team Building; and would bring them into my community. I would help kids, and people needing help following their dreams, to execute their own dreams. 

How strange it was, then . . . to receive the most discouraging blows to my own dreams . . . from teachers. 

There were two, primarily. The first came from one of the principals I worked for when I began substitute teaching, in 2003. After some proven effectiveness in the classroom, this principal encouraged me to get certified to teach. There was an implication that I would be hired, easily, back into this Principal's school district. 

After years and several attempts to find a job in this school district, it finally came around to me, that the Principal that had encouraged me, told someone "Gordon will not get a job offer, because he's always trying to change the world."

At about the same time, I was talking to a teacher that had been in on a committee to interview me for an opening. She was kind enough to share some feedback. Her advice was pretty much word-for-word: "We're looking for teachers that aren't trying to save the world."

Crazy, right?

I will add the wisdom of one more colleague. This was a friend I had made while a student at the University of Michigan's School of Education. She was working on her PhD, and was like me - a Social Studies teacher. She said  "I can tell you with great confidence - schools will not want to hire a middle-aged male with corporate experience. They will assume you'll be wanting to improve everything."

But these were my career's middle years: It was all about changing the world.