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- The education system has become more capitalistic since I was a student. I think that’s universal in the US, not sure about the rest of the world. The problem for me is that students don’t approach education as a gift and a radical opportunity – it’s become one more “cog in the wheel” kind of training. Everything in the system itself is more fully designed to promote that approach. I think the system is broken and I would love to see a total reset. One thing I still love about higher ed – or at least my department and college is that I can still fly under the radar, so to speak, and pursue what matters most to me. After I got tenure and promotion, I decided to stop jumping through hoops altogether and just let go of full professorship so I could feel and be more free to pursue environmental sustainability work in and out of the classroom. That has also included a lot of wellness as part of my teaching authentically. I keep foregrounding nature as a model for how I live and what I ask of students.
- I think the “worth” of education currently is tied to the same problematic values of the dominant culture, so it’s hard for me to say…. education has never been transactional to me, but about empowering students and faculty. I find it super problematic that students are graduating with so much debt… nothing really feels “worth” that to me since it burdens people who aren’t in the 1% for a lifetime. If we value education as a society, it shouldn’t be on the backs of individuals to pay for it for life.
- The fatigue of students is crippling and extreme from what I’ve observed. Students are resilient and find ways to get through, but that is entirely different than thriving and living with purpose. Every class I teach now includes wellness activities that are “required” assignments and part of the graded work so that it “counts” in the way we currently measure things. I feel like one of the benefits of covid has been some permission for recognizing that students and faculty are human beings — if we have unmet needs (core support group of friends, meaningful work, time for work-life-nature-wellness balance), we can’t function well. When I was a student, no one talked about any of this and I really suffered in silence. I somehow knew that I needed to have time outside in nature as one of my survival tools, so I did that a lot. My difficulties have permeated everything about how and why I teach at the college level.
- I think success is being able to live with purpose and to live with the security that my family’s basic (and not only the most basic) needs are always met without struggling and worrying about it. The rest is icing on the cake. I also think success is showing we can share what we have and live cooperatively with nature/our environment. I do not think society would view me as successful. All my siblings were more financially successful than me and have been able to retire in their late 50s. They have second homes, multiple cars, etc. Both my daughters who are in their mid- to late-20s already make more than I do! But I have always needed to do what is meaningful and live simply, so from my perspective, I have been successful. I do wish I could travel more and had enough resources for some other aspects of life, but it’s part of what keeps me honest about my deepest values.
