In my most recent post, I described the value of being able to instruct students who have grown up in a digital world. Those who have grown up with the answers a website away need a fast paced and energized classroom, where questions are broadly asked and welcomed, and information is given in an applicable and relevant way. With the infusion of the digital age, businesses have changed the way they market, educators must modify the way they teach, and we have even changed the way we socialize. This has been one of the greatest gifts and curses of the digital divide.
Those of us who have been ingrained in the digital culture are proponents of two major concepts—sharing and customizing. The digital generation seems to do this subconsciously: making your favorite song your ring tone, creating a play list on your ipod, uploading pictures to your My Space profile, blogging or twittering about the restaurant you were at, or taking the “What Marvel Superhero are you?” quiz on facebook and publishing the results on your profile. While the information can be useful, entertaining, and a fun diversion, each action creates its own digital footprint, a fossilized record of you for ill or naught. The image you are looking to create and ideals or information you are looking to impart have the potential to be misconstrued, and remain part of your digital image forever.
Take a few minutes after reading this and Google your name to see what comes up. A fellow corps member did this with my name and learned all about me before we even met. You can find that I am from small town suburbs in Massachusetts, ran college track, and still have my name on the school’s top ten list, served as student body president of Connecticut College, went to boarding school in Rhode Island, scored well on my Advanced Placement tests in high school, wrote an op-ed piece published in the news about Teach For America, and am currently a member of Teach For America…..and so on. There is a plethora of information on my growing digital record. Another thing that immediately comes up is this blog, one that we started with the goal of making our own teaching situations very real to fellow educators, those considering, family and friends, and professionals alike. Additionally, we have sought to foster an environment where dialogue and disagreements are welcomed, and people can contribute and share their own perspectives. Moreover, we have attempted to use wit, humor of varying nature, and have customized this blog to appeal to many types and entertain—even though educating those in the inner city is a very important and serious job, you need to have a sense of humor to deal with the daily stresses.
Writing has been cathartic and oftentimes a release. It has been our way to show faith in the system while dealing with its frustrations. However, in the digital age and as we leave behind our own fossilized record, what you seek to reflect may ultimately be viewed with a jaundiced eye. Take this quote in my recent post “Helpless or Hopeless?”, which shares my clash with idealism and the very real struggles that we have as educators:
Teach For America dogma and my own personal convictions tell me not to give up on these students. In fact, they are the first ones I should focus my attention on and devote time and investment to. I have dragged each one of these mules, braying and kicking to the edge of the pond, savored the cool water and showed them the satisfaction of quenching their thirst. And yet they would not drink. I had their friends, parents, and family, share with them the fulfillment they get from drinking from this pond, and yet they would not drink. I splashed them in the face so that they would feel its cool, cleansing drops, and yet they brayed and kicked even more.
Those who know me, or even took the time to read previous posts know that I am unwavering advocate of Teach For America and champion my students at all times and costs. For friends, family, colleagues, professors, deans, and my former teachers who have became regular readers the image is crystal clear—that I am frustrated by what appears to be the obstinate behavior of two students and am using the metaphor of one of the most obstinate animals to portray this. When writing this, admittedly, I felt a tremor and knew my own inner PC button, honed through four years at a college that has made pluralism, internationalism, and diversity it’s mantra, was being pushed. Is this something I can attribute to my name? Am I carrying this metaphor too far? And most importantly, how will this reflect students in a low income community? Uneasily, I submitted this piece as written, and naively thought my fossilized digital footprints would vindicate any misunderstandings.
These are the very dangers of the digital age, coming full circle. What I thought would be a crystal clear image of my struggles could effortlessly be misconstrued. It is like looking into a shimmering pond, after dropping pebbles into it and trying to make out the image between the ripples. Those who did not know my record on diversity, read previous pieces, or know me personally might view these lines as explicitly racist, and overtly comparing my classroom to a zoo. That, in itself, is the problem with sharing in the digital age: you may only be given a snapshot, rather than your entire record. That one snapshot has the potential to incinerate, razing all evidence. Some will view your record with the image you were trying to present, while others will naturally distort it into something ugly and grotesque.
Although I do not agree with everything written on this blog, and some of the images and depictions it presents, I believe the editors have presented teaching and it’s challenges in a light (hence the title of the blog), creative, and mostly witty way. They have tried to provide a forum for educators and non-educators alike, amuse those with our frustrations and triumphs, and illuminated others on what we deal with as inner city instructors. It has also served, at times, as an outlet for our own gnawing frustrations with a system that fails so many. I recognize that being a part of this forum adds to my digital record. Even if I do not agree with something displayed on this blog, or without my name attributed to it, being a part of it is tacit endorsement. My name is engraved on this blog, and with it comes an image, a record, that can easily be disfigured.
For these reasons, and until I can come up with an alternative way to express my thoughts, I will no longer be a contributor to this blog.
–Evan Piekara
3 Comments
May 4, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I will miss your blog entries. I await the book.
May 6, 2009 at 11:59 am
You shouldn’t give up on expressing your experiences or thoughts because someone somewhere misconstrued your meaning. I have never read your blog until this post, and in no way did I hear anything overtly racist. Society has gotten so hyper-sensitive that every word spoken or printed into the public forum is subject to someone forcing a racist meaning into it where none existed. We should call out racist tones when we see/hear them, but we should know the difference between racism and literary allegory. The donkey or mule is the #1 symbol for ’stubborn’. Perhaps your detractor is analogous to an ostrich?
May 6, 2009 at 12:56 pm
You shouldn’t give up on expressing your experiences or thoughts because someone somewhere misconstrued your meaning. I have never read your blog until this post, and in no way did I hear anything overtly racist. Society has gotten so hyper-sensitive that every word spoken or printed into the public forum is subject to someone forcing a racist meaning into it where none existed. We should call out racist tones when we see/hear them, but we should know the difference between racism and literary allegory. The donkey or mule is the #1 symbol for ’stubborn’. Perhaps your detractor is analogous to an ostrich?
You do raise an interesting point about our digital footprint, however. It’s true that whatever mark or trail we leave online will be with us forever and is subject to interpretation, both positive and negative. Part of what should be taught to children of the digital age is where to draw the line between “sharing” and “sharing too much”. It’s part of a new set of social mores that are still under development. But good judgment is timeless and that is what should be integrated into the way we approach creating our digital footprint.