Introduction

Abstract

In encounters with teachers, educators, and students over the past two years, I have recounted the following true story:

When Y. turned forty, he got hold of his elementary schoolteacher’s phone number. He called her at the nursing home where she was living and introduced himself. The teacher remembered him. He reminded her of a classroom incident that took place when he was ten, after a schoolyard fight — the teacher came up to him, rapped her fingers on his shaven head, and pronounced sourly: “A hopeless little no-goodnik — that’s all you’ll ever be.” It was important for him to tell her that this statement had been seared into his memory and stayed with him for years, to this day. He indeed failed in his studies and dropped out of school not long after the incident, but today he is operations manager at a hi-tech firm, earns a good living, and is a happily married father of three. The aged teacher was shaken, and burst out crying. She was unable to contain the incident in her memory. The story stood in contrast to all that she thought of herself, her educational approach, and her pedagogic practice.