A Reverence for Life
By Peter W. Cookson, Jr.

There is no higher calling than that of a teacher. Our current emphasis on standards and testing has the unfortunate side-effect of reducing our calling to matters of technical expertise and what is called, by the pundits, accountability.  To my mind, the call to teach is far deeper than becoming an expert technician. Because as teachers we weave the fabric of society, we must ask ourselves continuously not only what we teach but also why we teach. Do we teach simply because we want our students to get into college and to be economically successful? Do we teach simply because we have a vague sense of equality of opportunity on the royal road to social justice? These goals are important, but the call to teach is even deeper. We are called to transform lives and, in the process, we transform our own lives.

An opportunity to succeed
Years ago, Swiss theologian and missionary Albert Schweitzer gave up his comfortable life in Europe and moved to Africa, where he established a hospital to care for the world's poorest people. He did so because of his reverence for life. I would have to say that we as teachers should also have a reverence for life that is deep and guides our students to a profound respect for themselves and for all that lives on the planet. A reverence for life is far more than a nice idea – it is essential if we are to preserve the planet and create a world where all children have the opportunity to succeed. 

Justice in thought
The psychologist Erich Fromm referred to this life-affirming impulse as biophilic. Our schools should be biophilic, life-affirming and deeply respectful of the rights of children. The philosopher Bertrand Russell once wrote, "Hope, not fear, is the creative principle in human affairs." Russell, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, was a brilliant mathematician and social philosopher.  He also wrote extensively on education, always with an eye for intellectual adventure and a commitment to human freedom. Russell wrote the following, which can be found in The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (Routledge, 2001):

Instead of obedience and discipline, we ought to aim at preserving independence and impulse. Instead of ruthlessness, education should try to develop justice in thought. Instead of contempt, it ought to instill reverence, and the attempt at understanding… Instead of credulity, the object should be to stimulate constructive doubt, the love of mental adventure, the sense of worlds to conquer by enterprise and boldness in thought.

The future of the planet truly rests in our hands. Russell's words strike a deep cord in me because they combine reason and faith in an educational philosophy that is joyful, but also powerful. It's clear the challenges we face and our children face in the twenty-first century require a whole new way of thinking and of acting. In this sense, your classroom is a laboratory of the future.

Mental adventures
What does this mean on a day-to-day basis? How can you celebrate a reverence for life that is real? How can you ensure that your students love mental adventure and boldness in thought? I remember those teachers who instilled in me the love of mental adventure. They all had different personalities, usually taught different subjects, and I am not sure all of them were expert classroom managers – to put it mildly. What they all shared in common, however, was a fierce loyalty to the truth – an unswerving dedication to the beauty and importance of learning and an understanding that everyone's mental adventures are individual and idiosyncratic. 

A dangerous perspective
We live in a time when education is being culturally and organizationally homogenized. There is a great deal of rhetoric coming from the federal government, think-tanks and some school leaders. This tells us that if all the students have essentially the same curriculum and the teachers teach this material in more or less the same way and we test the students' comprehension of this standardized material on a regular basis, we will have a "world-class" education system enabling us to compete in the global marketplace. This, I think, is a very short-sighted perspective on education. This is dangerous not only because it ignores individual freedom and a reverence for life, but also because it will cripple us in a competitive world where imagination and action are required for social and economic success. 

An ideal character
The development of character is critical to the future of the country and of the world. Russell wrote, "I will take four characteristics which seem to me jointly to form the basis of an ideal character: vitality, courage, sensitiveness and intelligence." As you think about your lesson plans, try to imagine how your curriculum supports and enhances these four qualities in your students. Imagine this: if all of us, every day, were energized to promote a reverence for life and a sense of mental adventure in our students, how quickly the world would seem brighter, more hopeful and just.

Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is the founder of TCinnovations and the Dean of the Graduate School of Education of Lewis & Clark College. He is also founder of the Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation at Teachers College.