The Teacher as Silenced Superhero

Abstract

In this essay I argue that social ideals create an imaginary that inspires self-discipline in beliefs, thinking, and practices in order to achieve social-utopian hopes that the world will improve in particular ways. As such, social ideals limit human agency in general, and, for teachers in particular, there is limited terrain in which they have the right to speak. As a substitute for their right to speak, I argue, teachers are given the token social status of superhero, a fantasy consistent with neoliberal styles of thought. Following Pinar’s notion of art-as-event, I propose that deep engagement in the arts might be a means of restoring agency and voice to teachers; I argue that art troubles the strong socialization motif in education and creates intellectual room for the development of genuinely educational moments in schooling.

Book Review: Re/Humanizing Education

“…When I think of transformation, I think of Bill Pinar's (2012) argument that art can be the catalyst. I have reviewed Pinar's notion of art and self shattering before (Wiebe, 2016), and here I would like to try out a similar but slightly new idea: In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, a book by George Saunders (2022) wrote to give the world access to some of the conversations from his highly sought after writers workshops; he says, quoting an English translation of Tolstoy, that "the aim of the artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably" (p. 377).…”