Control Freak!!!

I used to be a control freak. I suspect that's a big reason I became a teacher. Teachers must be the ultimate in control freaks. They're actually the worst kind of control freaks imagainable - they are control freaks that usually get their way! Teachers are such control freaks, they have to go to workshops and classes to be taught that kids are actually capable of doing such things as sharpening pencils, handing out papers, thinking for themselves, etc. A teacher cannot stand to allow the kids time to explore without having planned every outcome, developed an exhaustive checklist, and laid out 'roles' for each child to play in a group setting. Teachers are so used to controlling their environment they have no problem, in an informal adult setting, to going 'SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' right in your face. Your at a party and you're being controlled? There's a teacher behind it! I've learned that control of others is wrong over the past years, so I have changed a lot as a teacher - perhaps this is why I don't feel like I fit into education circles any longer? Hmmmm.....

Now, the most poisonous combination with teacher is religious teacher. Here's where the control freak religion kind of control melds with the control freak teacher. I am convinced by reading a bit of history that religion is about control, while Jesus wasn't about that at all. I'm feeling that Christianity and education does mix, but we have to get the 'religion' out of it. We need to look closely at how Jesus treated his disciples - he gave them choices, honored their ability to choose, etc. This is an idea I'm still developing, muddling over. So I'll stop here for now.