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I got into medicine damn near accidentally. I left with intention.
Which is not to say I did not belong there while I did it, nor does it mean I did not enjoy it. But I left to become a teacher, and it was a good decision. Still, nobody asks “Why did you go into teaching?”
The question I’m asked:
“Why did you leave medicine?”
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There are a lot of reasons teaching is better than medicine (and many reasons why medicine beats ed), but one thing medicine has all over education is the Morbidity and Mortality Conference, a regular meeting where, behind (mostly) closed doors, we dissected each other’s mistakes.
Some mistakes cost limbs, some cost lives.
We made the mistakes, we were made to own them.
I have argued long and loudly that our profession is too nice, we play too well together, we fear criticism.
And then I went to Educon, a convention held at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, founded by Chris Lehmann.
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He’s the one on the left, photo via Jose Vilson’s work.
We dissected each other, publicly and passionately. In the next few weeks I hope to share a bit of what I learned in Philly last weekend (including do not smack cars even if it’s pushed you off the crosswalk, Philly Pholk are a tad sensitive).
But let me start with this–Educon made me proud to be a pubic high school teacher.
Turns out I’m not the only one who does not play nice….