Reflective Classroom Teacher 4

There is absolutely no grace in self-deception. It stymies our growth as a person and suffocates the intellectual process. We cannot lie to ourselves and be effective at anything. Much too often, we prefer to live in a pretend world of contentment. We seem to be able to accept the pain of the lie much better than the pain of reality. We fear that any change in our lives might produce even greater unhappiness, so we insulate our feelings with self-deceit and produce self-loathing and resentment for our profession. We fear the risk taking that we encourage in our students. We make decision to become ordinary rather than extraordinary in our classrooms.