Chapter 13: Reflecting On Insider/Outsider Critiques of Teacher Education, or “Don’t Talk About My Momma”

The conversation usually starts off simply.

What do you do?

I teach college.

What do you teach?

I teach future teachers.

Sigh.

Students in public schools, the teachers who teach them, and the professors who prepare the teachers find themselves the subject of intense debate. We are two scholars/professors working in a college of education that serves the third largest urban education district in the country. Within this context, we continually question the system in which we teach, as well as question those from the outside who challenge our work. As reflective and critical educators, we welcome a meaningful critique of our work and field. What we don’t welcome, however, is the nature of the critique that lies at the crux of the “education reform” movement, a critique that is underpinned by neoliberal rhetoric and for-profit models that privilege competition, standardization, and “accountability” over creativity, self-expression, and imagining alternatives to the current system.