When you build a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger works at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it. (Alexander et al., A Pattern Language, 1977, p. xiii)
I rediscovered this quotation the other day—completely out of the blue—and have been thinking about how it relates to teaching and schools. Drawing from Illich, Alexander et al. propose a decentralized “network of learning” (p. 99), rather than a centralized, compulsory school system. Learning and teaching thus become intertwined with living.
I’m thinking about schooling, though. (I’m a teacher, after all.) This passage reaffirms my view that we must always consider school as part of a wider community. This is both a limitation and a call to action: despite whatever norms I cultivate in my classroom, my students are only as free as they are outside of school; if I want to teach for our collective liberation, then I must also work to abolish systems of oppression in our larger society.
I don’t think there’s anything groundbreaking to this reflection. It’s just that time of year when I look back, look ahead, and remind myself of why I teach.