CCNY, BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND SCHOLARS

While most of my colleagues in the teacher education program wanted to be scholars or climb the career ladder of higher education institutions, few, very few were interested in the actual teaching practices in the elementary school classrooms where our students taught or did their teaching practicum. And few, very few understood the teaching and learning ideas discussed by Piaget, Iglesias, Teberosky, Matos-Paoli, Rodríguez (Bolivar's teacher), Ferreiro, Cárdenas, Goodlad, Bellack, Huebner, Freire, Rivera, Weber or were informed as to how poor communities educate their children. When it came to identifying classrooms where their students would be placed to carry out their practicum, the faculty was not able to distinguish between the highly stratified, hierarchical, behaviorist-based lesson plan approaches and the more integrated, student-centered, active classroms. The confusion or opportunism was so obvious, that one year the Cooperating Principal Award was given to the director of a school that resembled more a militaristic camp than a multicultural school where diversity in learning and teaching styles were appreciated and integrated in the process. The award was given for reasons that had nothing to do with teaching. Those giving the award could care less about educational ideas or practices. It was pure and shameless public relations.