“What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore —
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or curst and sugar over —
Like a syrupy sweer?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
-Langston Hughes “Harlem”
We will see all kinds of dreams in the world of education. The dreams of the students, the dreams of the parents, the dreams of the educators, and the dreams of the administrators. Each dream holds it’s own candle, it’s own kernel or seed ready to grow.
Our students: for what they could be, for both what they want in the immediacy and in the future.
The parents: to see the fruition of their children, to see a life lived better than theirs (with hope of course).
Teachers: to see their students be the best they can be, to improve their craft, or to make it one more day.
Administrators: to see the students and staff achieve more, to put a mark on a building or a community.
Langston Hughes’ poem speaks to all of the dreams as they sit on shelves or in books. Those dreams as they grow and develop, as the change or devolve.
For our students: crushed under pressure from peers or culture. Underdeveloped by educators who miss a talent that was hiding. Not fostered by parents who were distracted or uninterested. These dreams can be misshapen or mishandled. They can become something NOT, something that wasn’t supposed to be.
For our teachers: these dreams can be stifled or frustrated, whether by perceptions or poor decisions. They can be stunted by systems, whether internal or external, that don’t allow for growth.
For parents: they can be shaped by the creatures of comparison, they can be influenced by voices who don’t have the best interests in mind.
For administrators: they can be inflated by ego or smashed by communities that don’t support education as they do in other places.
Dreams can be deferred or destroyed. Dreams can be cultivated and built up over time. Remember all of these dreams, including yours, as you wade through each day as an educator. When you see one, examine it for what it is and what it could be.
