“I have an idea!,” my daughter (between 2 and 3 at the time) would proclaim on long road trips, “Let’s sing ABC!” What would follow would be a cute rendition of the ABC song. It never failed that my wife and I would be engrossed in a deep discussion about something–who knows what–and my daughter would stop us, then suggest a song. She was irrepressible, filled with joy and excitement. She immediately had our attention, all foot and hand-waving aside.

In re-reading Dick Westley’s book, “Morality and Its Beyond,” I ran across this sentence:

Truth has a strange way of continually re-asserting itself until it is given its proper due.

It is this sentence that made me think of my daughter on a long, 8-hour car trip. Her joy and enthusiasm for singing the ABC song was irreppressible, and I see truth in this way. But, I also see that re-emergence of truth, even after it’s been buried beneath the black sands of fear, anger, futility that burn our feet so badly in the heat, as joyful and and buoyant. Without this buoyancy, we would sink to the bottom. We would fail in our efforts to transform teaching and learning environments. Without truth’s ability to re-assert itself, it’s refusal to be hidden, we would be sad individuals indeed. Without it, we would walk alone, we might be tempted to hide away from the crowd, we would be divided (of two worldviews), and no one to call for help.

To be the change we wish to see in the world, we must sing the truth as simply as the ABC song, as joyfully and irrepressibly as a child who desires her parents’ attention.

John Shea is quoted as writing, “each age is called upon to assess the state of institutions it has inherited from its ancestors and is charged and responsible for reconnecting them to their vital source — Spirit.” Westley himself writes the following…and its application to education is critical for our success:

“Life itself is our best teacher,” Westley said. “We know from the Judea-Christian tradition and our own lived experience that our God is the God of life not death … and that the divine presence at our center makes our lives authentic fonts of revelation…. Indeed, as we mature, become adult and grow older, this lived, experience-based truth becomes paramount in our lives…. Thanks to the presence of God in our lives we have access to a source of sacred truth independently of what our religious leaders may say.”
Source: NCR

This affirms statements like the ones I cited yesterday from Wired magazine. Social networking tools and technology are threatening, not only schools but also the idea that knowledge and what we believe–whether about education or faith–flows from a central authority. Some believe that the communication is two-way…wouldn’t education today be fundamentally different if it were not so patriarchal, so strict father? I know I have thrived in environments where the focus was conversation and collaborative problem-solving rather than power in the hands of the elite few who make the decisions.

Truth is re-asserting itself and finding outlet through the technology, especially as we endure the transition from centralized structures to network ones.

As educators, we are called to reconnect with our classroom experiences as fonts of revelation (action research), to fly by the seat of our pants (authentic assessment) rather than the instrument panel (tests), to sing out the truth that is thrumming through our bodies, as join in and sing the ABCs.

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