Why the name?

The title of this blog is borrowed from Alejandro de Acosta's chapter in Anarchist Pedagogies, "That Teaching is Impossible."   There are so many good lines in the chapter, but de Acosta introduces it by saying, "To consider that teaching is impossible is to open ourselves up to an experience of the most outlandish sort.  In staging this experience I wish to contemplate the happy frustration of the urge to teach, and to affirmatively invoke the limits of all pedagogies."

This blog's subtitle, "Hopemongering for the Inheritors of the Earth," pays homage to two of my favorite writer/scholar-educators, Herbert Khol and Lisa Delpit.

Khol, author of 'I Won't Learn From You': And other thoughts on creative maladjustment, uses the term "hopemonger" throughout his writings.  As skeptical as I am of hope, I appreciate how Khol uses the concept.

Lisa Delpit is the author of brilliant writings on culture and language in education, most recently being Multiplication is for White People: Raising expectations for other people's children. She frequently refers to students as the "inheritors of the earth." They certainly deserve such an epic title. 

The mash-up is a eye-roll inducing attempt to cram too much inspiration into a small space. However, it gives anyone glancing at this blog an idea of the theoretical foundation on which I attempt to teach. Perhaps impossibly. Anyway, I encourage you to click on the links and read a little.