Cast your mind back to 2001, to one of the most heartbreaking events of recent times – the attacks of September 11. Where were you when you heard the news? How did it affect you?
I was in New York that day, the impact on me was very real.
Just four days earlier, my five-year-old daughter and I had moved from Melbourne to New York. I was living my dream – doing the two things I loved best: being a mum and inspiring school leaders to raise the bar of the teaching profession.
On the morning of September 11, I had commenced work – consulting with teachers in a large Brooklyn public school. As I walked past the office, I heard an administrator yell: “Oh my God, a plane has hit the Pentagon”.
Within minutes I was thrust into taking a lead, with the principal, operating with calm and order, but with no details other than that the school was in lockdown.
I thought immediately of my own daughter, in school, several suburbs away. I had no way of reaching her. Was a leader watching over her, just as I was helping to care for 900 children and dozens of staff? Did she know that I was desperate to be with her? Was she as scared as I was?
The day was a surreal blur. As the morning’s events continued to unfold, we responded to departmental instructions, consoled staff who had family and friends working in downtown Manhattan, and co-ordinated security pick-ups for panicked parents desperate to have their children close. Amidst all the activity, we maintained a positive and professional front – encouraging teachers to continue as best they could, and distracting the children until we knew more.
I finally reached my daughter at 5pm. She was the last remaining child at her school. Both shocked and elated to see me, she said, “I thought you were gone and I would have to find a new mummy”. It rocked my identity to the core.
Over the years I have listened to hundreds of people share their reality of that fateful day. I’ve comforted a stranger on a subway, hearing her desperation of the loss of her husband, struggling to breathe while beginning to make sense of her new reality. I’ve listened to stories of those waking up the morning after, millions of miles away, believing they were experts in the event. I’ve listened to friends too frightened to fly, to conspiracy theories, to anger, to heartache and hope.
My story, my daughter’s story and every other story I’ve heard are real. For everyone who experienced 9-11 a unique reality exists. The real world is in the here and now. It’s in classrooms, living rooms, workplaces, dole queues and on the streets. The real world is the one each of us are living, regardless of where we are living it.
There is no such thing as preparing someone for the real world or for the 21st century. There is, however, much to be said for preparing someone for the many things they may encounter when going about life, where ever they are, whenever they do, for whatever purpose they have.
When schools talk about preparing students for the real world or the 21st century, are they admitting that life inside school is neither real nor valid?
I don’t believe that to be the case.
However, I do believe, that school is simply one part of someone’s reality – whoever that may be, whenever they are there.
Copyright © 2018 Cheryl Lacey All rights reserved.
Parent, educationist and advocate of agitating change in Australian education. By raising the bar we can face any global challenges facing Australia and Australians.
Contact me at cheryl@cheryllacey.com to learn how we can work together.
