Discovering reading gems

What are you reading at the moment?

Perhaps it’s snippets of a novel you keep on the bedside table that settles you down to sleep. Perhaps it’s a new publication hot off the press on some professional strategy, insight, or challenge. Maybe a travel memoir that takes you into other worlds and delights. A cookbook, perhaps? Revisiting an old favourite?

Are you reading for work, or pleasure, or both?

Do you carve out time regularly, or steal whatever moments you can in the midst of the ever-pressed life of an educator? Have you got a favourite chair, or lounge position, or maybe even special “reading slippers”? Do you have any helpful rituals, like reading a novel on your homebound train to mark the end of the working day, or going to your favourite café?

Do you ever go back to rediscover a book you read years ago? Or finally get back into something you started and never finished?

In these days which seem to privilege audio and visual information (think of the proliferation of audiobooks, podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and streaming services), the reading of books, whether in print form or on digital readers, has not diminished the way many thought might be the case at the start of this century. A recent analysis of new book and ebook sales showed, despite some decline due to the impact of COVID, they are predicted to continue growing at 2-3% over the next few years. Yes, audiobooks are also on the rise, but not, it seems, at the expense of reading.

In an age that seems to have myriad causes of distraction , author Philip Yancey argues for the value, discipline, and habit of reading . Attentiveness is needed to develop sustained engagement with reading, but the rewards are worth it. He invokes Charles Chu’s image of a “fortress of habits ” against the instantaneous and dopamine inducing delights of so much contemporary culture; Chu’s article also calculates there is plenty of time available for reading, if the addiction to fleeting social media or excessive hours in front of TV is broken. Yancey also draws attention to the claimed reading habits of those who, ironically, peddle the very technologies contributing to the problem – Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban!

So, trying to up my reading hours, I dug out an old text recently to revisit while on an interstate trip – Alasdair MacIntyre’s Whose justice? Whose rationality? Yancey’s advocacy resonates – insights beyond expectation emerge from renewed reading. Hold on for a few paragraphs, if theology and philosophy are not your normal reading fare – we’ll finally get to the educational relevance for #the40project .

First published in 1988, it’s a text that, for me, is both personal and professional in its value. One of the central questions MacIntyre explores is to what extent rationality and justice are historically and culturally based, or not.

In short, he argues that understanding rationality requires us to describe and evaluate it against the standards of the historical and social community from which it emerges. For example, he declares that as an Augustinian Christian, he could not possibly “attempt to speak” (MacIntyre, 1988, p. 11) for the Jewish, or any other, tradition. Seeking to discern what is rational and just, then, he concludes:

will vary and not only with the historical, social, and cultural situation of the persons whose problems these are but also with the history of belief and attitude of each particular person up to the point at which he or she finds these problems inescapable (MacIntyre, 1988, p. 393).

This is striking. What is considered rational therefore must be so from the perspective of the community articulating its story and tradition. This insight, it seems, has relevance to current conversations about how to teach and about how to learn to teach, despite it being 35 years old.

Consider this. How much of the current commentary and policy settings on the effectiveness of teachers is offered by those who have never taught? How much criticism of the effectiveness of initial teacher education is offered by those who have never taught either in school or university? How much educational leadership teaching and development is offered by those who have never done such work themselves? It feels like many people have insights to share about a culture and history of teaching and leading well beyond their direct experience or knowledge.

I may not be happy with my mechanic who can't fix my car, so will find another one. I may not be happy at the effectiveness of my lawyer, so will find another one. I may not be satisfied with the meal at a restaurant, so will find another one. I may be able to say I am dissatisfied with each, and even explain why, but feel inadequate to describe what the mechanic, lawyer, or chef ought to do, especially if I can't do it myself.

Perhaps a Glaswegian-born philosopher writing in the late 20th century has more relevance than seems immediately evident.

The recent decision by the NSW Department of Education to have bureaucracy system staff spend time in a school speaks to the ideas in MacIntyre’s book. Departmental Secretary, Murat Dizdar (who also got a run in #the40project last week for his Australian Council for Educational Leaders - ACEL (NSW) Dr Paul Brock Memorial Medal), said the move to experience school life “will send a powerful message to schools that we want to learn from you”. Understanding life in a school through the eyes of those who live it every day is essential when so many decisions that impact that life are made by those somewhat distant from the classroom. It is heartening to hear articulated so clearly the view that “challenges of the school day, with its routines and its surprises, can only be properly understood by being there”. Let’s hope the attitude spreads, and that real action flows from it.

For what it’s worth, that’s my reflection on re-reading a philosophical text; what about you and what you’re reading? We’ve now grown to be a community of over 1500, and LinkedIn analytics show we’re averaging just over 900 reads each week.

There surely is rich and extensive wisdom amongst us – it would be great if you could share in the comments what you’re reading, any positive habits you’ve found to help, and one idea that stands out to you from what you’re reading – it might even be a new recipe! We can, then, continue to find something new to explore.

Further reading

MacIntyre, A. (1988). Whose justice? Whose rationality? University of Notre Dame Press.