What Brings Me to Teaching__ By Subul Ali 

Teaching is not a professional that I had a particular affection or respect for when I was a child. I respected my teachers in the way that we were taught to respect our educators, which was following certain behavioral norms (for the most part). However there was much in the practice of teaching in school that I found objectionable. Adolescents were also rather noxious beings and to my own adolescent self, I could not imagine a fate worse then having to teach this group of young adults. Individuals who were mouthy, overly emotional, disrespectful whenever given the opportunity, and generally disinterested in classroom activities. 

As a child I was rather idealistic, and thought I would become a lawyer to fight for the downtrodden and ‘voiceless’ Soon enough I was told by my grandmother that there was very little that was ‘noble’ about being a lawyer and a great deal more that pushed people to cross the boundaries of their ethical principles. I was still young and idealistic and held on to my goals for some time until I entered college where the next profession that I gravitated towards was journalism. Until I read Chomsky and realized that the news media was heavily complicit in deluding the world’s population in buying into falsehoods and fabrications. It was a disheartening moment.       

    In college, I was introduced to a variety of philosophical and theoretical texts focusing on domestic and international imperialism, neo-colonialism and its effects on the economies of third world countries. The ideas introduced allowed me to make sense of an extremely unjust world, where oppression was common, be it at the local or international level. The extreme disparity between the classes, the corruption of the people in power, and the despair of the poor, impressed upon me the necessity of educating people towards an understanding of how the world functioned. Off I went to graduate school to learn more and do my part. 

Graduate school provided some insight into American domestic politics and socio-economic systems; Race was an entirely new concept, an idea that was abhorrent yet pervasive in the new country that I lived in.  Yet another form of oppression: insidious, isolating and damaging. Racism and all that it had created in the various forms of oppression at every layer of society made me rethink the potential of either top-down or bottom -up reform. If there was to be change, it must come from all strata's of society and for this everyone needed to be educated. 
Our world is becoming increasingly more disparate; in terms of ideology as well as socio-economics; where most individuals fail to understand the dynamics of power and the systems we live in. Education with a deeply critical awareness of the world around us as well as what we see and read, has become essential; to bring change that can allow us to move towards more positive outcomes for all instead of the few. 

As I have moved through the different stages in my life; marriage, children,  divorce, and professional growth, I have come to understand many things. The most central is the importance of education. I understand the intractability of beliefs becoming more so as we grow older. Critical awareness and thinking, are habits of mind, that must be developed in school (in the absence of a better system of education). Not for the success of the individual but for the betterment of our collective future. I remain an idealist, albeit slightly cynical but I believe in the potential of each unique individual and it is through the profession of teaching that I feel I can perhaps contribute the most.