A few years ago, my friend and colleague Bea Holland invited me to be a storyteller at a retreat on “joy in the workplace.” What a challenge! Not unlike Mudville after mighty Casey struck out, there is too often no joy to be found in the workplace. It is where we go to get the resources that enable us to pursue our joy elsewhere. | | "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke to find that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” | | | | | As an educator, I am particularly aware of the dilemma of finding joy in the workplace. I once was in a meeting of policy wonk types and suggested that the best school reform would be one that made our classrooms places of joy. The meeting essentially stopped. Joy? In learning? What a novel concept! |
Yet real learning is indeed joyful. When I have a major or minor epiphany, it brings me great joy. Like the angel in the Christmas scriptures, learning brings us tidings of great joy. It gives us new ways of looking at old things. It creates new perspectives. It arms us with new tools. When someone learns something they are forever changed, even if only in small ways. But learning isn't about degrees; it is about the degrees of separation on the path from ignorance to intelligence. There is no happier or more joyful place in the universe (the Disney people may disagree with me on this) than a kindergarten classroom. The kids are there to learn, and boy are they happy about that! Contrast that feeling with a roomful of seniors in almost any high school. They're counting the minutes until dismissal so they can pursue their real passions. What happens on that journey between 5 and 18? I think what happens is that those who create the learning conditions in school have forgotten that learning and joy do go together. They are not a strange pairing. I believe those who make education policy and those who carry it out need to work a lot harder at not being joy vampires that suck all the juice out of the learning experience. Education needs to be about connection, and about meaningful engagement. If kids feel a connection to their teacher and to each other, and if they are given work that is meaningful to them and that actively engages them, I guarantee you they will find joy in the work they are doing. A year or so ago I visited a classroom of seniors who were building robots to fight other robots. The joy and excitement I saw in that classroom could match any kindergarten class anywhere. Those seniors were learning metallurgy, engineering, and calculus in order to build the robots they had designed. They weren't watching the clock and waiting for the bell. Our children no matter what their ages also need to understand that there is great joy to be found in serving others and in doing the right thing. It has always interested me that schools which require some service activities often find the kids continue the service after the requirement has been met. Why? Because they found meaning in the experience. And joy. AASA President Sarah Jerome introduced me to a saying by the East Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. He said, I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke to find that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. Joy is not a passive word. It requires action to get it going. It requires a sense of service to others. And it requires real learning. What's joy got to do with it? Everything.  | | Paul D. Houston served as executive director of the American Association of School Administrators (aasa.org) from 1994-2007. He is one of the leading spokespersons for American education, appears frequently on national radio and television, has published more than 150 articles in professional journals, and is co-author with Stephen L. Sokolow of The Spiritual Dimension of School Leadership. He is a Founding Partner of the Center for Empowered Leadership® (cfel.org). Reprinted with permission from The Lens: A Quarterly E-Journal/Newsletter, Issue 2, July 2007, published by the Center for Empowered Leadership® (cfel.org). | |
