"I came into teaching in the early 1960s as a substitute teacher in South Side Chicago's K-8 schools. Then I became a kindergarten teacher—a position I held for many years. From the very moment I began the journey I was struck by the ways in which I was disrespected, as though that was the norm.
...Nor did the outside world seem to take my decision to teach seriously. My friends and family were dismayed, viewing the teaching of the young as something to which women once aspired because there was nothing better in sight. But, as the dean of education at Temple University said to me: "Why do we bother to educate people like you if you're going to end up as kindergarten teachers?" When I got a MacArthur Fellowship in 1987, reporters said the same thing: "Now that you have this award, what will you go on to do in the future?" "Teach," I replied, "of course." But they found that inconceivable."
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"Dignity and Respect in the Classroom"
