Riding herd: Advocating for change while maintaining loyalty
First – A thank you to Dr. Balasubramanian for this invitation to share a few thoughts. My topic is being both loyal and critical – how to maintain loyalty to our community or school while still advocating for positive change.
A story in my family tells of a courageous young schoolteacher doing local history in the 1930s and 40s Utah. Juanita Brooks was a faithful Mormon trying to tell the truth about the Mountain Meadows Massacre during the “Mormon War” in the 1850s. Distressed by signs that her work was seen as a threat among her own people, she consulted her father, a seasoned rancher in the difficult arid habitat surrounding Cedar City Utah. Juanita’s father responded:
I’m a cowboy, and I’ve learned that if I ride in the herd, I am lost – totally helpless. One who rides counter to it is trampled and killed. One who only trails behind means little, because he leaves all responsibility to others.
It is the cowboy who rides the edge of the herd, who sings and calls and makes himself heard who helps direct the course. Happy sounds are generally better than cursing, but there are times when he must maybe swear a little and swing a whip or lariat to round in a stray or turn the leaders.
So don’t lose yourself, and don’t ride away and desert the outfit. Ride the edge of the herd and be alert, but know your directions, and call out loud and clear. Chances are, you won’t make any difference, but on the other hand, you just might.
This counsel was soon to be needed. In 1950, Juanita Brooks published the first serious history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre where local Mormons killed 120 defenseless members of a wagon train going through the territory.
As a believing and practicing Mormon myself, I can tell you that this is my people’s most shameful episode. Juanita’s father consoled her in the face of threats and criticism from neighbors and local leaders – and even leaders of her Church. Now her work is recognized as pivotal to our collective self-understanding.
New York Times columnist David Brooks cited Richard Rohr’s notion of working on the edge of the inside:
In any organization there are those who are at the edge of the inside. These people are within the organization, but they’re not subsumed by the group think. They work at the boundaries, bridges and entranceways.
People in the middle of a social network are not the best agents of change. Change often happens at the borders and intersections.
I may not be a prophet or an agent of transformational change, but I can ride herd or work on the edge in my small way. I can show up as a loyal worker and contributor to my school, standing shoulder to shoulder when work is to be done. Showing up faithfully gives me the street cred so when I speak difficult truths about equity and achievement – or about working conditions and common goals – people will listen and consider my points.
I know I need “riding herd” on occasion; my partner-wife calls me out when I most need it. So does my dean. I hope to play that same role with my students and colleagues, but only when they trust me to show up and be there for the common good and their welfare in particular.
This is a lesson worth remembering for all educators – to serving the local institution and be loyal to local obligations, while staying true to our ideals and higher sense of obligation to those we serve – our students!