Tom Romano, for example, stresses collegial work and discourages competition between students in his creative writing classes. But sometimes, because of their social and sexual differences, students spur each other to creation in ways I could hardly plan. Even though we are not wholly peer with our students, we can still be peer in this crucial sense of being engaged in learning, seeking, and being incomplete. In other words, we need to publish our work. To many, this word lies at the heart of scholastic competition.
Publications are the rungs on the ladder of academic success.
It is national recognition, inclusion into the great printed compendia of broadly-circulated knowledge. For many, facing limitations of time imposed by their classrooms and the need to respond to students, it is the impossible dream. I'm only a classroom teacher. Classroom teachers provide the intelligence from the front lines necessary to conduct a war against ignorance. Once the educational researcher is isolated from the classroom, he or she loses the ability to test and evaluate data or prove theory through practice.