Don't Rock My Boat

A Review of Rocking the Boat:

How to Effect Change Without Making Trouble
Task Zero: Review
Meyerson's book is a mildly interesting book in search of an audience. I am
not certain who comprises that audience. Clearly, social scientists or those who
study the dynamics of normative behaviors in the business world have much to
learn from the case studies presented in the book1, but the book does not work as
a guide book. It may be the case that those in the business community may find
this book useful as they consider how to effect change, but I cannot fathom the
decision-making process by which this book becomes the roadmap for one who
intends to advance their agenda in a corporate setting to say nothing of an
educational setting2.
As a teacher, I will consider the book from the perspective of teachers. For
teachers, the most useful aspect of the book was the introduction in which
Meyerson identifies traits of corporate leaders that assist the development of
tempered radicals3 in their organization: minimizing power differences or the
perceptions thereof; demonstrating humility; accepting errors, deviations, and
failures; communicating respect to subordinates; soliciting different perspectives
during the daily tasks of leadership. I was dismayed that these concepts were not
explored further, and indeed, an exploration of these traits would be extremely
useful to teachers. Teachers are guides for adolescents those in a critical period
of moral, social, and intellectual development and insofar as teachers give lip
service to the ideal of empowering diverse learners in their classroom, new
teachers may not have much formal training in how to cultivate empowered
students in an egalitarian setting. Moreover, the personal experiences of many
1 I assume that they are used to a different style of prose: I found the examples and
explanations of corporate culture unwieldy at best.
2 Here, I am aware that I write from the perspective of a Chicago bubble. I am a teacher in a
large city with a thriving number of organizations devoted to effecting change in education, a
strong labor movement, and many real-life mentors and role models with who to discuss
effecting change. Were I in a more isolated setting, I may consider the work differently.
3 This term is utterly abhorrent and would be more likely to stifle discourse on the subject of
change within my school than advance it.

teachers is that schools are authoritative settings and social psychology is full of
examples of idealism being subverted to the maintenance of order in social
settings.
I hope teachers have enough of a background in psychology to realize the
basic ideas that perceptions of the self are fluid and contextual, that institutions
enforce implicit norms. I hope they have enough life experience to realize that
successfully making change involves clarity of desired goals but flexibility in how
to achieve them. In short, I found the remainder of the book lacking in useful
ideas.
Additionally, there is already a body of literature and many organizations
devoted to concepts of environmental and social justice that educators would find
more useful, e.g., Alinsky's Rules for Radicals for community organizers or
Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed for educators. In short, as far as educators, I
simply cannot envision anyone considering change in their classroom or school to
reach for this book first before working towards their own vision of the world.
Task One: How Am I Different?
Meyerson identifies three ways of being different:

Those who have different social identities from the majority and see those
differences as setting them apart and excluding them from the mainstream.
Those who have different social identities and see those differences as
merely cultural and not a basis for exclusion.
Those who have not cultural but philosophical differences, which conflict
with the prevailing values...operating in their organizations.

These differences amount to differences in perception of an individual vis--vis an

aspect of their identity. I find this characterization to be weak. Identities are more
than the racial, gender, social identities that we can use to essentialize 4 ourselves.
I am male, Salvadorean, a committed father and husband, one interested in
environmental social justice, and one who is committed to developing science
literacy and numeracy in an urban district as the best hope for overcoming the
4 Essentializing here refers to the thought process by which the characteristics of an individual
are primarily considered as deriving from a larger culturally or socially defined group. See
definitions for discussion and analysis of power and prejudice here:
https://www.unm.edu/~jka/courses/archive/power.html

failure of our society to address structural racism and poverty. I like jazz,
exercise, and I ride my bike as often as I can instead of driving. The degree to
which an aspect of my identity can be characterized as one or the other ways of
being different is based on a given day, social interaction, situation. The amount
of social discord I experience on a daily basis based on my identity, beliefs, and
actions varies considerably.
I will close by mentioning another aspect of my identity is that I have been
privileged to have learned enough resiliency, had enough education at excellent
institutions, and so on to work around areas of my identity that go against the
grain of standard experiences at work. In short, I have the luxury of not feeling
too excluded at work, and I realize that this result is far more the result of
circumstances beyond my control than any conscious decision to perceive identity
at work in a particular way.
Task Two: Becoming a Tempered Radical
On the continuum on p. 8, I am in the middle of a transition from
Leveraging Small Wins to the Organizing Collective Action level. I am cautious
here about declaring a position for reasons outlined above. Different aspects of
my identity and agenda are faced with different levels of acceptance or rejection
at work. It is not my expectation nor desire that my own vision will be the one
that determines the nature of my school. Real democratic discourse relies on
more than one vision.
With those caveats in mind, I am a strong advocate for differentiated
professional development opportunities at my school. I have new responsibilities
this year as lead teacher in the middle school and science coordinator of the
school. I am able to advance an agenda of creating vertical conversations on
curriculum and instruction that I had not been able to achieve before.
As I have grown into a more formal role as a leader in the school level, I
was interested in the story of Isabel Nuez. I am interested in the ways that
tempered radicals can cultivate other tempered radicals via nurturing

relationships. The way in which this applies to me is that I have several

colleagues on my team who are new teachers, and I need to show them a basic
level of support and encouragement so that we can all create a community of
teachers and learners congruent with our core beliefs and values.
Task Three: Facing Challenges
Meyerson identifies the challenges of ambivalence, lures of co-optation,
damage to reputation, and frustration and burnout. The analysis that I found
most interesting in the book relates to the incremental lures of co-optation and is
the idea that those in leadership positions perceive deviation to be more
problematic as their power increases within an organization. I disagree that the
basis for this is the idea that as one advances within an organization, she has
more to lose if she fails to conform. I think that some of the aversion to risk
taking is inherent with increased responsibilities and the identification as the
leader of a group. I do agree that a certain amount of conforming is required as
one advances in leadership. A polo shirt might be just fine for a male classroom
teacher from time to time, but a principal is under much more pressure to wear a
suit.
I was also interested in the section on frustration and burnout. As an
interviewer of prospective teachers, I would ask those applying for a certification
program on their thoughts on teacher burnout and rate responses. The better
response was that burnout was the natural result of attempting too much without
support rather than a personal moral failing. I have had several close colleagues
leave the teaching profession recently, and their frustration has often centered
around the need to enforce mandates that did not correspond to their individual
philosophies.5

5 See Why I Can't Work in Public Education Anymore for a discussion of related ideas.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/12/teacher-why-i-just-cantwork-in-public-education-anymore/