HER HOME IN MAPLE . . . 6:30 p.m.

Chicken Soup, Beef or Chicken with Briskets and Mashed Potatoes, Salad

THE CONVERSATION

Bev Freedman’s favourite job is whatever she is doing at the present. As comfortable and accomplished as she is in the kitchen of her home, it is clear that her passion is for education and she takes that passion wherever she goes. While she has retired from her work as a school Superintendent, she certainly keeps herself busy as an educational consultant.

When asked about breaks Bev says, she takes them “in theory. This summer, in theory, was going to be a summer off. Somehow my in theory disappeared.” She ended up working on no fewer than three different projects that included work for the Ministry of Education and the College of Teachers.

Her self assessment is clear. She says, “I’m urban. I’m Jewish. I’m a change agent. I’m a driven, workaholic. I believe that we’re here to make it better and we have a finite time to do that. We were raised to make a difference. It was our job to become the best at what we do, but it was all to make a difference. I think I’ve raised my kids with that similar ethic.”

With a similar passion Bev notes, “I talk about having epiphanies.” After a student introduced her to the five word rule for writing, she realized that it was no use to just mark things wrong. The student was completing his final English credit and explained that he determined where to place a period by counting every five words. He would use a period, capitalize the next word and begin again. Says Bev, “I needed them to explain what they were thinking so we could trace back to where the disconnect was.”

There is certainly no disconnect between Bev’s theory and practice. She laments the “poverty and the issues of desperation. Kids come to school and they’re quiet. We want them to be driven, over achievers. They’re just dealing with too much. We give them a place of refuge and build from there.”

Bev’s home has certainly been a place of refuge.  She was newly married and lost both of her parents in quick succession. Her teenage brothers, both now medical doctors, moved in with her. She explains, “It never dawned on me that we couldn’t do this. We coped. We are among each others best friends even now.”

Bev has opened her home since, taking in one of her daughter’s friends as a part of the family. By way of explanation she says, “My parents died so young. I knew what it was not to have a place to go. I do see enormous potential in people. The chance to truly impact someone’s life is a gift. We were so lucky. She is such a good kid.”

Bev knows the power of food to nurture in the home and in the world. She has always enjoyed cooking and hosted sixteen on the weekend for Hanukkah celebrations. When cost cutting measures meant that there would no longer be coffee available in her department, she brought it in because she was concerned that the secretaries didn’t make enough money to have to pay for coffee every day. When some her staff took offense at people from other floors coming for coffee she simply said, “They need it too and this way they’ll owe us favours.”

While Bev certainly seems savvy, people respond to her out of more than a sense of obligation. She says, “I speak with passion and because of years of being a high school teacher, I speak with authority. The truth is I know my subject.”

Bev’s own learning is ongoing and she is very aware of her own learning disability. In high school, the discrepancy between her English and math scores on her SATs were so great that she remembers a Guidance Counselor telling her, “You’re very bright or you’re very dumb or you’re average. We don’t know.” A professor in her third year of university had more insight. Noting the gap between her spoken and written work, he encouraged her to be assessed for a learning disability.

Bev says, “I thought I was capable but there were a lot of things I couldn’t do.  I have no idea where my innate sense of capability came from. If I had been more perceptive, I’d have been insecure. For me the biggest transformation has been computer technology. Without it, I wouldn’t have done my PhD.”

She adds, “I think that if you have something like a learning disability, it is daily. Numbers, passwords, all of those things are just difficult. It’s all of those things that other people take for granted that you realize for you it will be different.”

Bev does not lament that fact. “When you think of all the challenges you could have, these were all easy, easy. The compensation is I have very good coping skills. I’m good in a crisis. I’ve often thought a large part of it is I’m blessed with little happy endorphins that course through my body.”

Bev knows she pushes the edges, saying, “To me you surround yourself with the best and the brightest and you thrive on being challenged. If you don’t find people who are brighter than you, if you ensure that people are too scared to speak up, then you’re only going to be mediocre.”

Any of the people that have worked with Bev know her standard line: “Did we kill anyone? I have cousins that are surgeons. On bad days people die. I think I was able to put it in perspective. You only have so much emotion to invest and you have to decide where to invest it. ”

The one place she will not waste her energy is on being defensive. She understands that people cannot learn when they feel attacked, adding “I think that’s just basic human nature.” She keeps her perspective by continually learning and seeking out opportunities to broaden her already open mind.

She notes, “I think I would make a much better teacher now than I ever was. It remains one of the most challenging jobs we have. For me education is everything. It opens doors. It can transform lives in ways that I don’t think anything else can.”

An educator in the truest sense she says, “I really believe people want the best for everyone.” Sometimes they just need to be shown the way.

STILL DIGESTING

Bev can take many perspectives. She understands that even the people who yell the most offensively sometimes have valid points. And she uses the opportunity to travel to places where she does not speak the language to imagine the challenges one encounters coming to Canada without English or French. She is fascinated by the impact research can have on practice, if people are taught to apply it.

There in lies a fundamental tenant of her philosophy. As much as she marvels at the potential in others and trusts in her own capabilities, you get the sense that change just cannot come fast enough. Far from being offended by those who do not move at her pace, she understands that people cannot practice what they have not learned to value. They must be taught.

She is so open to challenge because she truly values learning and wants what is best for kids. To have an impact she knows that she must always be attentive to the perspectives of others, listen for what people are really saying and forever be watchful of blind spots.

Her commitment to equity is real because she is aware of the trappings of power. She thinks about scandals that have occurred in schools and asks herself if she would have known or if anyone would have said anything. It is not just about using what you know to help people, but ensuring that what you don’t know does not put you in a position to do harm.

You get the sense she is forever closing the gap: between what people are doing and what they are capable of doing, between what people intend to do and what they have the skills to do, between where people are and where they need to go.  To do this is to push the edges of what people are comfortable with and to dare to go beyond mediocrity. It is what any good teacher would ask of their students and demand of themselves.