Dead Teachers
By Peter LloydIn 1990, Scott Anderson was an Indiana elementary school teacher just plain fed up with the bone-headed bureaucracy, administrative apathy, and the contempt for creativity he felt was frustrating his attempts to teach.
He watched helplessly as his students and fellow teachers languished under a lame-duck principal who let internal squabbling strangle the education process in his school. And so, he quit.
But Scott desperately wanted to rekindle the idealism and love of teaching he had lost. He believed in the innovative teaching techniques he had tried. Especially since he had seen his own creativity inspire creative thinking in the young minds entrusted to him.
So Scott found other disillusioned teachers. They met, griped, and ask themselves "what can we do?" They continued to meet, calling themselves the Dead Teacher's Society. Their numbers grew as they began to help each other revive their passion for teaching.
The last time I checked, the Dead Teacher's Society had members in nearly every state as well as all around the world. Dedicated to excellence in education, they would meet, exchange ideas, publish, and make extensive use of computer bulletin boards. Their ranks included teachers and school administrators. A listserv with the name still exists.
But the best part—the real success in this story—is that Scott Anderson rose from the "dead" and went back to teaching again.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.