Am I going to be a professional “in” an institution or a professional “of” an institution? Parker J. Palmer in his article distinguishes between these two notions and emphasizes the importance of preparing and educating professionals to be in institutions rather than of institutions. He highlights the power of individuals over institutions, which need to be uncovered and recognized in order to face existing inhumanity and make a change.
Palmer’s argument targets educators who can serve and provide students with power to challenge existing structures, to let them know that their feelings matter and should be recognized, to help them to build a sense of community,…
People can be part of a system in which the status quo reproduced, the voice for change get suppressed and the bodily experiences get ignored. Unfortunately they may play in such a system and they might not know themselves, sadly. Am I aware that I can make a difference as a surgical resident, as a professional engineer, as a scientist,…?
Education is indeed beyond obtaining technical field specific skills. In line with what Palmer argues, I believe education is also beyond educating merely rational thinkers. The objective view of meaning needs to be questioned and individual’s experience and understanding need to be recognized.
Contemporary Pedagogy S18 
Thanks for your post! And I agree that it is so important to bring in a variety of experiences, perspectives, and ideas into learning and educational environments.
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Yousef, I really connected with your post. This is something I myself didnt know and I see with the students I work with how unaware they are that they have the “power to challenge existing structure”. I think we as educators have to take as part of our role to make them aware of this as well. We need to be “in institutions rather than of institutions” and so do all of our students.
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In reading your post, I was reminded of the full quote that I am currently using for my teaching statement that starts “the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting” by Plutarch. We, as educators, need to know when we are engaging, but it is also the students who must reciprocate by challenging us as the educators. It is not enough for only educators or students to evolve, there has to be a happy medium that ignites someone’s passion.
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Thank you very much for your thought provoing post ,Yousef. I totally agree with you that each of us has the “potential” to question the status quo and maybe the power to change the structural inequalities; however, I am very skeptical of our current educational system with its neoliberal perspective. I think unfortunately, we are moving more and more towards training automatons who mono-functionally try to solve technical problems rather than targeting the roots through a holistic approach.
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