“Rebels Dilemma”
By Bell Hooks

“Academia was where we worked but we wanted a life on the outside.  We did  not want to be imprisoned in institutions of higher learning that would reward us and then demand that we stop being outlaws–that we stop stepping out on the edge” (Hooks 2).

In her essay, Bell Hooks writes about the battle she constantly wages, seemingly within herself, between being the kind of composition teacher that reaches acclaim and status within our society and being the composition teacher that she dreams of being.  In an ideal situation she would be able to be completely free in her classroom and she would be able to teach in a way that doesn’t require compromise “in ways that violate or destroy the integrity of your being” (Hooks 2).  She writes how disappointed she was upon realizing that tenure did not give her academic freedom.
I have never been so idealistic that I thought tenure to be a ticket to freedom.  I have always felt that tenure represented security; If one were to keep on working the way that got them to that point then they would have a job.  Does one have to sacrifice their ideals and all hope at creativity to teach in today’s composition classroom?  As new teachers we cannot presume to know all the answers and I know that personally I would prefer to go into a system where I am given a lot of guidance my first few years.  If I were to find, after working there for some time, that the institution didn’t suit how I wanted to teach then I think that I would need to evaluate whether or not to continue working there.  If I were to find that freedom outweighed my need to be employed, then there is a lot of creative freedom for the unemployed.  The only professional move that guarantees complete freedom is self-employment.  Maybe Hooks should start her own school.
On another note, Hooks bring up the issue of stereotyping in  academia.  In my own experience I have had people in academic settings assume things about me that were not true.  In our increasingly multicultural society it is still surprising to me when I am put into a cultural stereotype based on my last name.  Having a Hispanic surname leads some people to assume that I speak Spanish and that I have a rich Latino heritage when my Spanish is sketchy at best from foreign language instruction and my family is from Spain resulting in a more Eurocentric heritage.  In the classroom I think that we need to be careful of matching students to stereotypes.  Instead we should devise ways for students to show us their cultural personas in their own terms through planned writing practice.