I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Washington 1963.

Education is the stuff of dreams: Communities pay to educate their children, oppressed communities crave it, revolutionaries rewrite it and children endure it. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and his shining vision of possibility, his dream that turned the world and the U.S. upsidedown, we asked a varied group of students, teachers and administrators to tell us about their dreams, their aspirations and their frustrations. Their words follow.

Natalie Munn, science teacher

Growing up, I never considered becoming a teacher. I lived in rural Kentucky, and the salaries and working conditions for teachers were not great, and my science classes (biology, chemistry, physics) were so big that we rarely did labs. In two years of physics, I did not do one single lab. With the very small amount of lab work I was able to do, I found that I loved the research aspects of science. I also liked working with people, so in high school, I was encouraged to consider nursing or maybe medical school. Again, I was a female in rural Kentucky in the late 1980s, and there were four guidance counselors for 2000 students, so I did not get a lot of advising!

The most exciting part of the job is watching students make progress and gain confidence. Whether it’s a student starting out the year saying he or she can’t do math, then seeing that student work very challenging problems by the end of the year, or watching someone with an innate love of math solve the most challenging, college-level problem possible.

The most difficult part of the job is the administrative paperwork.

I think that I do things very differently than my teachers. I have reasonable or modestly large (24) class sizes, so I am able to provide a rich laboratory program, one that I never had as a high school student.

Kendall Robinson, junior

When I was little, I wanted to be a Rockette and I didn’t think school would help me to do that. I used to dream about recess and I was afraid, because if you did something wrong you were in trouble. In sixth grade, I was given my first F by my history teacher and it was awful. I was so sad, but I was mad too. The project was to design your own country and my dad helped me so how could I go wrong? But I guess the teacher didn’t like what we made. He made me feel terrible and I didn’t trust him or other teachers after that. I want to go to college, to get a good job, a nice house and a car. My dream for the school would be that every kid should have a motorcycle and they could drive to their classes and park their bikes. I am not joking, it would be amazing and there would be a lot less trouble in the hallways.

Kate Holter, history teacher

I wanted to be a teacher because I was excited about grading papers, but not now! I enjoy being around young people and their energy. I learn so much from them. The hardest part about teaching is dealing with the bureaucracy, proving to them that I can do my job. My dream school would have eight to 10 students in a class and they would all have laptops and our day would start at 10 a.m. In a good school, students are encouraged to ask questions and students and adults are kind in the hallways and care about the well-being of others. Students and teachers alike are trustworthy and trusted and there are many opportunities for fun and creativity.

Kyle Stobie, sophomore

My dream was to be a professional football player and maybe some day I will be. I want to go to college straight out of high school so I can get a better job opportunity. I love to cook and I think my biggest challenge in being in school is completing homework. I think that some day I would like to be a gym teacher, and in designing my ideal school I think the most important things to arrange would be no fights, nice teachers and not a lot of homework. Most important, the cafeteria should make good food.

Peg Regan, former principal

I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to sing with the Mamas and the Papas! I think the importance of a good education is the expansion of the mind to include what others think. Without having read the great books and without having the opportunity to weigh your ideas against others, you can’t possibly live a fulfilling life. You will always be protecting yourself from those who are different from you instead of trying to understand them. If you look at some of the worst tragedies in history, they were promulgated by people who were afraid of another religion or culture. They had to exterminate to feel safe themselves. So much misery could be avoided if people practiced seeing the world from multiple perspectives. It not only changes your mind, it changes your heart. To new teachers I say: Focus all your energies on your students, design compelling lessons for them to study. Don’t get distracted by the outside noise and mandates coming down the pike.

Rafael Maciel, senior

When I was little my dream was to be an astronaut. I always wanted to be one, but I knew that I would not be. I knew that school would not help me to do that. My dream now is to go to college for either civil engineering or computer science and getting a job in one of those areas. The school does help me to achieve my goals. I have a great computer science program, math, science, calculus and even history because you do need to know the world’s past if you are to have any chance of understanding the future. School has worked well for me and I have some teachers who really like me and I appreciate that, but not every kid does. I think the hardest thing about school is that you have no real rights, and the idea is that all these rules they make are in the best interest of the students, but the rules are unfair to the point of ridiculous and that makes the students look for loopholes all the time. I know we have student councils and we are supposed to be included in the process of deciding rules for example on the discipline committee, but every student knows that no one listens to you on those committees and it’s a waste of time going on one.

Kassidy Bettencourt, junior

My first dream was to be a dolphin trainer and I never thought of that as something school could help with. I did dream about wanting to be a teacher for years, but that got old. Now the thought of getting up every morning to come in here at 7 a.m. sounds terrible. I think every teacher needs a good lesson plan and make sure that the kids are interested in it too. There are times I go to class and it’s the most boring thing in the world. I go to sleep. My ideal school would have comfy seats, no food restrictions and no gym. If you play a sport and practice, why do you need gym? I hope someday to have a rich husband and a nice house somewhere warm, and I want to get into college and do well.

John Oliveira, senior

I believe I can be successful in whatever field I choose to invest my time with. In 10 years I see myself married with kids maybe, but I’ll probably still be figuring out life. I think school is so stereotypical, definitely not a welcoming place for anyone. Quarterbacks are the most popular; Amos kids [Rebecca Amos Institute, an alternative learning program] sit alone at lunch, etc. I have learned that school is not for everyone, it turns you on to believe in things that turn out to be false later. If I did become a teacher I would be the kind of teacher that does not go by the curriculum. I would rather teach the way I thought the students would be interested, I would use my own methods instead of following the books.

Stephen Nixon, principal

Before I became a teacher I wanted to be an archaeologist because I liked old stuff. As a kid, I always liked digging, I was fascinated by it but I figured that history was more accessible. When I decided to become a teacher I tried to be different than the way my own teachers taught me. When I was in school it was all about the textbook, and I tried not to be tied to it. History is about interpretation, about having a conversation with the students rather than asking them to read a chapter and answer the questions. I was a history teacher for 15 years; I enjoyed it a lot but it seems like you never have enough time to get through everything, and you never know when the students will start to get excited.

Keith Dodge, English teacher

When I decided to become a teacher, I was really excited about working with kids and sharing what I knew with them. That part really interested me, and being a teacher fitted with my sense of who I am and my personal ethics. It was very difficult when I started because the new person had to do whatever classes everyone else did not want to do. I was halftime history and halftime English, and it was the same in both departments. There was a pecking order and I was at the bottom of it. The department chairs would just give me the classes they had decided I should do, and it took me 10 years to get to teach an honors class in either department. I try very hard to teach every student who comes into my classroom and my personal philosophy is that I teach those who want to learn and I try not to bore those students who do not care to learn. I believe that I do make every student welcome in my room, but there are some kids who, for whatever reason, hate school and just don’t want to be there. For them school is really awful and I do my best to make it bearable. An ideal school is one that offers every student a place to be safe, to learn and be recognized for who they are. That’s hard to achieve.

Anna Yukevich, senior

When I was little my dream was to be a farmer/librarian. I loved animals and books so that made sense to me. I loved my middle school years, dressing up and role playing and enjoying learning, but I think that high school is all in the future. Everything we do is because we will need it in the future and we are never “here and now.” Because of that there is a lot of guilt involved and it can be quite stressful. I know that I want to go to a big college where there are plenty of different people and ideas, and though I would not be averse to being famous, that’s not what matters. Every community is filled with great stories and I would like to know more about that. One of my distant ancestors chopped up her kids and fed them to the pigs, and I think those stories exist everywhere and it would be so interesting to know them.

Elaine Cawley Weintraub is history department chairman at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Ana Nascimento is her student and fellow writer.