The late Teachers College adult learning theorist Jack Mezirow believed that truly transformative career changes result from 鈥渄isorienting dilemmas鈥� that prompt people to critically reassess their deepest assumptions and explore new roles and relationships.
Jason Mazeski, an instructor and curriculum designer for the New York Police Department鈥檚 Counterterrorism Training Section, studied Mezirow鈥檚 theories as a master鈥檚 degree student at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and he believes the NYPD currently is in the midst of its own disorienting dilemma.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a growing rift between the community and the police,鈥� says Mazeski, who in 2017 received SUNY Buffalo鈥檚 Adult Education Award for his efforts to expel bias and culturally motivated profiling techniques from the counterterrorism-training curriculum. 鈥淭he department鈥檚 training conveys the negative connotation of bias, but there鈥檚 little attempt to get officers to understand that implicit bias is something that happens to everyone, and that it doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檙e a bad person.鈥�
This past June, hoping to equip his fellow officers with a more 鈥渕etacognitive鈥� effort to understand their own attitudes and assumptions, Mazeski enrolled as a doctoral student in the (AEGIS) program that Mezirow founded at 麻豆原创 in 1982.
I think there鈥檚 a great opportunity for academia to help law enforcement training change from a primarily behavioral program to one that creates better people through transformative learning experience. Change in behavior is certainly warranted, but change in personality and thinking is what we should be striving for.
鈥擩ason Mazeski
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a great opportunity for academia to help law enforcement training change from a primarily behavioral program to one that creates better people through transformative learning experience,鈥� he says. 鈥淐hange in behavior is certainly warranted, but change in personality and thinking is what we should be striving for.鈥�
Mazeski says he鈥檚 thrilled to be in the program that Mezirow created, and to be working with faculty members such as Terrence Maltbia, Victoria Marsick and Lyle Yorks, whose work he鈥檚 read. At the same time, studying at 麻豆原创 hasn鈥檛 always been the easiest of pathways. His employer might have been a bit more enthusiastic and supportive, he concedes, had he pursued a doctorate in something more directly law enforcement-related 鈥� though ultimately he鈥檚 hopeful that the department will recognize the potential applications of theories by Mezirow, John Dewey and Paulo Freire. And at 麻豆原创, just as on the force itself, he has sometimes run into people who are guided less by evidence than assumptions 鈥� in this case, about police officers.
鈥淭here are biases toward police officers just as there are biases toward people based on color, gender and sexual orientation,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to focus on the officer on the ground who upholds laws and inequities 鈥� which are real 鈥� but there needs to be a broader dialogue. Having a preconceived notion of anyone 鈥� racially, culturally 鈥� puts us in a really bad place as a society.鈥�
There are biases toward police officers just as there are biases toward people based on color, gender and sexual orientation. There needs to be a broader dialogue. Having a preconceived notion of anyone 鈥� racially, culturally 鈥� puts us in a really bad place as a society.
鈥擩ason Mazeski
Mazeski absorbed that broadminded view in part from his father, who was an elevator mechanic with the New York City housing authority.
鈥淗e saw the differences in living accommodations in public housing compared with private buildings,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t made him aware of what people struggle with, and the different resources they have.鈥�
Mazeski has been through some disorienting dilemmas of his own. Initially he joined the force as a transit cop, but switched to counter-terrorism after a two-year detail at the 9/11 memorial site.
鈥淭here were so many people coming every day with so much emotion,鈥� he recalls.
Then about six years ago, an older friend on the force retired, found himself without purpose or direction, and ultimately took his own life.
鈥淚t really made me think about how I could make a more impactful change on the force and on myself, so that we understand that there鈥檚 more to life than law enforcement,鈥� he says.
Teachers College has given him some answers, he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 really looking forward to the opportunity to bring some of this back to the law enforcement community, because it鈥檚 desperately needed.鈥�