I know I shouldn’t do this but I’m gonna tell you about my big book idea. [I shouldn't do this because 1) you'll tell me the book has already been written and dash any of my hopes of making it big in the book writing world or 2) you'll tell me the book idea is a waste of time because, really, who wants to read words that I've produced or 3) you'll steal my idea and do it 10 times better than I could do it or 4) well, the list goes on. But I'm an idiot and gonna share my idea anyway in spite of all these reasons not to.]
You would have to be pretty, well, ignorant to say something isn’t wrong with our educational system here in America. Why is it that my daughter, Sophia, is moving right along with reading and math out here in the burbs while a kid her age is struggling to learn his ABCs and his 123s over at my school in the city? Sure, you can point to parental support and other context issues but in the end, it’s all about the educational system and its many deficiencies. And this is where my big book idea comes to life.
I want to research, on a very practical level, what it’s like to teach in all the different settings here in middle America. I want to spend two years in a low-income, resource poor city school where most of the children are racial minorities. While there, I want to explore the resources that teachers have, the school’s staffing and take time looking at the school’s data. Then I want to spend two years teaching at a middle/upper-income, resource rich suburb school where most of the children are white. While there, I want to explore the resources that teachers have, the school’s staffing and take time looking at the school’s data. And then I want to spend another two years at a private school where, surely, the classes are small and the income bracket is off the chart. Again, I want to explore the resources that teachers have, the school’s staffing and take time looking at the school’s data. The other contexts I should consider are rural and religious schools.
When done I would hope to have some good stuff, great anecdotes, and solid evidence that the educational system is not a fair, balanced or neutral system. I would hope to expose the achievement gap in practical ways. We already know that poor minorities get the raw end of the deal but I would want to drive this point home with real life stories about how we are failing our children.
But here’s the thing. I’m too late. Just this week the lead article in the New York Times Magazine was all about the need for better teachers. And just today, my Newsweek came in the mail. The cover story? “The Key To Saving American Education: We must fire bad teachers.” In the end, I’m pretty sure this would be my discovery. Good teachers thrive in any environment. Good teachers can overcome just about any obstacle. They just can.
So I’ll save myself some time and read the articles already written and continue working hard to be a good teacher for my students. That seems to be what’s needed. Not another book but another good teacher.
Filed under: teaching
If we could just “clone” you, we could improve the quality of education all over the country!!
Personally, I think the colleges are where the “missing link” is. Either we aren’t teaching teachers what it’s really going to be like when they get into the classroom, or we aren’t “screening” enough in college to eliminate the “bad” prospects from the ones who have great potential, special skills,and energy/enthusiasm!!
Uncle Stan, Laura said the five weeks of training I went through in Atlanta this summer was better than the training she received in her graduate work in education. You may be on to something. And the Newsweek article and the NYTimes article both say the same thing.
The school systems dilemma? Fire bad teachers = not enough teachers. How do we get good teachers into the classroom to replace the bad ones?
I realize that each of these (fire bad teachers, recruit good teachers, teach/screen college students better, pay better) are all just links in the chain that is broken. What I can’t figure out is where does the chain start so we can fix the first link, then the next, etc.
I like your book idea. I would read it. And it would be very interesting – especially b/c you would fall in love with the kids at each school. Because kids are kids and they long for love, acceptance and encouragement.
Thank you for being a good teacher!
I discovered something interesting about this recurring tragedy in our educational system. I have some friends that have recently/are now going through graduate programs to become certified teachers. The workload is grueling and time-consuming. Most of them also work full or part-time jobs while going to school, so they have no choice but to cut corners with their school requirements. They use material for one class to pad assignments for other classes because they don’t have the time or access to do better. Many of their colleagues are working their connections to get the very cushiest student teaching positions so they don’t double their existing workload. They intend to work harder and do better once they have the certification and a classroom of their own.
This simply isn’t good enough. If they professors training these teachers don’t create assignments and training opportunities to bring out the very best in the students. . .they will not have the ability to be the teachers they are dreaming to be when it’s more convenient. We need training programs like Teach for America that create intensity and focus on real priorities instead of how well a teacher can decorate a bulletin board for the upcoming science unit.
How do we make that happen?
I did not learn much at all until I started my student teaching, and then I substitute taught in inner city and middle America. That’s where I learned the most. And I still learn every day. I believe my university was/is an excellent one, but until you get into the classroom, one really has no clue.
I’ve also worked in all three scenarios that you mentioned. I can tell you that parental influence is big, but I can’t say that NO parental influence in the inner city is always worse than some of the situations I am now in with private, elite parents. Some days I’d take my “Kahlil” and “Sergio” before I’d keep my “Nathaniel” and “Rebecca”, believe me.
There are still people out there that consider teaching a “fallback” or lower-end job. When people say to me when I tell them I’m a teacher, “Oh, that’s so sweet!”, I want to maim them. Until that impression is squelched by giving teachers more respect, pay, and hands-on experience, it won’t get better. So I will continue to do my job with a passion and do my best to help new teachers not burn out and realize that without teachers, there would be no other professions.
Joe, a really interesting read, THE ELEMENT, by Ken Robinson. Has quite a bit to say about the educational problems we face in this country.
[...] difference between these two jobs. (I guess I better figure it out if I’m gonna follow-up on my big book idea.) This is what I can say: the difference, the gap is monstrous. Huge. It shouldn’t be. But it [...]
can you spend two of those years teaching my kid in brooklyn? i’m in the privileged position, relative to many other in the world, of having one of my biggest fears in life being he will be damaged more by fellow students – with parents who don’t care – than crappy teachers in nyc public schools….almost every day i’m at a city playground i hear a horror story that has me racking my brain with ideas to come up with tuition to have the option for my kid to go to a private school….i may be naive, but in the end i have to believe it comes down to parenting more than teaching (not that great teachers aren’t the best big hoss)…i just hope wherever my boy ends up the parents who give a damn outweigh the parents who don’t…if i don’t see this – i may be following your lead in a move to the suburbs…..