Some thoughts on Fixing Education – Part I

Sam Dillon’s article in today’s New York Times, Inexperienced Companies Chase U.S. School Funds, framed several disturbing trends in education that bear examination. For one, his well-chosen title illustrates a two-pronged problem rather simply: a) inexperience and b) fund chasing. Or, to put it another way, everyone’s an expert, so let’s make it pay. Education is far too important and complex to let these two issues of lack of experience and fund chasing to be the primary forces to shape it.
In so many of these articles, there is also an elephant in the room, frequently the elephant in the room in so many contexts that do have to do not only with education, but so many other things: socioeconomic class or demographics. The district in which I teach has a high status – my High School is a silver medal school, boasts college acceptance in the high 90% range, consistently ranks high in the MCAS and AP races, and people keep moving there “for the schools.” But the community is generally middle to upper middle class and actively “supports” education in that parents and guardians email with concerns, have jobs which allow them to take time off for meetings, and attend extracurricular events. Do my colleagues work hard? Absolutely. Are we well-educated ourselves? Yes. Do we care? Certainly. Do we know our students? Yes. Do we spend unpaid time with them after school for academic help, clubs, activities, or because they want an adult to talk to other than their parents sometimes? Yes. Are we teaching to a test every day? No. Is there a threat of violence hanging over the student body or faculty or the town itself? No. Can we as a school district take full credit for the successes of our students? Absolutely not. There is a confluence of reasons that result in the success of the district and students and socioeconomic class and the fact that most families in town are living above if not well above subsistence.
There are many things we can and will and already do in fact do to ensure the quality of the education of our students, including what some of these consulting companies suggest.

Working it Out

Never have I regretted my decision to become a public school teacher. Well, on less than stellar days I have been known to joke about staying at my job at the accountant's or working at Petco. I am actually not dissing Petco -- I worked at Trader Joe's,another retail establishment, during grad school and seriously, it was the best part time job I ever had, and I didn't mind going to work. I have several pets, including reptiles and fish and sometimes I think it might be easier to deal with customers in that  department of Petco than teenagers. But maybe not.I wouldn't rule out Petco as a retirement job, no kidding. (This schtick I am sure got me a gift card to Petco one year from a mom -- this was before you couldn't take gifts without reporting them to the IRS, saying three or for hail Marys or rending your garment for the sin you were committing by doing so, to throw in some Christian imagery -- absolutely no offense to any other people. Insert your own atonement as needed.)

Not infrequently, however, I run across people who have various things to say about public schools or teaching or something about education that is less than flattering And I'm not even talking about what happens if you open up the newspaper. I wonder sometimes what the motivation behind this sort of thing is, since I of course, like to think of myself as relatively harmless. On my most compassionate days, I think the at-times diatribes are a result of bad experiences they had with school themselves or possibly some experience they had with their kid's teacher. Last night's weirdness may have well been the latter.

I am taking a course about Islam at night and while waiting for the class to start, was chit chatting with people outside. Someone I knew asked me what I was doing for April break, so this prompted a woman to ask what I taught. I knew I was getting into trouble already by her tone (patronizing, including, "Oh you're a high school teacher." As opposed to what? A college professor? I was taking a college course right there wasn't I?) and was starting admittedly to feel defensive when she asked me what I taught. I gave what I wanted to be the short answer: World History, Psych and an ethics class. The Ethics class is really called the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Altruism, known in school as the Love class, but I wasn't feeling any of that from her. Of course it was the "ethics" class she wanted to talk about, and she proceeded to interrogate.

What did it cover? And to her the million dollar question; What age group took it? Juniors and Seniors was my answer. Oh. (That sealed it, apparently.) *Her* kids took it in *public school* in 10th grade. [Insert triumphant trumpet flair here.] I wasn't sure what this was all about. Oh and I *must* be teaching about John Stuart Mill "You know, utilitarianism." Yes, I know about utilitarianism .(I hoped she didn't see my internal eye- roll.)

I thought the whole thing was very bizarre and like I was in a minor sparring match with someone I had just met.  What was her angle? Did one of her kids ace the ethics class, signifying that her child was "gifted", that she was a superior parent, that her kids' school was better than my school???? Did some teacher not think one of her kids was god's gift? Were her shoes too tight and her heart too small? 

I have been on the receiving end of a number of commentaries about public school education, from people who have had kids in a public system and people who put their kids in private schools, to people that say their kid needs to be home-schooled. Rarely are these comments, I am sad to say,  complimentary. Every once in a while people will say "You people don't get paid enough,"but that is uncommon.

We teachers are all kinds of people, which is a credit to the profession and a benefit to the kids. I am very glad to say by and large the teachers I know are working very hard and care about what they are doing. This is a testimony to my district and to the community that supports it, to be sure. It is distressing when someone doesn't take the time to understand what you are doing -- or granted doesn't have the time to -- but is quick to judge or question it. If my estimation of this woman's age is correct, I would guess that her kids are probably out of college now. It was sad that she still had some kind of bone to pick with public education. Or maybe she just building her kids (who I have never met) up. It's sad. I like kids and like my job, and the defensiveness on both of our sides in this brief (albeit civil) conversation was a waste of energy and put a barrier between us that didn't need to be constructed.