The Status of Teachers

My wife recently sent me a very interesting debate posted in the New York Times about what can be done to elevate the status of public school teachers. You can read the debate here. If you can't read every author's contribution, try to at least read Patrick Welsh's piece entitled "Consider Cultural Differences."

Overall, I think very few understand how intricate and complex the education system is. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop those in power from attempting to fix the problem. There is no "quick fix" and the problem is often misdiagnosed by those in power (politicians, school systems, unions, other bureaucracies, etc).

Ultimately, I think it's up to the society in which the teacher operates that determines his or her worth.

Comments

On My Visit to My Old High School

I had the incredible opportunity to visit my old high school while I was in Chicago last week. This was something I was really looking forward to; I was worried I wouldn’t have enough time to cram in a visit. I wanted to not only visit my old teachers, but also to walk around the hallways aimlessly and remember what it was like to be me eight years ago. It still blows my mind that I’ve been out of high school for that long. Okay, fine. The voice of accuracy in my head desperately wants me to clarify how long it’s really been. Technically, I had gone back to visit a few of my teachers shortly after I graduated high school, but I choose not to count that as a “proper” visit as I was still in college and coming back home quite often. It’s not like I was living out of the state as I am now. So it doesn’t count, okay? So Wednesday morning, I walked into the visitor’s entrance at gate 3 and received my visitor’s pass for the day. It was odd because as a student, I neve...

We Need to Talk About Tenure

The idea and privilege of "tenure" in public education has garnered a lot of attention as of late. Most people who have never worked in education a single day in their lives seem to feel that tenure is unfair and teachers should work under the same expectations that other "regular" and hard-working Americans work under. At least, that's the narrative being presented in the media. Three years ago, I would have agreed, but I didn't know any better. At the college and university level, tenure is difficult to obtain and can take 4-8 years. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but from what I think I know, the candidate usually needs to have published some sort of research and have demonstrated a strong teaching record, among other things. Before becoming a high school teacher, I understood why tenure was necessary at the college and university level as it protected academics when they published work that went against the mainstream, and thereby prevented profes...

Two Face

The past two days have been unusually challenging for me. The majority of my school's students have been rude, disruptive and careless. I'm really feeling stretched right now given all the other shit going on. Here's the thing: I have all my lessons up online. I e-mail my students with reminders, send them review packets, make myself available by cell, text and e-mail. I even pack myself a sandwich everyday because kids feel my classroom is a "safe space" during lunch and use the classroom to socialize, study or just do homework. I can't say no to that... I also keep a spreadsheet which I update daily with all my students' grades to track trends in performance. I spend hours on each lesson and presentation to make sure it's clear for visual and auditory learners. I throw in real-life examples for those who need to be able to relate in order to understand. So why the fuck isn't everyone acing this shit??? If I'm doing everything I can t...

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