Teaching in the 21st Century

As I write this, the Chicago Public School Teachers are in their second week of a Teachers' Strike.  Accusations are being made across the political spectrum against the teachers, and as far as I've seen, only a handful of statements have been made in support of the teachers.

I firmly believe that unless one has been in a modern school - and more so, a school with limited resources serving underprivileged children (such as Chicago) - one does not truly understand what teachers in the 21st century do.

Before I entered the ministry, I was a public school teacher for 10 years.  I have my Master's in Educational Leadership and my Principal's Certification.  One of my years was teaching at a school on the Mexican Border where the first language of almost all of the students was Spanish.  There were even children who did not speak any English.  The next six years were teaching at urban K-8 schools that were not adequately funded like their suburban counterparts.  My final three years put me in a district where I was moved each of those years due to budged constraints.  I was a music teacher, and due to budget issues, music is a "sacrificial lamb." With that being the case, my job switched each year. My first year, I taught in a middle-class neighborhood school.  The next year I travelled between 3 separate middle-class schools.  The final year, I taught at a high-poverty school where many of the students' first language was Spanish.  As I write this, I know what I am saying!

The last thing teachers want to do is strike!  Teachers often put other peoples' children ahead of themselves and often their own families.  The majority of teachers spend more time at school than they do at home during the school year.  It is not uncommon for teachers to be at school until 6 or 7 PM.  On average, most teachers are at school until 4-5 PM (and those are days that do not have required meetings or other such required events that would cause a teacher to stay past the official "closing time").  This time takes teachers away from their spouses, partners, children, pets, and their own recreational time.  Countless studies have shown that if a person does not build in time for him/herself during the day, he/she cannot expect to be healthy - both physically and mentally.  Countless teachers - for the sake of other peoples' children - do not build in time for themselves or their own families.

Teachers sacrifice parts of their own paychecks that should go ENTIRELY for their own use for classroom supplies.  These supplies are not things that are "nice to have."  These supplies by and large are things that are "required to have" for teaching - Yes, I mean things like pencils and paper.  Imagine telling a doctor at one of our hospitals that he/she is allotted a certain amount of needles and if he/she goes over that allotment, he/she will not get anymore.  At that point, would the doctor buy more needles?  Tell the Bank President that he or she can only make 500 copies a year (yes, that is realistic - I was told that one year...and I had 800 students).  Will the Bank President then spend money out of his or her own pocket to go to Kinkos to make copies?

Teachers are required to not only put up with whatever behavior a student enters the room with, but also to modify it and teach other students AND the unwilling student despite rude and disruptive behaviors.  In serious cases, suspension may be an option, but that only removes the unruly student for a short time.  Expulsion is saved only for severe offenses.  The teacher is expected to manage the unruly student's behavior while at the same time teaching that student and the rest of the class.  Let me give you examples of unruly behavior - these are real experiences I've had - Temper Tantrums (by students up to 8th grade), Foul Language (by kids as young as age 5), Throwing Sharp Objects brought from home, Making Sexual Remarks and Gestures, Standing on Desks and Tables, Running Out of the Classroom, Refusal to Do Anything, Fighting, Cell Phones, Throwing Chairs and Desks, Talking Back when Disciplined, Wandering Around the Room, Tripping Other Students, Harassing Other Students - I could go on, but I think you get the idea.  Teachers are expected to modify these behaviors, tolerate them while modifying them, make these habitual offenders pass the "Sacred Standardized Test," and teach the other students in the class while several students may be doing the above behaviors.

Teachers are Professionals, and it's time that they are recognized as such.  Yes, there are bad teachers.  Yes, there are bad doctors, but we don't complain about the entire profession because of a few bad doctors, do we?  Teachers are assessed unfairly.  They are assessed by how many students pass a statistically invalid "standardized" test.  Do doctors get assessed by how many of their patients live?  Last time I checked, the death rate of humans was right about 100%.  Doctors aren't looking so good right now, are they?

Let me address some issues head on:

But teachers get 3 months off. - Yes, that's true, but teachers didn't determine that.  That was determined long ago by the agricultural schedule and then written into state laws.  If you don't like it, write to your legislators - we see how effective they are!

Our schools are failing. - That depends on certain factors.  1. Define failing.  According to the No Child Left Behind Act, a "Failing School" is any school in which 1 sub-group does not meet expected requirements on the "standardized" test.  A sub-group is any group that has 40 or more students in the school (ex. Boys, Girls, Whites, Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, Special Education Students, Students of Poverty, etc.).  FACT - I taught in a school that had 20 sub-groups.  One group did not meet the expected requirement.  That school was labeled as failing.  Last time I checked, 19 out of 20 was 95%.  I don't know of a school where 95% is an "F."

Also, look at where the schools that are failing are.  They (for the most part) are not in rich suburbs.  They are mostly in impoverished areas and in areas made up of racial minorities.  Can we say "institutional segregation????"

Teachers are overpaid. - I ask, Compared to what?  Do not tell me that since teachers are paid by tax dollars they are overpaid.  If you use that excuse, then Congress is overpaid, the President is overpaid, all of the Government Officials are overpaid, Police are overpaid, etc.  (For the record: I am NOT saying that Police are overpaid - that was intentional "shock value" in order to make a point).  We do not complain that the President of our Bank is overpaid, though the money we deposit pays that salary.  We do not complain that the CEO of the Grocery Store we frequent is overpaid, though the cost of groceries reflect his or her salary.  We buy brand name items because they are better quality than generic items (in some cases).  Why is paying for a quality education too much to ask through our taxes?  We also forget that Teachers are professionals! They not only teach reading, writing, math, science, music, art, social studies, history, science, etc., but they also diagnose reasons why a student may not be learning (provided it is not a medical reason) and adapt to that individual student (and often there are multiple students in one classroom.  They are required in most districts to earn a Master's Degree - often at their own expense (sometimes with little financial help from the district, and very rarely with full financial help from the district).

I get it, no one likes taxes.  Every April, the vein in my forehead throbs just a little harder as I find out what I owe.  But, I'd rather know that my money is going to support good teachers than our Congress who can't seem to accomplish much of anything - unless providing material for Letterman and Leno is considered part of their job.

The children suffer when teachers strike. - No one knows that more than teachers! Teachers strike so that children won't have to suffer long!  If teachers are mistreated by the school boards and government, the children will suffer by unjust laws and practices.

This happened in 2007 in Dayton, Ohio.  Because then Superintendent Dr. Percy Mack and Board President Gail Littlejohn were unable to manage the budget (and made a "shady" deal in buying a new $20 Million office building for the central administrators), Dayton was $30 Million in the hole (despite the fact that the Official Legal 5-Year Financial Forecast stated that Dayton Public Schools WOULD NOT be in debt for 5 years - and then the debt would be $600 Thousand). As a result Dayton laid off 300 teachers - myself included.  Who suffered?  Yes, we teachers did, but we could find new jobs.  The children suffered in having larger class sizes, less teachers to help, younger and newly trained teachers were cut due to tenure rules, etc. Test scores dropped to horrible levels. Morale among the entire community dropped.  5 years later, Dayton is still trying to recover.

It's time for America to wake up and support Teachers.  Teachers are not the enemy.

Remember when teachers caused a recession - needed a bail out - caused millions of lay offs - and left the economy in the state that it's in?  Oh yeah, neither do I.

***Just a few hours after publishing this, the Chicago Teachers' Union Delegates voted to suspend the strike (9/18/12)***