in response to a post about the meaning of fiction in our lives today, a reader sent this advice:
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To my dear teachers of America, I ask you to game the system. Yes, you must teach how to tackle the test, you must teach how to use elimination to solve multiple choice questions. But you can ALSO teach the real thing. Who is stopping you? Take extra classes. Use the normal classes to teach according to the system but take extra ones to really teach. We are accustomed to a system that works and is now broken. But despair not. Those of us who were product of broken systems did not wait for system to reform. We gamed it. We learnt all the important things through mentors, friends, seniors, and more importantly teachers who chose to guide us in their spare time. You are faced with similar choice. The metaphor for you is not Montag [Fahrenheit 451′, but the woman who chose to keep the books. You have to “keep the books” for if you cannot be Montag, at least you will help one when he/she comes along. Remind yourself of Schindler from “Schindler’s list”. Or the deservingly famous Anne Frank whose family gave asylum to strangers. Can you give asylum to a way of learning that is necessary when the current system is out to destroy it? Or will you burn the books without questioning? My apologies if I sound inappropriate. Sometimes anger and passion are difficult to contain. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Interesting approach. I am confident that in little ways teachers are still teaching. I’m not clear about what the writer means when s/he suggests teachers take extra classes? What extra classes? Is the writer saying teachers should volunteer to teach extra classes? If so, where is the time going to come from? I teach a self contained early childhood class. Last year performance tasks worked it way into my grade. I figured out a way to actually teach and also teach how to do well on the performance tasks. It was not easy but it was, for me and my grade do-able. I can’t speak for other grades. I am guessing for middle and high school it may not be practical.
I am working hard against a broken system. I speak out where I can and when I can. I teach when I can sneak it in.
I have to admit that I am discouraged and feel beat down. Some days it’s almost impossible for me to think of going back to my school in September knowing what awaits.
Then I remember how important a free, quality, public education is to a democracy and I am refreshed.
Inspiring message! You are right, we need to be The Keeper of the Books. We can’t give up and give in. I can’t stop the train wreck that has already left the station, but we do have control over what and how we teach. Many teachers are scared and worry about their jobs and how they will support themselves and their families. We need to support each other and do what we know is best for our students. I always remind myself to think about how I would want my own children to be taught, and what would be important to me when I was a student. How did I get to where I am today? I was taught by caring teachers who knew their craft. Who were confident that they knew their content and that they had what it took to teach what I needed to know. We need to be confident teachers again. We are educated and we have what it takes. Can we hang in there long enough to ride out this storm? As Diane keeps telling us, the truth will eventually be told loud enough for the rest of the country to know what we already know. I worry about the damage that is being done to our children and to teachers, by greedy politicians with ulterior motives, who don’t care about the future of our children. My job is to stay informed and do my job, and to become The Keeper of the Children. Thanks for reminding me…
You’re right, and this is what we shall do. But– I’m sure you realize– we’re maxed out already. Especially the teachers in the challenging urban and poorer rural schools; we are the primary targets for the profiteering reformers.
How much more can I possibly give? I’ve been on the front lines since the Clinton administration. And think of the teachers who have done this for far longer.
Rest assured, though. I will give what I have.
I have done that for years, but there is not enough time in the day. I find myself going at a faster and faster pace trying to fit it all in, while being squeezed more and more by admin for them “catching” me trying to do fun or motivating lessons in with the test prep until by the time I left teaching first grade after 16 yrs they gave me 15 min a day to do what I knew was best for kids. The rest of the day I was controlled.
It would be nice to be able to game the system. My ex-wife taught in Arizona, with a scripted curriculum and an administrator who dropped in regularly. If she was ever caught straying one toe away from the script, she was disciplined. One day the students finished their work early and as a reward she gave them (gasp!) ten minutes of unstructured time. The administrator heard of it, yelled at her for half an hour in the office, and wrote up a formal referral for her file.
I had an administrator come into my class the last ten minutes of class on a Friday. The kids had had a sub while I was in IEP meetings. I gave them those last ten minutes for free time as a gift after I finished up what the sub couldn’t do. Of course, according to the program, they should have been writing reflections on what they had learned. Those ten minutes showed up in my evaluation (not written by him). Are these people human?
I’ve been asking why public school administrators are NOT doing this? Why on earth would they follow what the Govt. is mandating?? Is the federal and state $$ that important?
Ok, that may seem like a dumb question, but I believe that if the teachers were allowed to teach and the school focused on things like academic excellence, the school would thrive beyond what the govt. expects.
Instead the schools are jumping through hoops and implementing fads that are nothing but a set up for failure.
Stop doing what the govt. wants you to do, and go back to the basics. TEACH!
The schools are not implementing “fads.” at least in Florida, most of those directives come from the state. Our education commissioner (who just resigned) recently told the state meeting of school boards that their job is to implement the laws passed by the Florida Legislature and to quit complaining about testing.
Fiction is the bridge between the false dichotomy between rationalism and emotionalism. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Le Guinn, has a powerful effect when used to teach students to read nonfiction in social sciences and economics.
Many of my students wrote a paper that wasn’t required after reading this short story, from the energy they felt when their emotional selves, their hearts, were engaged with their minds thru fiction that informed textbook readings from seemingly unrelated disciplines.
Yes, thank you for “gaming the system.” My mentors told me to subvert from within. No regrets. Not for that.
You just need an early warning system for when administrators, lurking in the hall, spring surprise walkthroughs.