Many readers have noted that their colleagues go along with policies they know are wrong. They comply because compliance is easier than resistance. They comply because they fear losing their job or being seen as a troublemaker.
This is sad but understandable. People need to feel secure, they need to feed their family and pay the mortgage. Few people want to step outside their comfort zone or risk opprobrium and punishment from their supervisor.
Go along and get along is a lot pleasanter than being abrasive. But dream for a minute. What would happen if every teacher in a district refused to give tests that don’t show what their students know and can do? What would happen if teachers said no to policies that hurt children? And to policies that are unprofessional?
Sort of reminds you why teacher unions were created almost a century ago.
Just thinking.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The very first time we were faced with a high stakes test I said that. Why do we care, this thing is stupid. I am not changing anything that I do. I received a terrible evaluation for the first time in my life and was moved out of a testing grade. (which ended up being the best thing for me, but we should have all said no. We should have all stood up.
This is further evidence of a widespread management culture in public schools of fear and intimidation.
My fear is that the longer high stakes testing is in place, the more it becomes the norm.
We already have younger teachers, products of testing themselves, wondering what the big deal is. Of course, many of them eventually begin to realize the problems associated with testing after their 3rd or 4th year, but by then they plan to flee to the suburbs or become administrators.
It doesn’t help that our unions have failed to take a more vocal role in advocating for testing policy change. Perhaps teachers see their leaders model the “go along to get along” mentality and assume it’s useless to fight.
We could offer hundreds of accurate reasons why many teachers remain submissive. What history has proven is that we need leaders who will inspire others to follow them in their acts of disobedience. Or at the very least, inspire them to speak up once in a while.
Spot on! Thanks!
RAC – I’ve been trying to engage Randi Weingarten in this discussion for more than a year now, with nothing to show for that but her usual sound bites. The AFT has been pushing a policy of getting along with the forces that are destroying our public schools, ala Neville Chamberlain. It isn’t working.
Many readers of this blog probably know, at the just-concluded AFT convention in Detroit, a highly scripted resolution was passed to urge less reliance on standardized tests. No calling BS on the fact that VAM and similar schemes are junk science that’s used to weaken resistance to standardized testing, and no calls to action other than signing silly pledges.
I’m sure Randi is a lovely person and a competent administrator of a large and diverse organization. Not good enough. We need a LEADER, if Randi can’t do that, she needs to go. There are caucuses forming around the country that are working hard to get rid of her, let’s support them.
Well said.
Teachers are silent because they fear losing their positions, especially here in the deep south which are all so-called “right-to-work” states, which means you can be let go at any time for any, or no, reason, and you have NO RECOURSE, NO PROTECTIONS of any kind. “Right-to”Work” laws are Unconstitutional, in my professional opinion, because they violate the 1st Amendment’s guarantee of the right to peaceful assembly and to protest grievances, both of which are prohibited under “right-to-work” laws. I keep hoping that the ACLU, of which I am a member, will file suit in Federal COurt to overturn these illegal “laws”, but thus far, nothing has happened. Come on, ACLU, join with NEA and file suit against this trampling of our rights!
Another factor is that which Dr. Ravitch pointed out, “go along to get along”, i.e., no one wants to receive “bad” evaluations for being branded a “troublemaker”. All of these problems are intertwined and interwoven, and it will take the protection of law to allow teachers to feel safe enough to make a stand. As long as state legislatures continue to function as arms of ALEC, nothing good will come to public education.
What we need is the whole system on board–not just the teachers, but the administrators who oversee instruction. Many of my administrators obviously see the injustices. They have to play a game of diplomacy and act professionally toward these policies, but they also can put themselves in positions where they can influence school boards and parents to educate themselves on the issues. They have the clout. The teachers are just the people in the trenches. Nobody really wants to listen to us.
I find that most of my colleagues are unaware of the scope of these issues we all face. They see education constantly changing, and they roll with the changes, but for the most part, they are putting their energy into their jobs and their families. They do not usually concern themselves with education policies except to the extent that they need to know how to implement these policies in the jobs they have to do. Our educational leaders are responsible for policies according to most of my teaching colleagues.
“but they also can put themselves in positions where they can influence school boards and parents to educate themselves on the issues. They have the clout. ”
Yes, and for the vast majority of the administrators I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for them to act. They know who butters their bread.
Unfortunately, you are correct about the majority, Duane. There are few diamonds-in-the-rough, thankfully. The hope is they continue to fight the good fight.
And I’ve been working on those few “diamonds in the rough” in my building 9and district) but I know who ultimately holds the power and I’ve seen even what I thought to be the most hopeful turn on me when push came to shove.
Duane, I hear you. I think I’ve been labeled as a “trouble-maker” for disagreeing with policies put forth by some “higher-ups” in my district. I feel like those with integrity will listen to the teachers, but some are just hell-bent on doing what they want to do, teachers be damned.
A few years back, two junior administrators in my district were working on “middle school scheduling” as the topic for their doctoral dissertations.
They influenced scheduling changes throughout the district, i.e. the gifted and talented program, the study skills programs, etc. They attempted to change the middle school math scheduling using state test scores as their evidence for doing so, but because of budget restraints those changes were tabled despite having been already announced to the public. (I guess test scores weren’t so important after all.) They had changed the schedule of many programs “to benefit the district” according to what they felt the research said it would benefit.
When two of our middle/elementary music teachers decided to retire in the same year, the junior administrators felt it was a perfect time to rearrange the two positions. Upon the retirement announcements, I asked to be transferred to one of those middle/elementary positions. The junior admins started making plans to reconfigure the two positions to two schedules: one that would not be full time and the other that would be busting at the seams, a move that made absolutely no sense.
I was told about the planned reconfiguration and voiced my opinion that these changes would create a strain that might ruin the program. Basically, it made one schedule a part-time and the other one full-time with more work than the schedule allowed meaning less time for student instruction.
Ultimately, I was turned down for the transfer because, as they told me, “You are so valuable in the position you already have, it would be better if you stayed in elementary vocal music. You’re soooo good at it.” Remember, I opposed the changes—so is that why I didn’t get the job? Hmmm…
They hired two new kids fresh out of school, and gave one a schedule that wasn’t full enough and the other a horrific overstuffed schedule perhaps figuring he’d do it since he didn’t have anything to compare it to. Well, he resigned in August after his first year of teaching because the schedule was not only rough on the students, but it was nearly impossible for him to do a good job having had too many students and not enough time to teach them all.
When that first-year teacher quit, the assistant superintendent called me 3 weeks before school started offering me the job with a kind of “mea culpa” message. He needed the position filled but fast. (Suddenly I was sooo good at elementary music that I could be moved to middle school? Huh?)
The assistant super told me that he realized I had concerns about the schedule, but asked me if I would take the middle school position under the schedule that was already in place with the promise that it would just be for that school year. I would be allowed to make modifications within the confines of the schools assigned if I took the job for that year. Progress, I thought.
I took the transfer convincing myself that it would only be for one year, and since I was able to create my own version of the schedule to make it work, it showed that he trusted me.
After that horrendous year, they finally changed the schedule back to the way it was before the two retirees left. The assistant superintendent had also announced that he was leaving the district, but his promise was intact.
So…I continued happily and successfully teaching within the old version of the schedule for five more years and the program flourished. (Hey, if it ain’t broke…why fix it?) My students improved every single year as evidenced by their concerts, an increase in student enrollment, and the raising of their scores at annual adjudications. Just before the students reached the highest level they could have at the spring 2010 annual adjudication, I got some bad news. They were going to cut a full grade level music position at the end of the school year, and I was being transferred out of the program and into the job of a teacher they RIFed by the cut. I would be back teaching in the original program where I had started 11 years earlier.
During my tenure teaching the middle school program, both junior admins who were responsible for pushing for all the changes moved up–one from assistant principal to principal and one from principal to assistant superintendent. The schedule I had to leave behind was also going to go back to the nightmarish schedule that the junior admins had crafted 6 years earlier, much to the chagrin of one of our other teachers who took it over. I lost my program, the one I had built for those six years, and another person lost her job of three years.
In the end, the (now, formerly) junior admins got their schedule back. I still believe that I was moved out of the program, so I could not voice my opposition to it anymore. Despite the fact that I had more time in the district than the two of them combined, the administrators were able to influence the changes that would impact our students. I teach in the summer program that is fed by this program—and we have already felt the repercussions of lower enrollment due to over-scheduling the middle school teacher and cutting out a grade level.
The moral of the story? Not everyone gets what they want when they want it, but administrators who convince those in the highest position that their policies are sound will eventually get those policies passed. They got what they wanted–they just got me out of the way first. Thankfully, I was transferred to work with probably the best administrator we have in the district—he’s one of those diamonds.
Lg,
Your insanities with administration really are degrees above mine, and mine were quite mind boggling.
Maybe, just maybe they might actually listen to you and me and learn what to do. Boy, isn’t a fantasy life nice????
Duane
I know you’ll hang in there and do what is right for your students as the true teacher you are!!
Interesting observations! My own observations mirror those you describe. Teachers and coaches very rarely have any credibility with students unless they have the support of good, strong adminstrators. I have taught and coached long enought to have been fortunate to have had administrators who empowered me to teach and coach. I see few if any of this type of administrator these days. I refer specifically to the adminstrator who taught in the classroom for a decade or more before becoming an adminstrator. I refer to the administrator who was a strong teacher and therefore has a healthy teacher-perspective. I do not believe we will be seeing much of this type of administrator in the future. Such administrators would impede the move to corporatize education. Such adminstrators would find it very difficult (and a profound matter of conscience) to hollow out and dumb-down curriculum and wrest control of curriculum and instruction from expert teachers. I fear that many if not all of the young, bright and talented new teachers we veterans see each year will never know the feeling of having an administrator tell them that they are the experts and that the administration is anxious to see how much they can accomplish with their students. It is one of the greatest feelings I can remember to have an administrator say they would guarantee that I had “everything I need” and if there was anything else I needed, I need only ask them. I am often told I need to have compassion for the young administrators who had only a couple years of teaching experience, weren’t very good at teaching, and are now trying to tell me what and how to teach. “Their jobs are on the line if our kids don’t meet standard on the state tests!”, I’m told. When I hear this, as I often do, I can’t help but think it would certainly be great if their jobs depended on whether or not we did a good job of educating our students. Perhaps then, administrators would do as they should have long ago, specifically, ask an expert! Carpe Diem!
At our school, once a teacher speaks up for what is right (and that usually goes against the norm), the principal will make their life a living hell until they eventually leave. In the interim, these teachers are viewed as lepers and everyone avoids them so as not to incur the wrath of the principal as well. And that is why we have founded the Texas Chapter of the Opt Out Movement. It is imperative that parents speak up on behalf of students and teachers. Even though we can’t be fired, we still suffer through bullying, hatred and gossip. Once upon a time, I resented the teachers for their silence; not anymore. Now I understand completely why they cower in fear.
From a teacher, thank you very much for forming the opt out group!!
TexasParents: My first teaching experience was in Texas, the early 80s. I saw EXACTLY what you describe. I was at a small alternate school, whose teachers were super dedicated to their students, and were running the school themselves. For some of the students, the school was their last chance before state prison, or worse.
Then a bad thing happened. It might sound strange, but the so-called “principal” had his office in the district headquarters, not at the school, which he rarely visited. (We’ll call him “Bob”). Some political shakeup happened, Bob was told he had to move to, you know, the school where he was the principal.
Since he was now actually responsible, Bob felt he needed to make all kinds of bad edreform-type changes. The school had excellent discipline without using corporal punishment, which was and is still legal in Texas. The staff had long before decided that CP was particularly ineffective with our students, who often came from homes of abuse. Bob decided that since CP was so quick and easy that this alternate school should have it also. The trust that the teachers had among the students thus vanished in a second. He also moved out the leaders among the teachers, just as we see nowadays. So a once terrific school was trashed in short order.
Our public school teachers and the few good political leaders we have left are the main force we have in teaching the next generation what democracy is all about — but there are times, like the present, when they will have do it through active example, not mere lectures and speeches.
Thank you Warren! I was not a silent person when I enter teaching, but learned over the next ten years that even trying to disagree in the most professional way I know, offering other solutions or offering to do more research will get you personally and professionally attacked.
I don’t feel there is the “Power” in the unions or professional organizations that I expected and the public assumes we have! Now in Louisiana we have lost all job security and if we receive a bad evaluation we have no way to fight it. No one has told us what the “Intensive Assistance” program is for teachers who are rated ineffective. It used to be so humiliating and over the top that most teachers who were forced into it quit. They would have been assigned an administrator as a mentor, and the teacher was given lots of busy work-reading books, doing research, watching other teachers, having to take a class at the local university(that the teacher had to pay for) or attending seminars or conferences (that the teacher had to pay for), the amount of real help offered was pretty much ZIP and as the school year progressed and the administrator got busier, the “BAD” teacher would finish out the year still having no support to improve.
We were always told that the administrator had to find one area to grade you low in on your eval and now with Compass we are hearing that no one will get a 4 because that would cause score inflation! There are the favored teachers and the rest of us, it changes with each principal’s personal preference for the personalities or behaviors that administrator sees as good or bad.
Speaking out or refusing to go along is not because we are all wimps, or don’t care. But because we will quickly become unemployed and there are no jobs for teachers who lose their tenure and get in trouble. Our professional records will reflect this. Losing a job is traumatic for anyone and for myself and many of my peers the opportunities for older, 50+, single women with degrees in education (not a hot market right now) are slim. Add the emotional trauma of having gotten fired, losing medical benefits (we all have medical issues) and our retirements(we lose all this if we are ineffective and fired) and face starting over at 59 in what new career?
I would rather lose my fingers then face unemployment at 59. There are plenty of threats for teachers already and we suffer under loss aversion every single day.
Muy bien dicho, confundida. Very well said, confused!!!!
Although I wouldn’t rather lose my fingers, at 58, I’d probably just cash out my retirement and hit the road, probably to another country.
And you are correct in stating that we “suffer” under loss aversion every day. Fear of losing our jobs has been the sword held over our heads. I know, I’ve been there and it isn’t pretty.
I’m wrestling with this issue here in OK too…I think teachers try to find the kernel of good in everything. In Outcome-Based Education, NCLB, TttT, Common Core–there always IS a tiny kernel, one little bit, that is good, that could be a positive change in our classrooms.
So, we swallow all the initials and believe we can somehow transform that little piece of positive into something big. Never happens. We end up getting swept into more and more and more insanity.
I had heated discussions over 10 years ago with a colleague about NCLB, with him pointing out the positive (really looking at demographic groups honestly), and me yelling, ‘But every child ‘proficient’ by 2014 is impossible!’ Not surprisingly, we’re having a similar conversation about CCSS…
But, Claudia, the OKCPS claims that its “EOI Boot Camps” where hundreds of seniors take test prep for the high stakes tests they failed as freshmen and sophomores will create the culture of “Expectations!” that will allow them (and their 23-year-old teachers) to meet Common Core standards.
“I would rather lose my fingers then face unemployment at 59.”….
This is “professional integrity”?
This is “loving students”?
This is “First, do no harm”?
I’m sorry – as an unemployed woman raising a 9 year old, I cry shame, shame, shame…
This is not a loving, dedicated TEACHER… this is someone using kids as a meal ticket, waiting out her time to retirement, inflicting ed deform abuse on children in return for a pay cheque…
Shame on you…
“This is not a loving, dedicated TEACHER… this is someone using kids as a meal ticket, waiting out her time to retirement, inflicting ed deform abuse on children in return for a pay cheque…”
Man, do you have her wrong. By what “confused” has written here in the past, she appears to be the type of teacher you definitely would want your children to have. She has been fighting the deformers (like myself since the late 90’s) and has learned the hard way that to question the powers that be and do what you know is right for your students will get you canned.
I know, I was forced out of one district for challenging the data driven testing mania by a principal who attempted to have an assistant principal file false sexual harassment charges against me. Luckily, the assistant principal stood up to her (who is now the superintendent of the district) and got the “reward” of being the principal of the district “alternative high school”, the type of administrative job that is considered to be “dead end”.
Your statement quoted above is just completely wrong.
Duane,
Thank you!
To Sahila:
Why are teachers silent? I cannot be silent after reading your remarks. It is an extremely unfair political ploy to say that people who care about continuing to be employed obviously do not care about how well they do their jobs as long as they collect the paycheck. I’M sorry, but I believe your comments are way out of line.
“Inflicting ed deform abuse on children?” Really? Where do you get that from a statement about a real teacher wanting to continue being an active teaching teacher instead of an unemployed one?
While one can feel for you not having a job, it is absolutely reprehensible that you would judge others for wanting to actually keep theirs. Do you feel that you are in a position to judge this person’s professional integrity? “Confused” deserves to be treated like a human being, not some “servant” who is expendable.
“Confused” cannot be the professional teacher you are referencing without actually having a teaching job. I’d rather have a teacher like “Confused” who is dedicated, experienced and in touch with reality than someone with a Superman complex. Those teacher types (while energetic and often idealist in their common mentality) eventually hit a wall when they start having lives outside of their own jobs. Being real people is what connects them to their students, not some idealist philosophy that people who live in a dream world claim teachers “should” have.
It’s obviously teachers like “Confused” are people who care very deeply about what they do to want to keep doing it. Teachers like “Confused” are not looking to run off to some other “higher-up” position in order to make more money. They are dedicated to doing what they do best: teaching.
Please don’t think of Sahila as a teacher basher. She is an ardent education supporter. She moderated the Miseducation Nation page on Facebook for a long time, keeping many of us informed about education “reform” efforts all across the country. In fact, Sahila discovered Diane Ravitch’s blog in the first few days of its existence and passed it along to her Miseducation Nation readers.
Sahila doesn’t just have convictions, she acts on them (even when doing so may be uncomfortable or inconvenient, which is why she and her 9-year-old find themselves in a seemingly nomadic stage that can sometimes be scary for a parent). It’s because Sahila literally lives her convictions that she has little patience for those of who don’t. That’s why she sometimes comes across as being harsh on teachers, but in reality Sahila truly admires and respects teachers and the work that we do. She just wishes that teachers would band together to take meaningful ACTION, even if it costs us our jobs or lands us in jail (as an illegal strike would). Think back to the Civil Rights era and what people were willing to risk for what they believed in and then ask yourself this question: “At what point will I be willing to risk it all?” Sahlia’s already there, and that’s what makes her stand apart.
Lowie:
It is wonderful that people like Sahila thrive in the fight. She obviously cares about public education, and has worked hard to help preserve it. For this, she is to be commended.
All heroic efforts aside, it would speak to her level of decency to right a wrong that was committed by her own hands if she were to examine her comments to the original poster.
We all make mistakes—it is how we hold ourselves accountable for them that matters. Sahila’s comments were way, WAY out of line and an apology or, at the very least, an explanation should follow.
It appears she took the OP’s comments (“I would rather lose my fingers then face unemployment at 59.”….”) out of context from the topic the OP was discussing by citing some ideological concept of teachers, as if these points had everything to do with the OP’s—they do not:
(Quote)
This is “professional integrity”?
This is “loving students”?
This is “First, do no harm”?
(End quote)
What does wanting to keep a teaching job have to do with a lack of professional integrity? Nothing. One does not dictate the other.
What does wanting to keep a teaching job have to do with not loving students? You cannot glean how a person feels about students from a comment about wanting to remain an employed teacher. Sahila is finding “fault” by inferring something that is not even germane to the discussion.
How does wanting to keep a teaching job go against the “do no harm” ideology? It doesn’t. If anything, it is good for the schools to keep a teacher who wants to teach.
It’s as if Sahila implied that people who fear unemployment obviously only care about keeping their jobs and nothing else. This is illogical and wholly unfair.
She then put a personal and seemingly very judgmental spin on the comment:
(Quote)
I’m sorry – as an unemployed woman raising a 9 year old, I cry shame, shame, shame” (End quote)
If the tenor of her response to a person concerned about losing her job was influenced by the unfortunate situation that Sahila is unemployed herself, that makes it personal.
Then she openly posted this:
(Quote)”This is not a loving, dedicated TEACHER… this is someone using kids as a meal ticket, waiting out her time to retirement, inflicting ed deform abuse on children in return for a pay cheque…” (End quote)
This “passionate” slip overshadows so much of the good Sahila has done in her own right. While it appears Sahila’s efforts (if taken in their entirety) are noble, indeed, the above comment does not reflect someone who you claim is not a teacher-basher. Attacking the OP with judgments about professional integrity based on a “piece” of the person’s mindset brings no merit to the discussion other than to illustrate the kind of ridicule so many teachers like the OP face.
I would be devastated to be judged so harshly if I was the OP. Sahila’s response speaks to the kinds of attacks that teachers are expected to endure “just because they are teachers” even from those who are purportedly their supporters.
The irony is that you want everyone to know what Sahila has done on-the-whole, but you do not hold her accountable for making judgments about another person without knowing THAT person “on-the-whole.” Seems like a double standard.
Trying to cover this injury by talking about the hardships or the convictions of the person who created it is making excuses for the action. As teachers, we are ALL advocates for victims of mistreatment regardless of the offender’s disposition. Taken to the nth degree, your logic supports the idea that it’s ok for a person to murder another person if the murderer has had a tough life. This is not to say that the comparison is identical, but I am making an exaggeration to prove the point that making excuses for the offender does not lessen the offense on the victim.
Thanks, LG. I was certainly not suggesting that it’s appropriate to belittle or demean others, and it’s not my intention (or my place) to defend or excuse anyone else’s conduct.
It’s just that there are a lot of dedicated Teacher Bashers and Ed Deformers on the web these days and Sahila typically isn’t one of them, so I thought it might add to the discussion if folks knew a bit more about her, that’s all.
Thank you for the response, Lowie. Sahila’s efforts are indeed appreciated by many, including myself, for their passion and comprehensiveness.
It is good to know that you would not condone judgmental mischaracterization stemming from out-of-context hyperbole by any such champions.
We have to remember that championing integrity goes hand-in-hand with conducting ourselves honorably when asking other to do the same.
I spend more time wondering why academics are so silent. I can name far more teachers speaking out against GERM than scholars.
They don’t seem to be aware that they are next …
Sahila, do you know what it would be like to be unemployed at 59–years away from social security and medicare and being “too old” to get another job? Please don’t make an idealistic judgment like that about another human being only trying to do what is best for herself and others who may depend on her. Professional integrity won’t feed anyone, and she can try to do her best for students without atagonizing the power structure. I am sorry you are unemployed with a child to raise. That is a tough position to be in. I wish you the best.
Can we please, please, please, all stop pretending? as Leonard Cohen says: Everybody knows, that’s how it goes” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfS8LyeUyM check the lyrics ….
Excellent song, thanks for the link. I hadn’t heard that one yet.
@kathy – yes I do know… I’m 54 yrs old and have no social security, no income, no pension, no housing, no assets and I am “too old” to get another job….
And you are in a dire situation, but please direct your anger at those who cause the conditions under which we struggle, not against those who struggle themselves.
One word: Wisconsin. If we don’t start organizing and speaking out – using our collective power – the Wisconsin path is the one we’re on.
You spoke at the convention praising Randi Weingarten. Ms. Weingarten helped the Bloomberg/Klein team enact their policies. The NY Post ran a headline praising the 2005 contract, (indicates how bad it really was) the same contract that eliminated seniority transfers and allowed the Bloomberg administration to begin closing schools in earnest. I believe it was Rod Paige who compared teacher unions to terrorism not too much after 9/11, but praised Randi Weingarten! Arne Duncan praised Randi Weingarten while enacting the RttT policies that give impetus to the assault on teachers. So the question I ask myself is: Why do they attack the teacher unions but support Randi Weingarten? And that of course begs the question about whose side is Ms. Weingarten really on? When I was teaching in a high school few teachers supported Ms. Weingarten after the 2005 contract. Most teachers I spoke with felt at the time that the leadership was not acting in the best interests of the membership. For teachers to take a risk and demonstrate against disastrous educational policies requires that they have the strong backing of their union leaders. Both the NEA and the AFT/UFT have failed to strongly oppose these policies and have already voiced support for Obama. If the union leaders advocated strong actions I have no doubt teachers would go along. Just look at what Karen Lewis accomplished in Chicago.
We should go back and interview average Germans and ask them why they were “silent” during the Third Reich. Those Germans (on average) were much more intellectual than we will ever be. Why didn’t they speak up? Answer= They would be beheaded or sent to a concentration camp along with their families. Why didn’t Russian people stand up in the Soviet Union? Russians were always smarter and tested better than we ever did. Why didn’t they stand up? They knew the game. Answer=They were sent to the Gulags. Why don’t teachers stand up? They will be fired and sent into poverty along with their families. What’s the big difference? Many of you are very naive and don’t understand history at all. These are big movements in history, and they won’t be stopped easily. However, in America you will still be free to choose what kind of toothpaste to buy.
Food for thought: If we are living through another one of those “big movements in history”, perhaps each of us should take a moment to consider how our own role in it will be remembered.
re Randi Weingarten’s sell out…. the final stage is in full swing: : “Teacher union boss bends to school reform winds”: http://trib.in/MboBZi
Now you’re focusing on where part of the problem lies. From the article: “the woman running the second-largest educator union says time has come to collaborate on public school reform rather than resist.”
No, the time is to resist and fight the nonsense that is CCSS, standardized testing, VAM/AGT etc. . . .
Yes, Weingarten is part of the problem.
It’s laughable that Ms. Weingarten states that it is time to start collaborating rather than resisting. She has collaborated all along and that is at least partially responsible why the teaching profession is in the state it is. In reality it is time to start resisting. But Randi Weingarten is great at giving the appearance of doing one thing…resisting….while actually doing something else….collaborating.
Well said Michael. Diane, you are great, and I would never criticize the fact that you are friends with Randi. But if she actually believes she has “overwhelming support” among the members, she is deluded. Neither union is prepared to lead. @Sahila: I’m hearing all that you’re saying. But random heroics won’t win this battle. Educators and communities that want good public schools need real leaders, not collaborators.
@Dave… I’m not calling for random heroics… my point is that we all have very good reasons for NOT stepping up and challenging ed reform, for not confronting it, for not standing in the way of the tank/juggernaut… we all face consequences for taking risks…
AND… if not us, who? if not now, when? we are the leaders we have been waiting for… and if our leaders – Randi and Dennis et al – have sold out, then we need to either find new leaders (takes too long – there’s maybe a year left on the clock before ed reform is completely embedded in the system) or to stand up, step up and get free without them…
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahila-changebringer/teachers-standing-up-stepping-up-breaking-free/499059520120974
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahila-changebringer/which-side-are-you-on/499974373362822
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahila-changebringer/just-stop-it/504896686203924
where to start? Here are some preliminary ideas: https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahila-changebringer/taking-the-narrative-de-railing-the-ed-reform-train-quick-and-dirty-notes/446352285391698
@Sahila: I’ve already started. As other people are saying here, I do things every day in this area. I’m lucky to have some freedom to be able to speak up more than others. Strangers have come up to me at ed conferences and in my own district and thanked me for helping them to be aware of what’s happening. You say you’re not calling for random heroics, but you criticize people who want to help but have to balance supporting a family and doing a job under sometimes brutal circumstances. Each one of us can only do so much. For some it might be only listening for now, I’m not going to judge them harshly.
Speaking out against dumb policies is qualitatively different than refusing to implement dumb policies.
In most of the US, teachers — at least tenured teachers — are still protected from discharge by either just-cause union contracts or due-process civil service regs. For these teachers, speaking out might invite retaliation, but it rarely will trigger discharge. For teachers in this position, there is a strong argument that the teacher has a moral obligation to speak out against the dumb policies.
However, refusing to implement the dumb policies — i.e., refusing to administer tests — is insubordination that will subject even the tenure-protected teacher to discharge. Asking the teacher to risk likely discharge is asking too much.
And, insubordinately refusing to implement a dumb policy and getting discharged for the insubordination converts the public debate from one focused on the dumbness of the policy to one focused on whether employees should follow the employer’s directions — a switch in focus that those supporting the dumb policy would love. Remember when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers? The public was initally sympathetic to the controllers’ overworked/underpaid claims, but the public generally opposed the controllers’ strike and generally supported Reagan’s action in discharging the controllers. More importantly, the strike and the discharge of the controllers changed the discussion from the controllers’ legitimate claims to whether public employees should be allowed to strike.
LL,
“In most of the US, teachers — at least tenured teachers — are still protected from discharge by either just-cause union contracts or due-process civil service regs. For these teachers, speaking out might invite retaliation, but it rarely will trigger discharge.”
That is not correct, we don’t have any protections whatsoever even those of us that have due process rights granted. Here’s how it works. Speak out against the nonsense. All of a sudden evaluations take a turn for the worse. Somehow by speaking out one magically turns from a very qualified, excellent teacher to something less than average. Now the kicker is, then that gives the administrator the “rIght” to have an “improvement plan” put into place that will contain actions that are impossible to complete. So when the teacher cannot possibly comply they are “insubordinate”. And most teacher’s contracts have clauses stating they can be let go for “insubordination”. So by the time springtime rolls around, and they have placed a number of “insubordinate” letters in your file, even though you may thoroughly debunk them, when the next year’s contracts are being handed out, and they hand you one letting you know that they will be hounding you to death with paperwork, jump through the hoops idiocies if you decide to accept the contract, you decide to look for employment in another district as long as the administrator is willing to give you the thumbs up! See how that works, it’s easy actually.
Or in my case, attempt to have an assistant principal file false sexual harassment charges against you for having used the term “mental masturbation” to describe what the principal was doing with our department on the “professional development days/professional learning communities.”
There are no protections whatsoever that I am aware of at least in Missouri.
An addendum:
And the administrators hate it when you tell them that you know exactly the “game” they are playing, when you recite what their plans for you are before they institute them. Most teachers, but especially the younger inexperienced ones, have no clue what they will go through, what the process is from the eyes (certainly not brains) of the administrator when they are “targeted”.
Duane,
Absolutely true!
Labor Lawyer,
Thank you very much for making this clear. As a tenured teacher, I feel very strongly that I must speak out. Given the current atmosphere of administrative persecution of those who do so, I advise our bright, young, non-tenured teachers to take their counsel in private with those they trust. I do feel that my speaking out is an ethical and moral imperative …… at least for myself. My problem is that I feel just as strongly about my perceived duty as a teacher of children to first do no harm. This ususally means abstaining from implementing stupid reform policies pushed (very agressively) by my administration. When asked about my abstention by my colleagues, I tell them that it is, for me, a matter of conscious. I have often said publicly (and I believe) that I do NOT work for any administrator. Instead, I work for the people of my district as represented by the school board. To my way of thinking, it is my moral and ethical obligation to teach the children of my district to the very best of my ability. To fulfill this obligation, it is imperative that I ignore much of the foolishness that is modern school reform. I must ask you (and will very much appreciate you expertise in this area), are my words and my perspective on this issue little more than bellicose rhetoric? Legally, ethically, and morally, where do I stand in you evaluation?
Many thanks and I anxiously await your well considered reply.
Oh yes ……….. Carpe Diem!
John,
Legally, you would easily be toast. By not implementing what your administrators are telling you to do you can and will be considered “insubordinate”. And that is one of the causes listed in most contracts as reason for dismissal.
Yes it appears ethically and morally right (and I am combining the two for reasons of brevity of response but will come back to it later*). Is what your doing “right” (moral) by your definition of duty “of do no harm” (ethics)? If so then yes you would be ethical and moral. But that and a nickel won’t get you a cup of legal coffee, if you get my drift.
A good book to read is Andre Comte-Sponville’s “A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues”, especially the chapter on “Justice”. This book should be required reading for all prospective and current educators. It is not religiously oriented but philosophical and includes many quotes from the various religious historical figures.
Another good reading is John Rawl’s “A Theory of Justice”-I’ve been rereading a collected works of his that clarifies more his thoughts on his Theory of Justice.
*A quick primer on the difference between ethics and morality from Elijah Weber on his site everyday-ethics.org (http://everyday-ethics.org/2008/11/ethics-vs-morals-not-as-easy-as-it-seems/):
According to Dictionary.com, ethics is a system of moral principles, while morals are principles of right and wrong conduct. This seems simple enough. Ethics is a framework, a systemic and reasoned basis for making statements about morality. Morals are simply what we believe to be right and wrong. There appears to be a clear distinction here that ethics are more sophisticated than morals. Morally, one can support almost anything, while ethically we require reason and justification for what we believe. When a doctor violates a certain behavioral standard, this is an ethics violation rather than a moral one. This individual has violated a reason based, systemic code of conduct that is held in mutually high esteem by all physicians. If we were to call this individual’s actions unethical, we are making a statement about his or her conduct relative to the standards of his profession. If we were to call such actions immoral, we are simply saying that we consider this behavior to be wrong.
Duane,
Many thanks for the candid yet congent reply. Thanks also for the suggesting readings pertinent to the issues raised. I’m sure I will enjoy them.
Carpe Diem!
john–many “average” Germans spoke out against Hitler–they were hauled off and shot. That didn’t help anyone, especially their families, and it didn’t make a difference. I don’t think that’s a fair comparison–a regime that murders and imprisons innocent people versus educational policies we think are not providing children with the education they need.
If we, as teachers, want to stop the madness, we have to have an alternative–we must have a vision of what we think would work. Almost every teacher who opens his/her mouth does nothing but bemoan the unfairness of the new mandates. Everyone wants to go back to the way it was–and that’s not going to work. We as teachers need to provide an alternate vision that responds to the public’s concerns. It’s so easy to disparage the idiot reformers and the public that supports them, but they wouldn’t be so persistent if they didn’t have valid concerns. We as teachers (in our fear) like to talk about the fact that there are so few bad teachers, but the people who are most vocal about ed reform (other than those who went to private schools and are just looking to make a buck and produce compliant workers)–too many of those supporters suffered many bad (incompetent) teachers. They know we’re lying when we say most teachers are good, because most of their teachers weren’t. How do we deal with the problem of incompetence? We deny it, or minimize it. What is our vision for the future of education? “Trust us.”
We will stand together against the madness when we have a foundation to stand on, when we acknowledge the validity of people’s complaints, when we provide a UNIFIED vision of what 21st century education should be about. Until then, we just sound like a bunch of CYA whiners.
Pattipeg,
Man there is so many cowpies in your response that I don’t think it’s possible to cross the field and not step in any.
“I don’t think that’s a fair comparison–a regime that murders and imprisons innocent people versus educational policies we think are not providing children with the education they need”. If you haven’t noticed those who do speak up have been imprisoned and even killed (Al Alawki and his son) by the current regime without any charges, trials etc. . . . What about peaceful protestors being carted off to jail, people planning peaceful protests having their homes busted into by SWAT teams using naziesque/staziesque tactics ripping the place apart or teachers being forced out by administrators hell bent on gaining more power through false charges (happened to me). Seems to be a fair comparison to me.
“Almost every teacher who opens his/her mouth does nothing but bemoan the unfairness of the new mandates. . . . . we just sound like a bunch of CYA whiners” Utter bovine exrement! Spoken like a true deformer sheeple.
“They know we’re lying when we say most teachers are good, because most of their teachers weren’t.” God it’s getting deep in here. Where are my waders, as the muck boots aren’t high enough.
“. . . when we provide a UNIFIED vision of what 21st century education should be about.” And what might your vision be? Your diatribe is the pot calling the kettle black as you offer absolutely no “vision”-god I hate that concept as it is used in education.
Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful reply to my post.
¡De nada!
By the way, again, what is your “vision” for 21st century public education?
you can get over public perceptions that teachers are lazy, selfish, out for themselves… take and change the ed deform narrative…
It’s really, really easy…
research proves ed deform hurts kids
teachers love kids
teachers do not wish to harm kids, in fact, teachers’ responsibility is “First do no harm”, to keep kids safe
THEREFORE, teachers refuse to implement harmful ed deform…..
Sahila,
Doing what you advocate will only, ONLY work if EVERY SINGLE TEACHER IN THE COUNTRY participates. This means not only career public school teachers in testing grades, but private school teachers, teachers in non-testing grades, teachers in non-tested subjects, charter school teachers, Teach for America, Teaching Fellows, TNTP, NEA, AFT, any person that thinks they can waltz into a classroom and teach with no training if those lazy teachers don’t want to do their job…
Unless that happens, you NEED to keep teachers like Kathy in the classroom. She, and many others like her, are doing their best to provide a quality education and shield their students from the worst of the insanity while still keeping their jobs. If Kathy leaves, she’ll probably be replaced by someone who believes that testing is the end-all and be-all of teaching. If many teachers like her leave or are chased out, TFA, TNTP, whatever will be MORE than happy to step into the gap and those groups love, love, LOVE testing and military-style discipline.
There are lots of ideas already here, but here are some of my thoughts. First, is that maybe we are not quite as silent as imagined. I’m certainly not saying that teachers are doing enough to stick up for themselves, but maybe more of us are doing something than is known. To protect my career, I do post anonymously to blogs, but I am still adding my perspective. My letters to the various state and federal representatives are very clearly from me. I talk to my friends, neighbors, and family about education issues, but carefully as not to be considered the one who goes on and on. I sent the half page flier about the charter school initiative to my friends and neighbors a few weeks ago. This might make a difference when the ballots come in the mail. I’ve recorded over 20 stories about my students experiences with high stakes testing, which were sent to the US DOE. I’ve made a commitment not to ever teach to practice tests, and to create as low stress environment as I possibly can for my students, who range from twice exceptional (gifted with a disability) to intellectually disabled. These are tiny things, but they are what I can manage.
A big issue that I try to fight against or to at least point out to parents (in neighborhood, not school) and to colleagues at school is that high stakes testing and all that comes with it is an inevitable force of nature. I think that lots of people think that is exactly what this is.
Speaking of forces of nature–I have to get the cats into their carriers for a trip to the vet….
PS. Sahila–have you thought of sub IAing for the district?
Question: What happened to the boy that called out the emperor that had no clothes?
Answer: They killed him.
The question should be why are principals silent? Why are teaching and learning admnistrators silent? Why is the superintendent… and where is the union when you need them? Everybody is looking out for themselves when in fact we out number those powers to be. We all know the effects of the bad politics on education, but it never fails how we let things get seriously bad before we had enough. We’ve allowed policymakers & disguised philanthropist to have their way. Things haven’t changed since eons.
Agreed. See my post above. The administrators are often caught in the middle, but they are the educational leaders of our public schools in stark contrast to the business people who are touted as “educational leaders” in the reform movement.
One of the biggest problems is that a great deal of administrators are allowed to become certified for their positions with VERY LITTLE experience as teachers themselves. For instance, you can have less experience than a tenured teacher in NJ and still be able to get your administrator’s certificate. All you need is three years of full-time teaching experience, a masters degree and a passing grade on the admin cert test. Voila! You can now evaluate people who have more teaching experience than you ever had.
Do you think former inexperienced teachers will be able to pave the way to intelligent and sound education reform? I have my doubts.
I had a principal who stood up for teachers and students. She had 29 years experience, 11 years as a principal at this school. She was forced to “retire” one year short of full vestment or face firing because we failed to meet our AYP goal by 7 points one year and 5 points the year before.
The school maintained a “B” grade from the state for 4 out of 7 years (the grade was “C” the other 3) and the year she was fired we actually missed AYP by only 3 points (special education and ELL students made AYP) making marked progress every single year in every single category. This all happened in a school with the largest special education population in the county, 93% free/reduced lunch, and 34% English language learners. It didn’t matter.
Once she was labelled as a maverick and a troublemaker her days were numbered. This woman made sure every single one of our 680+ students had shoes, glasses, food to eat on weekends and at school, uniforms to wear, and opportunities they would not have otherwise. She knew the name of every single student in the school. knew their parents, and knew their academic standing. She supported students and teachers with an amazing level of skill and was a master of finding funding for whatever needs arose. I was privileged to be hired by her and work for her for 9 years.
The principal hired to replace her came in from out of state and in her first year oversaw the firing and/or forcing out of 16 senior staff members including the head custodian and the school nurse through transfer or retirement. Her second year saw another 21 longtime employees leave the school through transfer or retirement. She then resigned and moved out of state again. I transferred since it was clear that anyone with more than 3 years experience or over the age of 30 was no longer welcome — we were actually forced to resign from all committees and not allowed leadership roles to “allow younger people a chance at growing”.
A school that had served a very troubled, gang-infested, impoverished neighborhood well and with honor and dignity for 3 generations was torn apart, institutional memory was destroyed, longstanding traditions ended, longterm faculty and support personnel, many of whom had attended this very school themselves as children and whose children also attended are gone and replaced by new, inexperienced teachers with a high churn rate and an ever-increasing number of student transfers.
This is what cemented my commitment to fight and to stand up for what is right. I realize that I have paid and will pay a price for my advocacy but I could not sleep at night if I did not at least try. I’m lucky in that I am only financially responsible for myself; I couldn’t take the risks to do this if I had children or a spouse to support.
I am a fourth-year education major, and the thought of graduating is beginning to weigh on my mind. In college, teacher candidates are taught to come out of the gates and try reform the education system. Don’t use traditional teaching methods – research shows the new stuff works! – but we’re immediately warned by our mentor teachers that we need to get in line. Forget what they taught you in college, this is the real world and in the real world newly certified teachers get assessed on their students academic achievement which is measured by standardized tests. If you want a steady job, if you want to pay off your student debt, you teach to the test. It’s really demoralizing.
Allara, absolutely keep listening to those mentors. You learn so much in your education preparation program, and then you learn so much more on the job. I remember feeling woefully underprepared for teaching after I graduated. I learned more by doing than I had learned in my undergraduate classes, but the most important lessons I learned in college were from my cooperating teachers. They were invaluable resources.
Teaching is a people-centric act. We are taught to teach lessons, but what we are really doing is preparing lessons and teaching people. When you enter your classroom, always remember the importance of communicating with your students. Be real, be prepared, be on top of your lesson and its objectives, and always, always be ready to adjust the lesson so that you can foster an atmosphere of relevance for your students. All the things they taught you in school are useful in the mind. To truly put them into practice, you need to wholly connect WITH those people in your charge. That is, above all, your greatest objective. Best of luck to you.
LG, I wanted to thank you for your advice and well wishes. I sometimes wonder why teaching does not focus more on the job training. I feel like I’ve been cooped up in the classroom, as a student, and haven’t been given the opportunity to learn what I need to in order to succeed as a newly certified provisional teacher.
Your feelings are not to be de-valued. The job training you seek comes with time. There is no perfect way to acclimate a person to this type of work before actually doing the work. Engaging in the experience is where one truly learns the craft. One of my mentors calls this experiential learning. It’s exciting, challenging and sometimes frightening, but it is what will ultimately teach you the most about being a teacher.
I was very lucky to have had an entire support system of mentor teachers during my first year teaching full-time. The district offered workshops on teaching strategies for all new teachers. We met monthly and we were also encouraged to study many topics such as lesson design, differentiated instruction, brain-based learning, etc. All of these enhanced my teaching, but they had one common thread throughout all of them: great model teaching.
They NEVER tell you the truth about public ed, and that is it is run along the lines of the military. You keep your mouth shut and follow orders, no matter how stupid or illegal they are. You are not taught of the extreme power imbalance between teachers and principals, that principals ALWAYS have the upper hand and can actually destroy your career on a whim.
I am in higher ed — teaching SLPs and this is so disheartening. We KNOW that the “new stuff” works — we have research supporting the new stuff…but that’s beaten out of our grads the minute they hit “the real world”.
What’s an SLP?
Thanks!
Allara,
“research shows the new stuff works!” Show me that research and we will begin the discussion of whether that research is valid or not.
My advice, never teach to the test, it’s impossible. You might be able to train your students to take the test but you can’t teach it as you’re not allowed to know what’s on it. What a racket!!
Duane,
Thank you for the advice.
Thank you for sharing that story, Fighting For. I know there are many imperfect principals (and teachers) out there. But in NYS, over1500 principals have stood up against evaluating teaching by test scores and I can tell you some have paid a price. We need to stand tall and stand together. This is our moment to do the right thing. If you have not signed our letter against APPR, please do! http://Www.newyorkprincals.org
Teachers are afraid because they can be easily written up and railroaded out of their jobs by their principals. Teachers have few rights to speak of, regardless of whether or not there are “tenure” laws. Those only protect school districts, anyway, from more civil suits by reining in the worst impulses by principals. If teachers are railroaded out of their jobs, they find it is almost impossible to ever secure another teaching job.
In response to your last statement: Yep, been there and had it done to me. I chose to leave and take a 30% pay cut to go from a suburban well off district to a rural poverty one. And I’m glad I did, although the current district is trying its best to emulate my prior one, often citing what they do and we should be like them, hiring some administrators (those who weren’t part of the “beautiful people” and that’s what the administrators themselves said) etc. . . but the work atmosphere is many times better.
Still have around five years to retire. Hope I make it to then, but now with the RATT waiver it looks like Missouri is going to have to institute some kind of VAM teacher evaluation system. It’s not going to be pretty on my end, I’ll end up being insubordinate for not signing and participating in a totally flawed evaluation process. I’m hoping my administrator at the time just quietly buries my file realizing that I only would have a couple of years to retirement.
I was railroaded out illegally. I mentioned my situation elsewhere on Diane’s blog. I have yet to be able to get back on my feet financially, four-and-a-half years after I was sacked. I am not young and am self-supporting. The only “work” I can get are subbing jobs. I had to move out of state and live with relatives to survive; otherwise I would be living on the streets. The culprits are still making six-figure salaries when they should have been fired for their misconduct and incompetence.
susannunes,
My heart is with you. You have felt the wrath and it stings more than people realize. This shit goes on on a daily basis around the country and, at least in my view, getting worse.
Take care,
Duane
I’ve adopted an approach similar to Sorrel’s. I try to educate people about various policies. I also regularly contact school board members and state representatives and occasionally contact the state department of ed to diplomatically press them to provide explanations for their policy choices, which usually meets with cordial but empty responses.
“which usually meets with cordial but empty responses” Yep, why would they actually listen and use what a true teacher has to say?
I wish you would look around you – you at least have some semblance of due process to fall back on right now – open fighting back wont be instant dismissal and you (and your unions) could do all sorts of things to hold up the process…
no one else in this country really has that luxury…
And with ed deform, you’re going to lose your jobs sooner or later anyway…
There is life after standing up for yourselves and your students….
You mean those kangaroo hearings that districts rig for their benefit? You have NO real “due process”–it is regularly violated by school districts. People on the outside actually have more rights than teachers, at least in larger companies, because they are worried about lawsuits. School districts couldn’t care less about being sued; in fact, they welcome it because the legal system is completely in school districts’ pockets. Until you have been through these sham hearings, don’t comment.
Principals have all kinds of ways to get back at teachers they don’t want. So do administrators. Teachers are terrified because of what a principal can do to their careers. NO OTHER SUPERVISORS in the economy have this kind of power without any accountability for their actions.
” … compliance is easier than resistance …” That’s just not me. Even as a rookie teacher, I was inclined to voice my opposition to stupid policies and administrative malfeasance. Earned the anger of my principal, whose clumsy efforts to punish me through my evaluation blew up in his face, but I wasn’t detoured.
Silence, in the face of mismanagement and stupidity, is a recipe for ruin. Give me the contentious but open exchange of views and operation by consensus. It can be a slow model for change, but it’s more likely to avoid the stupidity of VAM or using student test scores to evaluate teacher/principals/college training programs.
I guess my feelings are best summed up in my version of an online expletive. “Merciful Molly McGuire!” If you know anything about the Molly McGuires, you get my point. And this coming from a life long Republican and union activist.
I have a question. Why doesn’t a group of teachers get together and use the idea of a charter against the charters? Set up your own school that teaches in the ways we all know work best and show that it can be done once people are free of silly, burdensome testing and state requirements and then say, these were the methods we were using before NCLB/RTTT and they work as long as we are allowed to use them
because charters need approval from the system in which they’re located.
I guess, like Linda1, I’ll need to become Kathy1. This is the first time I have seen another Kathy make a post. I’ve been around for over a month. Please take no offense, Kathy.
Diane, this post has really triggered the comments. I think that should show all of us how important it is to have an avenue to share our successes, frustrations and ask questions. A common thread that was said in most of the above comments as to why teachers are silent is “fear”. I think it’s a combination of that and plain old apathy and the hopelessness that teachers feel that their ideas are never heard even if they voice them.
I spoke for a few minutes today to a group of new, some first year, teachers. One comment I made to them was “I hope and will assume you are all aware of what went on in the legislature this session. Although I didn’t expect them to give answers, I asked them, “you are, aren’t you?” I had returned many a blank stare. Then I encouraged them to become a member of a union and come by and see us at our table. Not a one should have left that meeting without joining. But, guess what? Many did. Some joined. We’ll talk to those later that didn’t. Gosh, I worry about those that didn’t. I’m terribly concerned about all the educators who teach in this state and elsewhere that have had many of their rights stripped from them because of what the deformers and politicians have been able to achieve in their anti-public education agendas. No teacher can survive these attacks alone.
Keep talking, keep sharing, keep informing, keep asking questions.
http://www.fno.org/apr02/leaderreview.html
I was not silent in San Diego in 1997-2005. My career was ruined, my family blames me for my lost career, and I was forced out of teaching last year, after trying to work in New Mexico and moving to try a start my life over again. I am very poor, alone and facing a cold winter and a mortgage held by BofA. Please remember me in your prayers.
Grace,
Hope things start looking up sooner versus later. My question to you is what are you thoughts on the link you provided? Why did you choose that link?
Thanks,
Duane
Thank you for asking, Duane. The link is a review of a Harvard publication touting the leadership of a powerful politician and lawyer who became superintendent in San Diego.
I published (Grace Stell) as was cited by the author of the review. I criticized the reform for its vapidity, and I knew because I had volunteered to be one of the first ‘peer coaches’ for that reform.
I was not silent, 12 years ago now. It has been a very tough time and having another teacher even show interest (finding this blog) are making things better.
Thanks for your kind words and best wishes.
The climate of fear and distrust can undermine a teacher’s self confidence – can make a person begin to doubt his/her own competence and perceptions about what students need to succeed. With the teachers around us trying to keep their jobs and staying silent in the face of harmful policies, we lose our sense of trust in ourselves and our process of learning and working together to bring our students along. The undermining of the professionalism of teachers, the quieting of teachers’ voices is a fact of life today. For whatever reason the public is continuing to scapegoat us perhaps because they do not want to look at the realities of poverty and the price tag of really saving our country’s children. We have to talk to one another. We have to reach out and share our observations, perspectives with one another. We have to listen to and protect the teacher in ourselves and each other by having conversations outside of school. We need to be able to speak the truth -express ourselves about our work with children, about our perspectives on education and what is really happening in our communities and in our schools. We do need leaders and we do need solidarity, but until we make an effort to support the struggling teacher in each of us we will have no strength to fight with -no one but robots left in the profession. ( I have started getting this blog in my email because I know it is one way for me to get that injection of support from committed teachers everyday -words I need to hear to keep me from losing my teacher-self in this destructive environment I have to work in.)
Caroline- Your thoughtful insight is most likely true for a great many of our teachers- sort of like “battered spouse syndrome” wouldn’t you say? I agree-we MUST continue to support each other.
Grace,
I’ve read your comments on Diane Ravitch’s blog and others. I hope you’re back working with children. They need an intelligent, informed, thoughtful and outspoken role models, like you.
I taught in SDUSD for 30 years, before Bernsin/Alvarado reign of terror took place.
I retired early, because I couldn’t make sense of what they wanted first grade teachers to do. We were directed to make it up as we went along, no reading books provided or curriculum. Then they would come five at a time, clipboards poised, to find fault.
I witnessed more than ten teachers at my site, fired. Young, hardworking teachers, victims of Alvarado/Fink/Trifon/Monreal…
By the way, Staci Monreal is back running the district. Cindy Marten, her pathetic “thought partner” /puppet, who was not here for Bersin, is the new superintendent. Her best friend, Staci, has been put in charge. Back to using words like calibrate, institute and lots of staff development for principals, none for teachers.
Bersin’s back.
Lynn Nagle
Caroline said: “in this destructive environment I HAVE TO work in”….
look, I get it, I do – the overwhelm, the fear, the battered spouse syndrome – been there, done that…
the point is YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WORK IN A DESTRUCTIVE ENVIRONMENT…. you have the power to change that… individual personal power, professional power, group/union power… if you THINK you have no power, you don’t… If you THINK you do have power, you do…
What do you tell your students when they are facing huge obstacles? Do you tell them they are powerless to take the first step, to make change happen? Do you tell them to accept injustice, to roll over, to give up?
Or do you encourage, urge, support them in getting up, stepping up and breaking free of whatever is holding them back?
Isn’t it time you did that first for yourselves, and second for your students? Don’t you owe yourselves that, at least, if you are claiming the vocation of TEACHER?
“if you THINK you have no power, you don’t… If you THINK you do have power, you do” Quote of the day, Sahila!
Does that mean I will have a million dollars if I simply think that I do?
Ohhh, what to buy…what to buy… My mind is racing with ideas already!
If that is the kind of power you want. Go for it and keep thinking of how you will spend it!
I also think that I’m President of the United States. I’m going to push for a bill that states that people can think anything they want and it will come true. Maybe I’m really the emperor…oooh, I like that much better.
Of course everyone should read Brian Griffin’s book: “Wish It. Want It. Do It.”
http://www.whosay.com/BillMaher/videos/5963;jsessionid=DE41220EB9205BB839A1E4FA9269CA7E
Don’t know if this image will open here… but it’s a quote from Roseanne Barr and it says: “The thing women have yet to learn is nobody GIVES you power; you just TAKE it”…
love her or hate her, she’s done some amazing things in her life, not the least being her latest foray into politics, where she had been chasing the GREEN Party presidential nomination and she knows a thing or two about making things happen…
Teachers, women (sorry guys)…. TAKE your power and use it; GRACE HOPPER said if its a good idea, go ahead and do it – its much easier to ask for forgiveness after, than to get permission before…
And I’m a believer in the maxim – rules are for fools and guidelines are for the wise; apparently the DALAI LAMA agrees… he says: “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
We all know the rules – too well, if you ask me, and most of them are designed to keep us in our “place”, not rock the boat…. TIME TO BREAK THEM…
I wrote about how teachers have failed to teach the importance of this profession. What irony!
http://usedbooksinclass.com/2012/05/06/the-irony-of-not-teaching-the-importance-of-teaching/
I am very heartened by the responses posted on here. Everyone is so passionate and supportive that I think maybe we do have a chance to change things…
It is important to enlist parents in the fight. Easier said than done, I know, but we are toast if parents blithely accept the “value” being imparted on their kids.
As a group, we teachers have contributed to our relatively weak position by leaving parents out or worse. School policy should be driven by students, parents and teachers. Were we a collective, people who aren’t paying particular attention now would see who is actually deciding what schools should be and what their interests are.
@Guy…. there are many parents who have been fighting this agenda publicly for a long time already; many of us are frustrated by teachers’ apparent unwillingness to challenge it…. and that hampers our efforts to educate other parents, many of whom trust teachers to be the experts, to know what is going on (so if teachers arent protesting, things must be OK, right?) and to protect the interests of their students – that whole “First, do no harm” thing everyone assumes is a teacher’s first guiding principle…
Some parents HAVE drunk the kool-aid/believe the propaganda that it is the fault of “all of those lazy teachers, only interested in their benefits and pensions”… and that is also a problem teachers – via a PR campaign financed by your unions maybe – need to tackle…
Logistically. it ought to be much easier to educate, motivate and mobilise 3M+ teachers than it is to do the same with hundreds of millions of parents…
MOST parents still respect and admire teachers – IF you lead, THEN they will follow…
IF some teachers lead, THEN I’m betting the rest of your colleagues will follow – it just takes a handful of people to light the spark… and this is a bonfire about ready to burn…
(Professor) Mark Naison of Fordham University wrote a status update this morning about his lifelong attempts to influence change at the macro level…
Someone wrote this about pushback against ed deform:
“I want to see this as a protest for public schools with 100% participation… to stop traffic… where ever you are – just go out into the street and stop the traffic, hopefully the beltways etc. walk slowly out into the street and stand there – all parents and students and any citizen who cares – which actually is the biggest population in the world…”
I like this idea… wonder if this could be done as a flash mob in numerous locations, all at the same time – literally bringing traffic to a halt all over the country?
There is lots that CAN be done, without or without the support of your unions, with or without the participation of parents (and likewise for parents – with or without the participation of teachers)…. for some ideas, go here:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahila-changebringer/taking-the-narrative-de-railing-the-ed-reform-train-quick-and-dirty-notes/446352285391698
@Sahila Your response blames teachers. We could waste lots of time arguing about the the relative leverage of teachers v. parents in fighting the present school reforms. I would rather we simply avoid blaming either parents or teachers as a class, and together focus on those implementing the reforms.
you’re the one who said “its important to enlist parents in the fight” implying there weren’t any of us in the fight…
I’m just putting that idea to rest… and highlighting parent frustration with teachers’ apparent reluctance to face up to and fight back against ed deform…
teachers seem to think this is just another fad and “this too, shall pass”
or they think they pay are paying their union dues and the union should/will take care of it for them – well, we all know how that’s working out…
do you have any idea how discouraging it is, to be ready, willing, able, to support teachers in this, to be doing everything a parent can do at school, district, regional and national levels to push back, and then to have teachers say: “sorry, can’t come to that rally against the new contract which ties our evaluations to test scores and allows TFA into our district because the time and date clashes with my monthly book club meeting”…
or to have only 25% teacher vote turnout, in union elections, which allowed the return to office of ‘leaders’ who “go-along to get-along” with ed deform…
both of these incidents actually happened here in Seattle….
As you must know, this mindset is really quite prevalent around the country…
So true. At last years rally to save public education in Wash. D.C. there was a pitiful turnout of about 5000. Unless teachers are willing to step up to the plate their environment will be determined by the education “reformers”.
@Guy: Well said. Too many people are too busy pointing fingers of blame. Teachers get so much vitriol spewed at them because we’ve become the scapegoats, the easy targets.
It would be nice, now and then, to get a pat on the back for when we do things right.
http://teachertormented.blogspot.com/2012/08/whats-good-for-goose.html
Yes, and the generalized corruption of unions in our lifetime, along with the selling out of universities and liberals, is changing our culture. (See Chris Hedges’ The Death of the Liberal Class for some convincing detail.)
Where I teach there is a pathetic and powerless teachers’ association that may be emerging from several years of doing nothing for its members, but something for its “leaders.”
We need real unions. And you know what else? NATIONAL action. When the Wisconsin teachers fought back, all teachers in this country should have been fighting back with them.
Yikes. justateacher, be careful of making generalizations about unions by using your local association as an example.
It’s terrible that your local association is so weak. But let me offer you this:
Where are your field reps? Where is your state union? How can such a fledgling association continue without its members seeking help on the higher levels?
It is the members’ responsibility to get the representation they deserve. Just sitting there complaining does nothing. YOU are the union–and as such, you can do something to improve it.
I do caution you about getting on the bandwagon of criticism. Perhaps you should exhaust all of your options (and you have many) before making blanket generalization.
If you’d like to talk more about this, I would be glad to help. I personally will do everything I can to help others who are suffering the injustice of under-representation. You deserve better.
Many Illinois teachers did go to Wisconsin to support teachers. Now Illinois has SB7, which is Walker-lite thanks to the union going along with “Stand for Children.” This just shows how deep the rabbit hole goes. It really didn’t matter how many protest or write letters…waste of time…Throw a little money around, manipulate the masses, and you suddenly have brand new rules for all teachers…Amazing! It takes your breath away..I actually think that the teachers in Wisconsin did a great job. They got 40% of the people with them, and this is because Wisconsin is pretty brilliant when you compare it to other states, especially in the South. This is the fundamental problem with Democracy. Sometimes it is tyranny of the dumb masses over those who are actually intelligent. Look at an I.Q. distribution chart. Most are stupid, very stupid. Democracy works in Scandinavian countries because the populations are much smarter, and better educated (homogenous)etc.. It doesn’t work here with all our yahoos. Think of the typical Wisconsonite you meet in the rural areas…They are dumb as dirt and probably never read a book in their life. These are people who should vote??. They are easy to manipulate with propaganda, and here we are! With a dumbed-down populace, all you need is money…The unions are running scared. They should go down fighting instead of giving in on these insane issues.
“Think of the typical Wisconsonite you meet in the rural areas…They are dumb as dirt and probably never read a book in their life. These are people who should vote??. They are easy to manipulate with propaganda, and here we are! ”
I’m actually speechless.