This teacher read Alex Kotlowitz’s article in the New York Times about how teachers can’t solve poverty all by themselves and this was her reaction:
Alex Kotlowitz says about solving poverty, “teachers can’t do it alone.” I say, we can’t do it all, and I’m sick of being even imagined to be able to do it. I teach, that’s it, I TEACH.
Think of it. If she teaches chemistry, is she solving poverty? If she teaches art, is she solving poverty? Some would say yes, others would say that the best way to solve poverty is to create jobs. This teacher says, just let me teach.
Is she wrong?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
She can’t solve it all by herself. Nobody can. But if each person does his or her part well, we can solve this thing.
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If schools could create jobs and fix the economy and provide health care, you would be right.
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No, she’s quite right. We have to let our teachers teach and work on developing the intellects of our children. We must stop using teachers as social workers, counselors, and physicians’ aides.
Yes, the public school is an excellent _location_ to bring vital services to our children. Yes, we should take advantage of that fact to give our children the help they need. But we should accomplish this by hiring caregivers who can focus on those particular tasks and leave the teachers to do what we hired them to do–educate our young.
Of course, this is one of the 800-pound gorillas in the room of school reform. The reformers don’t want to broach this subject, because then it would either ruin their arguments for being more “efficient”, or they fear that they too would be required to provide these services and lose profit.
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Not to be Clintonesque… but it depends on how you define “Teach”… if “teach” means “presenting content” the answer is a resounding NO… if “teach” means motivating a disaffected and alienated student to want to learn the answer is YES… in today’s age when content can be delivered in a “just in time” format through on-line lectures and lessons “presenting content” can be done cheaply and more effectively through technology… but there is NO substitute for the kind of motivation that a caring adult can provide…
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If there are college graduates waiting on tables and selling Apple peripherals for $12 an hour, how does it follow that “fixing” schools ends poverty? If the economy is sending good jobs to China and India because the wage rate is so much lower, how can schools change that?
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Exacto!
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Yep!
It reminds me of the “we need more STEM graduates” meme going around.
I believe that for every 3 STEM graduates there are 2 jobs.
Education does not create jobs, and it certainly does not stop the captains of industry from out sourcing jobs.
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What teacher would choose to ignore the suffering of any student in the classroom; whether that suffering is due to poverty, disability, race, or bullying?
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Teachers do not ignore it. They do their best while teaching. We wear many hats and pivot minute by minute to address a multitude of needs for all of our students.
Who would choose to ignore the suffering, you ask?
The billionaire reformers, that’s who!
The politicians, that’s who!
The mayors, non-educator self appointed leaders, that’s who!
Arne Duncan, Kopp, Emanuel, Bloomberg, Rhee, Obama, etc. that’s who!
Express your disdain and disgust to them.
It is easier to blame the teacher than take responsibility for a societal problem that is getting worse and worse every year.
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Linda,
Muy bien dicho. Very well said.
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You got that right!
Well said.
Thank you
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If each teacher does his/her part well, we open one door – the “opportunity for an education” door. But that one door isn’t enough for the vast majority of kids in poverty who have other unmet needs that stand alone, and often block access to the Ed door, too.
Besides the education door, kids need the healthcare door opened, the nutrition door opened, the caring & responsible parent door opened, the adequate housing door opened, and so on. I don’t see how opening just one door solves the problem – kids need all these doors opened to succeed.
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In the same article Kotlowitz claims schools are “the critical piece” in anti-poverty approaches. With that statement, he essentially undercuts any argument he makes in favor of teachers. Reformers think schools are the linchpin of anti-poverty action, too.
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“Is she wrong” – According to a Gates Foundation study, she’s wrong. #satire http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2012/09/uber-teachers-are-uber-powerful-new.html
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Public schools can help solve poverty by educating young people so they can get better paying jobs or continue to college and have even more of a chance at success. Does a teacher solve poverty while teaching? No, but the idea is with each generation students are better qualified to more on and up. The reason America has public education is to ensure all Americans are given this opportunity.
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“but the idea is with each generation students are better qualified to more on and up. The reason America has public education is to ensure all Americans are given this opportunity.”
No, that is not the primary reason for public education. That may be an outcome but not the reason. Consult your state constitution to find out the fundamental purpose of public education. In Missouri it is: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.”
That certainly not the same as “each generation [of] students are better qualified to more on and up.
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I believe that each generation of students are and have been better qualified – even throughout the past few decades when reformists say our public schools were failures. Rarely, and I mean VERY rarely, does a parent of a public school student come to me during parent conferences, orientation, etc… and inform me that they can help their kids with their homework. In fact, almost all of the parents of students I have ever had a conference with freely admit that the work their 17 or 18 year old is doing is above their heads – and these are parents who are executives, lawyers, etc…
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Teachers and all those who work at a school are the gatekeepers for all of America’s children. Where else is that opportunity? By law, all children are to be enrolled in school at a yound age through 16. We have a window on their world as they move through the grades to observe, care for and influence in ways that no other group can do. In my experience, our staff worked diligently to expose to the proper agencies, local community services and collectively as a campus those children who had special circumstances and needs for attention, whether it be food, clothing or emotional/physical concerns. Blessed with a good many wealthier families, often parents would volunteer their time or finances to support children in my classroom who needed materials, books, clothing, extra help with learning, etc. In fact, it is one of the topics I discuss at orientation night, so that parents are aware of they might help or ask for help. Many teachers made home visits during the school year and in the summer. This was never mandated, just offered by some teachers as a way to gain insight and build rapport with families. Extending the day for some children who needed extra help or someone to listen to their stories is another way in which we teachers can reach out and nurture a relationship with students. Offering Saturday School is an option for students who need a place to be safe, get help with their learning or be of help in the classrom. Giving students meaningful work to do is a great way to involve them in something important. Wether it be sweeping the floor, dusting shelves, cleaning windows, organizing books, wiping down desks or making things for bulletin boards, if they feel that they are a part of something greater than themselves, it can build independence, a sense of belonging. That can lead to self esteem and confidence. Solve poverty? One small effort at a time can make remarkable changes in a child’s life. If we join forces with community leaders to provide little bits of support in meaningful ways, we will have a positive influence on the lives of children, giving them hope and a belief in themselves so perhaps when they are grown, they will be productive citizens and pay it forward in their work, as well. Sounds idealistic, I know. But putting the right attitude into practice can make a big difference. With so much stress associated with teaching today, it may seem farfetched to consider doing some of what I’ve suggested. But, my attitude toward my work becomes my action to my work if I walk the talk. We can’t solve the problem of poverty by ourselves, but we can be a watchful, thoughtful agent toward that end, one day, one student, one family at a time.
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The problem is that many teachers, who even may be willing, are not capable of fulfilling these roles. The only time in my career that I was truly capable of meeting the needs of my students to the extent that you have described was within the first decade of teaching – I was single, bored, and driven. And I did go above and beyond – visiting students homes, and even going so far as visiting the grocery store and filling their fridge with food in order to build rapport.
Now, with my own family, I am simply not capable of doing this, nor should I be expected to selling my own family for the sake of others.
Your “idealistic” post sounds great on paper, but not in real life – not for those of us that want to raise our kids with the same integrity we’d like others to raise theirs with.
Right now, my children and my wife take precedence over anything else in my life, and I will not sell them short in an attempt to change the world. I go to work to teach science, not to change the world.
The politicians and billionaires are in a great position to act as Christians and help the poor. I am just trying not to be included in that list.
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…the “list” of the poor.
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I hear you loud and clear. Those who can, will go the extra mile. The real change must begin with families doing their part first, just as you are doing with yours. So much has been heaped on our plates, that we really can’t do any of it well. My point was to have an eye out for the possibilities that arise to ease some of the struggles of some students and that schools are the only public place that can screen every child for social services and other reasonable interventions. There were times when I thought that parents needed schooling right along with their children to learn parenting skills, get support and learn how to help their children at home. Again, idealistic, for sure. I agree with you that it takes a young, energetic teacher to do all that I suggested. But if only one does it, like you did, it makes a difference. Maybe our role has changed and the needs of students exceed the basic job of educating them. Learning doesn’t take place if children are hungry, fearful and neglected. It takes time to build a relationship with a child. But, today, there is no time for that. Gotta teach to the test and drill and kill ’em with all kinds of facts that mean very little to many of the students who can’t or won’t learn. After 35 years of seeing things come and go, I still have hope. I appreciate your perspective a great deal.
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If you are a teacher, you ARE a social worker, guidance counselor, mommy, etc. It’s the part of the job description that no one wants to deal with. How can you just teach? In 35 years, I know I’ve done more than teach. I still have contact with former students and I feel immensely proud when I see what they have accomplished and yes, I know I had a part in their success. Will I end poverty? No. But I gave an entire generation of children the tools, the education, and the knowledge that they could be anything they wanted with hard work, determination, and skill. They in turn pay it forward. Maybe that’s a part of how to get rid of poverty.
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No, the way to end poverty is jobs. Plain and simple. Our manufacturing jobs and middle class jobs are gone – shipped off to people who will participate in slave labor all in order to make the rich richer.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to expect the rich to fix this problem – they created it. I just want to teach science without dealing with homeless kids.
I say let’s make it as easy as possible for teachers to do what they are paid to do – relay knowledge to kids that enter school highly motivated and ready to learn.
We already lose 50% of teachers within the first 5 years of their career. Let’s make things simpler and try to retain them.
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I still believe education is the key.
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This isn’t a terrible piece otherwise (and I do like Alex Kotlowitz’s writing in general esp compared to the crap elsewhere in the NYTimes over the last week—Nicholas Kristof, the editorial about the strike, etc.—but I think that’s what they call the soft bigotry of low expectations, right?) But I too have to take issue with this: “Schools are clearly a critical piece — no, the critical piece — in any anti-poverty strategy, but they can’t go it alone. ”
The critical piece in an anti-poverty strategy is not the school system, it’s money: “Peter Edelman, a law professor at Georgetown University, writes in his recent book ‘So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America’ that the proliferation of low-wage jobs—not the lack of jobs—is the single biggest cause of persistent poverty. ‘The first thing needed if we’re to get people out of poverty is more jobs that pay decent wages,’ he argued in a July New York Times op-ed. ‘We’ve been drowning in a flood of low-wage jobs for the last 40 years… Half the jobs in the nation pay less than $34,000 a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A quarter pay below the poverty line for a family of four, less than $23,000 annually.'” (http://nieman.harvard.edu/reports/watchdogarticle.aspx?id=100005)
And the second critical piece is probably not putting an inordinate percentage of the population in jail. It’s not a coincidence that the map of what CPS considers “quality schools” (http://cps.edu/About_CPS/The_Board_of_Education/Documents/BoardMeeting_October.pdf, p. 6) is pretty much in perfect alignment with a map of neighborhoods coded for incarceration rate: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043762/figure/F2/
(And also just to nitpick, when you get a vote of 98% in favor to authorize a strike, it’s a stretch to say it was a “surprise” that a strike happened…http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/the-98/)
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Do you think that Jonah Edelman talks to his father Peter?
Jonah runs the millionaire-funded Stand on Children.
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I knew Jonah was the son of Marian Wright Edelman, but I didn’t realize that Peter Edelman was related to them. Wow…awkward family holidays??
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If all Chicago’s teachers could do is to “teach”, then they wouldn’t be in the streets today defending their right to teach and serve students effectively. So, no, it is not all that teachers do any more than making steel is what steelworkers do or driving buses by bus drivers (or custodians in schools, btw). We all stand for something and Chicago’s teachers have shown that if they truly want to teach, they must stand up for students and up to the 1% and their politicians who want to impoverish teachers and keep children ignorant of the world they must change. If teachers just want to “teach” they should never have signed up to do it because knowing and being able to read the world is the necessary requirement. I for one am glad the CTU has learned this important lesson.
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“others would say that the best way to solve poverty is to create jobs.”
Not just jobs. What are required are jobs with a living wage. 60% of families who are living in poverty today are the working poor.
Don’t fall for the “education cures poverty” propaganda. Poverty is a socio-economic condition that no teacher workforce can eradicate, all by themselves, especially if the underlying economic issues are not addressed by our government. As long as corporations like Walmart etc. are permitted to exploit workers and pay them peanuts, with the decline in labor unions, that’s a forumula for disaster for most of the 99% trying to make it to the middle class, regardless of education. We have many college graduates who are among the working poor today.
College degrees may have helped people to obtain jobs with living wages in the past, but not anymore. I know this personally, because I have multiple degrees, decades of experience and two jobs, but I am the working poor.
Don’t let them do to lower education what they did to higher education over the past few decades, where only 25% of faculty now have full time positions with decent wages and even fewer are unionized. Take action now, and hold fast to your unions, because the powers that be have a track record and know how to destroy education a lot faster today:
How The American University was Killed, in Five Easy Steps: http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-The-American-Universit-by-Debra-Leigh-Scott-120819-373.html
Education is not the answer to a problem that is, at core, a socio-economic condition which politicians ignore. While the 1% continue to accumulate wealth and power, they remain the ruling class who buy legislation, education policies, etc. Americans cannot sit passively by, accepting that a vote for Romney is a vote for the 1% with offshore banking accounts, and a vote for Obama is a vote for the 1% who outsource jobs to India and China –both of whom have corporate backers seeking to privatize public education.
Take action, including by boycotting corporate profiteers and by not voting for politicians who’ve been bought by the 1%. This is a very different country than what many of us had long believed.
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I interpret the original poster as being frustrated with the notion that as a teacher she can “solve” the problem of poverty. I think teachers (most anyway) understand that teaching entails more than building students’ knowledge of a particular subject.
I think this Anthony Cody piece from a few years back is pertinent to this discussion: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2010/10/teachers_must_we_be_saints_or.html
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This is not an either/or situation — i.e. just teach content or solve poverty and save the world. I am under no illusions that good teaching will turn things around for every child facing tough times and a bleak future. Nonetheless, I try every day to give my students a range of important experiences and skills: the magic of a good book, the joy of learning how to express ideas by writing well, the ability to participate in a discussion and have your experiences and views listened to and respected. Sometimes it’s just smiling at them and letting them know you’re glad to see them (a response too many adolescents never get from any adult). These are things all children deserve. They also deserve so much more.
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Now, there’s an attitude worth adopting. Simple, straight forward, articulate, doable…”I’m there to just teach” is not the mantra that always works. Our roles are changing. Either love it, or leave it. It takes passionate, risk taking and courage to embrace the full measure of teaching. It is not for wimps. Just getting by no longer is acceptable. Attitude can make all the difference.
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They fire you for taking risks. Stick to the script
Diane Ravitch
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No, I want to help this hit bottom so we can begin to crawl out of this hell hole we’ve been confined to for so long. Unless we get mad, really, really mad, nothing will ever change. Scripting does not work for human beings. Wish it did. I get what you are saying…tongue in cheek. We must keep the pressure on by rejecting the flalse premise that anyone knows better than teachers how, why, what, when, where and who should be leading the real change in education. Takes guts, but without that, no glory. Thank you CTU for putting this on the map. Hope it sustains.
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Yes, you can get fired for taking risks. I know some teachers just try to fly below the radar because they can’t afford to challenge unjust education “reform” and lose their jobs. Those that can speak up have a moral obligation to do so. Having a strong union helps.
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Some of us have spent many years working in programs for disadvantaged children and we may be more mindful of the aim to ameliorate poverty than those who work with students in schools with few low income families.
I’ve spent my 44 year career working in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in several compensatory programs with children in poverty, such as Head Start, since the 60s. While I’m glad to see the first five years recognized and valued as the foundation for learning, it concerns me that this administration is seeing ECE as another magic bullet for eradicating poverty.
In part, that’s because the kinds of programs which have been successful have been play-based and they provide comprehensive services to families, while what seems to be in store are programs with a pushed down academic curriculum and no guarantee of comprehensive services, except in Head Start. Even then, those progams typically include health, nutrition and social services, but not much, if anything, addressing the economics of poverty.
Sometimes, I witnessed administrators in compensatory education progams who were clearly thrilled when former students returned years later to enroll their own children. That was always appalling to me, because it meant the program failed those students, since there was another generation in poverty.
I think I have learned that education can help some students to become upwardly mobile, particularly if they have parents encouraging them to achieve, but I don’t think education is a magic bullet in eradicating poverty for large numbers of disadvantaged people in our society, no matter how early it starts, when there’s a lack of affordable health care, housing and child care and, especially, if there are just not enough jobs that pay livable wages to go around.
That doesn’ mean I would ever want to see teachers stop trying to make a difference in children’s lives, but I think it’s cruel that teachers alone have been tasked with the feat of eradicating poverty by our government and then labeled as ineffective or lazy when that could not be accomplished.
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Prof W…excellent rationale for carrying on, despite the corporate overhauling of a system that isn’t the problem…we are feeling the symptoms of the bigger problem. We are in the line of fire because we are the constant in the lives of families in our country. Big responsibility, big mistake to get blamed for something we didn’t cause and can’t fix, either. Thanks for your commentary. It is very well said.
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