Thank you, Susan Jolley, for sending this comment. I love this line from one of my favorite works of literature (yes, fiction, not informational text, which can teach us so much about the world and what matters most even when it cannot be tallied):
There is a line at the end of George Eliot’s Middlemarch that I have always loved about the value to society of the many people who never become famous but add immeasurably to other people’s lives: “for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” It reminds me of the good but unheralded work done by so many teachers,
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m thinking maybe it’s time for some teachers to get over that martyr complex …
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Only when they stop burning teachers at the stake of reform. Most teachers are just trying to do their job against insurmountable obstacles. If a private company had executive leaders who actively worked to destroy the employees, undermine the mission, and seek to eliminate the company, those leaders would be sued into oblivion by shareholders and sharing a cell with large tattooed behemoths named “Crusher”.
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I’m thinking it’s time to stop confusing TFA with genuine teachers.
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It is certainly true that in many cases, teach for America is a matter of getting a ticket punched for future use……I wonder how many do not realize this at the time……and maybe five years later come to realize…..TFA does not help things a lot, but my career is going well.
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TFA actively solicits people who will play the role of martyr by being tasked to venture into the ghetto for two years to save the lives of poor children of color (often taking the jobs of veteran teachers who are let go through turnarounds and other bogus school closures because they cost more). Unlike with true martyrs, most TFAers realize there is likely to be a very good payoff for them in the end, whether by using the prestige of being a TFA alum to go into other fields or going into education “reform” such as working for TFA, seeking political appointments, etc.
Also unlike with most true martyrs, there’s a pretty good payoff for them in the beginning in many districts. For their BA in virtually anything and 5 weeks of summer training, in districts like mine, since the state law was changed to label them “highly qualified” to meet NCLB requirements, they get to benefit from the union contract and receive the same pay as first year teachers with years of training in education, 100 clinical hours in the field and at least a semester of student teaching, which is $50K plus benefits to start. Not bad at all for a young, inexperienced “martyr” with a newly minted bachelor’s degree in a different field and a paucity of training in child development, learning and teaching.
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It’s high time for teachers and administrators – all educators – to fight, fight, fight and never stop until this attack upon public education ends and is reversed.
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Was Socrates suffering from a ‘martyr complex’? The term suggests a pathology.
If being concerned with helping kids find a better mental way to reflect our physical world is a sickness, then I have it.
Do teachers, however, need to stop wringing their hands and develop a backbone? Do they need to understand that they are about to be replaced by computers that offer far less competence, but far more money to the already rich? Do they need to fight back? You Bet!
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No matter what we do, most of us are going to end up in unvisited tombs after living hidden lives. Should that make a difference in the way we choose to live? I am feeling philosophical.
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Where are the multiple choice answers? 🙂
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Hah!
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Teachers and educators must be bestowed trust and public schools must be funded robustly
Far more funding should come from our federal tax dollars instead of going to tax cuts for the rich, bailouts, and reductions in social safety nets.
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Diane-what do you make of the debacle in Buffalo between the school board members and now the Interim Superintendent-Donald Olgivie? It seems absolute insanity.
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Melinda, I read that Carl Paladino wants to oust the Buffalo superintendent. Paladino is a rightwing ideologue and should not be telling people how to educate children. He is super-rich and is trying to take control. Of course, he wants lots more charters. http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo-public-schools/threatened-with-firing-ogilvie-plans-to-leave-at-school-year8217s-end-20150321
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The NY Times gets it lame again, even as Cuomo appears to spiral toward some political nadir of his own making.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/nyregion/cuomo-fights-rating-system-in-which-few-teachers-are-bad.html?referrer=
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Parents, students, administrators, colleagues please take time, on an on going basis, to tell a teacher, in person, via email or in a small hand written note, how she/ he has made a difference to you. If you cc. me, I will gather and “make visible” our appreciations to our legislators. These notes ARE DATA. As an artist, with your permission, I would like to make a piece based on these notes.
lshapiro501@gmail.com
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