Stephanie Keiles is (or was) a math teacher in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She loves teaching. She loves her students. But the mandates and budget cuts finally got to her. I met Stephanie in Austin at the first Network for Public Education conference and again in Chicago at our second conference.
Here’s the piece:
I am sitting here in my lovely little backyard on a beautiful Michigan summer day, drinking a Fat Tire Amber Ale, and crying. I am in tears because today I made one of the hardest decisions of my life; I resigned from my job as a public school teacher. A job I didn’t want to leave — but I had to.
A little background. I didn’t figure out that I wanted to be a math teacher until I was 28. As a kid I was always told I was “too smart” to be a teacher, so I went to business school instead. I lasted one year in the financial world before I knew it was not for me. I read a quote from Millicent Fenwick, the (moderate) Republican Congresswoman from my home state of New Jersey, where she said that the secret to happiness was doing something you enjoyed so much that what was in your pay envelope was incidental. I quit my job as an analyst at a large accounting firm determined to find my passion. I floundered for a while, and then eventually got married and decided I would be a stay-at-home mom, but only until my kids were in school. Then I would need to find that passion.
I was pregnant with my oldest child, sitting on a sofa in Stockholm, Sweden, when I had my epiphany — I would be a math teacher. A middle school math teacher! I thought about it and it fit my criteria perfectly. No, I wasn’t thinking about the pension, or the “part-time” schedule, or any of the other gold-plated benefits that ignorant people think we go into the profession for. Two criteria: I would enjoy it, and I would be good at it. Nine years and four kids later, I enrolled in Eastern Michigan University’s Post-Baccalaureate teacher certification program, and first stepped into my own classroom at the age of 40. I was teaching high school, because that’s where I had my first offer, and I was given five classes of kids who were below grade-level in math. And I still loved it. I knew I had found my calling. After three years I switched districts to be closer to home and to teach middle school, where I belonged. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! I was hired to teach in my district’s Talented and Gifted program, so I had two classes of 8th graders who were taking Honors Geometry, and three classes of general 8th grade math. This coming year I was scheduled to have five sections of Honors Geometry — all my students would be two, and sometimes three, years advanced in math. I was also scheduled to have my beloved first hour planning period, and I was excited to work with a new group of kids on Student Council. It was looking to be a great year — and I’m still walking away.
My friends, in real life and on Facebook, know what a huge supporter of public schools I am. I am a product of public schools, and my children are the products of public schools. Public education is the backbone of democracy, and we all know there is a corporatization and privatization movement trying to undermine it. I became an activist after Gov. Rick Snyder and his Republican goons took over Michigan and declared war on teachers. I am part of a group called Save Michigan’s Public Schools; two years ago we put on a rally for public education at the Capitol steps that drew over 1,000 people from all over the state with just three weeks’ notice and during summer break. I have testified in front of the Michigan House Education Committee against lifting the cap on charter schools, and also against Common Core. I attended both NPE conferences to meet with other activists and bring back ideas to my compadres in Michigan. I have been fighting for public education for five years now, and will continue to do so.
But I just can’t work in public education anymore. Coming from the Republicans at the state level and the Democrats at the national level, I have been forced to comply with mandates that are NOT in the best interest of kids. I am tired of having to perform what I consider to be educational malpractice, in the name of “accountability”. The amount of time lost to standardized tests that are of no use to me as a classroom teacher is mind-boggling. And when you add in mandatory quarterly district-wide tests, which are used to collect data that nothing is ever done with, it’s beyond ridiculous. Sometimes I feel like I live in a Kafka novel. Number one on my district’s list of how to close the achievement gap and increase learning? Making sure that all teachers have their learning goals posted every day in the form of an “I Can” statement. I don’t know how we ever got to be successful adults when we had no “I Can” statements on the wall.
In addition, due to a chronic, purposeful underfunding of public schools here in Michigan, my take-home pay has been frozen or decreased for the past five years, and I don’t see the situation getting any better in the near future. No, I did not go into teaching for the money, but I also did not go into teaching to barely scrape by, either. As a tenth-year teacher in my district, I would be making 16% less than a tenth-year was when I was hired in 2006. Plus I now have to pay for medical benefits, and 3% of my pay is taken out to fund current retiree health care, which has been found unconstitutional for all state employees except teachers. And I’m being asked to contribute more to my pension. Financial decisions were made based on anticipated future income that never materialized, for me and for thousands and thousands of other public school teachers. The thought of ANY teacher having to take a second job to support him/herself at ANY point in his/her career is disgusting to me, yet that’s what I was contemplating doing. At 53, with a master’s degree and twelve years of experience.
If I were poorly compensated but didn’t have to comply with asinine mandates and a lack of respect, that would be one thing. And if I were continuing my way up the pay scale but had to deal with asinine mandates, that would be one thing. But having to comply with asinine mandates AND watching my income, in the form of real dollars, decline every year? When I have the choice to teach where I will be better compensated and all educational decisions will be made by experienced educators? And I will be treated with respect? Bring it on.
So as of today I have officially resigned from my district, effective August 31st, which is when I will start my new job as a middle school math teacher at an independent school. I am looking forward to being treated like a professional, instead of a child, and I’m pretty sure I will never hear the words, “We can’t afford to give you a raise”, or worse (as in the past two years), “You’re going to have to take a pay cut.” I am looking forward to not having to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies. And the free lunch, catered by a local upscale market, will be pretty sweet, too.
I will miss my colleagues more than you could ever know, especially my math girls and my Green Hall buddies. It really breaks my heart to leave such a wonderful group of people. In fact, it’s pretty devastating. But I have to do what’s best for me in the long run, and the thought of making more money and teaching classes of 15 instead of 34, and especially not having to deal with all the BS, was too much to refuse.
I will always be there to fight for public education. I just can’t teach in it.
Stephanie
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“I don’t know how we ever got to be successful adults when we had no “I Can” statements on the wall.”
Well, obviously you’re not a successful adult – you’re a teacher. 😉 Just kidding! Sorry, couldn’t resist.
But seriously, this obsession with “I can” statements just infuriates me. Do we think kids are dumb enough to believe they can just because we make them say it that way? And even if they can, do they want to?
Actually,I refused to teach kids they could be whatever they wanted to be. I taught them they could be whatever they spent their time pursuing. And generally we spend our time pursuing what we love doing. At the time we were reading And Now Miguel and realized that some of the federal rules about who could and who could not graze sheep on federal land would inhibit becoming a sheep rancher just because you wanted to be in some places. A dose of non-fiction with the fiction.
When one of my students who had told me he hated reading said he wanted to be a lawyer, I talked with him about how lawyers spend 80% of their time reading and writing. Kids think what they see on TV is how it is in real life.
Slogans are nice in sales meetings, but I prefer encouragement of individual dreams. Besides people tune out what they see posted continually. Need to change it up. How about memorable quotations? Why not present role models? My own inspirations came from reading the biographies of Jane Adams and Clara Barton. I was also influenced by Louisa May Alcott. Not by slogans.
I’m sure there are others that will recognize SWBAT. SWBAT (students will be able to) statements needed to be on my board daily at my last teaching job. I had never encountered SWBAT before. In the two upscale school systems where I taught previously the acronym was never uttered. Since I had used an agenda to remind myself on the fly and inform the students of what we were going to do, it was not too difficult to change the wording to fit different criteria. I was lucky that no one wandered in to my SWBATless class before I innocently asked another teacher what the SWBAT on her board meant.
Well written – tells my story as a HS math teacher (pretired at 58 … I thought I’d teach till 70 outta sheer love for the job/kids). *** We need to collectively do what teachers have been saying to each other privately – MARCH ON WASHINGTON! This ‘War on Teachers’ has become the civil rights issue of today – we need leaders who can/will make this happen
Stephanie, your essay is a true indictment of what is happening in public education. And, the specific words you have chosen are spot on…from the “goons” who are working alongside Michigan’s governor to the idea that you feel like you live “in a Kafka novel” while at school. Your description could apply to the situation here in New York State, from Niagara Falls all the way out to Montauk Point. These are crazy times.
You sound like someone who has been willing to take all sorts of chances in your life for the better good of your family and community. Multiply the loss of educators like you throughout the country and we have a national tragedy in the making when it comes to our public schools.
I don’t know what sort of independent school pays more than public districts. Things must be really bad in Michigan. Maybe that’s an ominous sign of what is coming our way here someday? Best of luck in your new position.
As a 24 year public school comrade, I hear you and (not lightly) wonder…where is this independent school you speak of? And do they have openings? Good Luck!
I hope that independent school is really an independent school and not a corporate Charter school in disguise.
Not at all! No charters for me.
You’re lucky you were able to resign. Many teachers want to but can’t. There are very few options for most teachers and many others with teaching as their sole income (like me). I want to resign and start my own business but find it difficult to save money on my lousy income. I feel so trapped!
I think the fastest way to end corporate education RheeForm is to hand all the schools over to the oligarchs ASAP, and then every real teacher in the public school systems quit at the same time to go find a job that pays more outside of education This way, the public will learn the hard way what’s lost once the profiteers take over and start to loot the public money at the expense of our children. With all the teachers gone and the public schools closed, there will be no one left to bash and turn into scapegoats.
NEA Survey: Nearly Half Of Teachers Consider Leaving Profession Due to Standardized Testing
http://neatoday.org/2014/11/02/nea-survey-nearly-half-of-teachers-consider-leaving-profession-due-to-standardized-testing-2/
How about those jobs outside of education: “Teachers develop many valuable skills that are useful in other occupations, and former teachers can often find work in human resources or training and in customer service departments of businesses and government agencies. If you have expertise in a specific subject like science, math, computers, foreign languages or writing, you can transfer these skills to jobs in private industry or government. … Teachers have strong time-management and organizational skills, plus an ability to work both independently and as a team. They communicate well, multi-task and solve problems.”
http://work.chron.com/jobs-teachers-outside-education-9374.html
I long for a one day national walk-out of all public school teachers, but also recognize that the corporate media would use that action as another reason to shame teachers.
While the students might love it, a bunch of parents, especially those who are working around school schedules would be outraged. If teachers are able to stay the course and erode the credibility of the people who assume they are incompetent and in need of some managerial tricks from the traveling and web-based dog and pony shows (including mindless pushers of mandatory “I can” postings) then so much the better.
Laura, you’re right: a walk-out would backfire, but another form of mass action could have a big beneficial impact –e.g. a coordinated Saturday march on all the state capitols demanding legislators answer SBAC questions. Unions should spring for buses and good catered lunches, as well as talented, well-prepared speakers –not your usual endless line up of cliche spouting functionaries.
Love teaching, hate education. Teachers know exactly what I mean. Reformers don’t.
I truly identify with your love of and desire to teach. I haven’t been able to find a teaching job for going on four years now. Have applied for over 500 positions in these four years, and my resume is stellar. The reason I am still not employed, I believe, is that experience costs money, and ALL districts are hiring only first year teachers for all but math and sciences. I am happy to negotiate, (not really, but have to) but they will not. Who would pass up a teacher who has all the bugs worked out for one who will be spending the next five years working out the problem of how to teach? I am at a loss. Also, I am a second career teacher also, and when I do get interviews I am competing with twenty and thirty something’s, being interviewed by twenty and thirty something’s. You are very very lucky that even if you are not happy at this job, you can always find another. Would that the Arts were as respected as math. Learning to navigate through the problem solving of creative endeavors allows the brain to actually accomplish the math.
Teachers in independent schools can and are fired at any time for any reason. It is very political, even more than in public schools. Are you good at sucking up? The pay is low. You have to spend your time kissing up to rich, entitled, narcissistic parents (new rich). The old rich are fine, but they are dying off. You spend many weekends fundraising and watching the rich spend $10,000 like it’s nothing and dance around. You do get to teach kids who are more into education (that is a plus), but many of the kids are entitled, spoiled brats, etc. Class sizes are smaller, which is much better and you get free supplies- of course. The pay is low (not as low as in Michigan public school) but much lower than what public school teachers in my state make. The rich will pretend they respect you, but you are still just a “servant” to them deep down. If you visit them, you will enter through the servant’s quarters, not through the front door. If you were really smart, then you would be rich too. That is the mentality. No money, no social status. There is no perfect teaching situation in the United States. American culture is off the rails and that goes for the rich 1% as well. The kids at the elite private schools think they are elite, but many of them aren’t high I.Q. Being rich doesn’t make you high I.Q. (half and half). They do not all end up going to Ivy League either. There are plusses and minuses. In my state it is way better to teach in the public schools in a leafy suburb (pay, tenure, etc.) than in the best private school in my state. Michigan sounds like a nightmare. I never liked that state anyway. I never got very inspired driving through Detroit. I prefer Stockholm…
Not all independent schools serve just the rich. Except for the low pay, practically nothing in your post describes my daughters’ school.
Detroit Country Day serves rich, white suburban children. It is a private school, not an “independent” school. I guess every teacher needs to make their own “choice”, but I support public school teachers who, despite the many hardships, show up every day and teach all the kids that walk through their door. We need to keep fighting so that they are treated with the respect they deserve.
Do we know for sure that’s the school she’s going to?
Yes. That wasn’t mentioned in the article for some reason.
I agree with Dienne. This does not describe my child’s school either. Nor does it describe the parents; rich or poor. There are children from all income levels; we have rich parents that would never display their fortune or and we have poor parents that feel entitled. Your rant reeks of envy and hate; how unfortunate you are unable to see beyond that. Not all private schools are good; not all public schools are good. Life is not fair. There are narcissitic jerks found in all income levels; snobby kids are not exclusive to wealthy parents. The teachers at my child’s school are highly revered. treated with respect, and welcomed as part of our children’s families.
The sad part is all the teachers are leaving and new HS graduates are not going to college to become teachers. Just like the progressives planned. It is working like a charm. Making room for TFA drones to take over our class rooms to further push the progressive agenda. I can only pray those teachers that are leaving will create home school consortiums or open private schools and put their good TEACHING skills to work to save they kids they left behind.
Yes, that is the SAD part.
I was thinking the real drones are the ones who come out of a typical education program…low performing students in high school (reflecting the “too smart” comment in the article) who are indoctrinated into the liberal thought process…no creative solutions allowed!
Knock it off with the “progressives” nonsense! The attack on education is a bipartisan consensus between the Republicans and the “Blue Dog” (right-wing) Democrats. The handful of politicians who are fighting against the assault are the actual progressives like Zephyr Teachout and Chuy Garcia.
the progressives? no, no, the atrocities you’re describing come from the right wing…there is so much confusion around these issues. We progressives deplore them just as you do!
I am right behind you Stephanie.
Well, you could teach almost any where else. There are teacher shortages everywhere…but sadly your situation wouldn’t be any better. Save us all a beer because if we don’t quit now (as in, our state is not quite as bad yet) we will be needing that cold one soon the way things are going.
your neighbor in IL
Cute, there’s a narrow minded moderator who prevents me from making a comment. Glad to see this site is very welcoming of different perspectives.
What happened?
I just had to wait a couple hours for my comment to make it through to be published, it did finally happen it just took much, much longer than comments that were made even 30 minutes…I wasn’t sure if it would make it through; my original comment still wasn’t published at 5:57 pm when I made my second comment…my first comment was made at 4:32 pm.
Did your delayed comment have more than one link? Any posts with more than one link are moderated by Diane, so I post things with only one link (unless of course I have a second half century of life moment.) Was the delayed comment in this post or another as I can’t see one that fits your time frame?
Jeff,
I did not delay your comment. WordPress sends many comments to moderation, which means they don’t get posted until I personally approve them. Believe it or not, I actually have a life and there are sometimes hours that go by when I don’t check the comments. As it happens, yesterday I had cataract surgery and was not on email. Don’t take it personally.
Diane,
Hope the surgery went well – we need your vision!
Go ahead and insult the “moderator” – see how welcomed that gets you around here.
I hope the independent school works out. I have a friend who has taught in one her entire career. Salary freezes are common practice and teachers have been fired for taking concerns to the board. The latest head master is worse than the poorest administrator we both have seen over the years. The teachers are incredibly frustrated and don’t know what to do out of fear. While the independent schools are different from public schools, they each have their own sets of problems.
I know exactly how you feel. I’ve had to work a second job for the last five years just to be able to pay bills. Love when I hear comments about “I pay your salary” “I paid for my kid to get an A” or “well you didn’t get into teaching for money.” You are right, I didn’t, but I also didn’t get a masters and two bachelor’s degrees so I would have to work 6 day/70 hour weeks to just pay bills. Each day I debate walking away from the job I love just so I can restore balance in my life and finally have time to get married and have kids.
Another tragic loss. As teacher shortages mount, what will happen to ed policy? Will the people who are setting myopic and thus damaging policy understand that the abuse of teachers and children can not continue? As a public school educator and former public school student, I am heartbroken by the dismal abyss.
I’m a Michigan teacher, and I know of only one school in Ann Arbor that pays better than the public schools, limits class sizes to 15, and has the resources to cater lunches: Greenhills School (http://www.greenhillsschool.org/), where our esteemed union-busting, fund-slashing governor, Rick Snyder, happens to send his own daughter–to tune of well over 20 grand a year. Now, I could be wrong about this, but if I’m right… oh, the irony!
The article was partially correct; while I live in Ann Arbor, I work in a neighboring district. And no, I am not going to Greenhills! I would be fired within 10 minutes for confronting Slick Rick and giving him a piece of my mind.
I made the same choice, many years ago. I never regretted it. You will have total control over your curriculum and a great deal of freedom in your chioce of methods.
Independent schools serve a small, wealthy fraction of our population. And, yet, you will still be teaching kids at the age level you love (Middle School, Really?) and be free from any testing nonsense. Beware, however, and be sure you and the Headmaster are on the same page. There are probably as many unpleasant administrations as there are good ones, so shop around.
Is an independent school the same as a private school? I’ve never heard of an independent school. I dearly love Diane’s blog. I look forward to reading it every single day. (:
Yes, an independent school is the same as a private school. They are different than charter schools because they do not receive taxpayer money.
I left teaching after 11 years.While the reasons were not all the same, I can definitely relate. Excessive numbers crunching and testing is not helping the cause.
It’s a pity the students are losing a teacher like yourself.
Thanks for the insight. I am not a teacher but I am an educated parent. I moved my kids from a charter to public school this year. I told my kids that they must make their own education, and must push themselves beyond the expectations of their school, and I am putting in the effort to help them. Now I understand what the problem is and will do a better job of trying to support the teachers. Thank you for your insightful post.
So much about this resonated with me. I too went back to school – at EMU for the post-bach program – to find my passion after receiving my BA with honors at MSU. I also chose middle school but language arts and social studies instead. I made it four years. I couldn’t do it under those conditions anymore. Since then, I’ve gotten married, moved out of state, had two kids, and have been homeschooling them for the last three years.
Real Simple magazine has a writing contest and the prompt is What decision have you made that changed your life and this would be a great entry.
When I returned to full time teaching after a long hiatus, I taught in high socioeconomic communities. The schools were well funded and the parents were well educated. The teachers were generally seasoned professionals although the occasional well connected newbie was hired. The teachers generally worked incredibly hard, and their classes were challenging but engaging. The students were as comfortable in their skins as middle schoolers can be. I taught special ed students, so I was more aware of some of the anxiety associated with not measuring up. When I began teaching high school special ed classes in a low income minority community, I entered another world. As a special ed teacher, I had more autonomy in the classroom, which really meant that I was on my own. Fortunately they understood the need for mentors although they had no formal program of what a mentor should cover. Since the schools had been on academic probation for years(surprise, surprise!), the top-down pressure was obvious and grew exponentially as data and accountability became the watch words. I mourned the loss of my job for a long time. I had felt needed, and even though I put in ridiculous hours, I would have gone back in a minute. No longer. The atmosphere is too toxic and the demands are beyond being humanly possible. I still miss my students, but I understand Stephanie Keiles decision completely. At least in her new job she will be able to teach “with fidelity” and not have her psyche slowly eroded by impossible demands and strictures.