On her blog called “Teacher in a Strange Land,” Nancy Flanagan describes the heartwarming story of a high school marching band that carried on after their teacher quit and explains why the story is not heartwarming after all.
She writes:
It’s a sad but kind of sweet story:a little rural school (282 students, total, K-12) in West Virginia has a small but mighty high school band, enthusiastically supporting the home team on Friday nights. Over the summer the band director leaves the district. First day of school, the principal shows up in the band room, offering the 38 band members the option of dropping out and taking another class. Ten of the students, however, decide to stay and teach themselves (with the principal’s permission, noting that he had already set money aside in the budget for a band program).
The rest of the story, in the Washington Post, praises the students for making their own rules, playing the fight song and chants at games, and generally keeping the ball rolling, with two bona fide teachers serving as advisors.
The story dedicates half a sentence– West Virginia is experiencing a certified teacher shortage like many states nationwide—to the real, underlying problem. The headline is particularly annoying: A high school band teacher quit. Now, the students teach, direct themselves.
Imagine a first-grade classroom, with a dozen adorable, willing children. Their teacher quits, in August. So the principal decides that a couple of adult wranglers can manage them, because she’s set aside money for new reading books and computers, and because they all learned their letters in kindergarten. Maybe a new teacher will turn up. In the meantime, they can be kept busy doing what they did last year.
Perhaps you’re thinking that the national shortage of teachers is limited to certain sub-specialties, or geographic regions, that no responsible school leader would leave a group of six-year-olds to “teach themselves.” If so, you ought to take a look at the percentages of students, especially in charter schools, with unqualified substitutes. There are uncertified subs everywhere, in all subjects, k-12, and unfilled jobs in prestigious private and suburban schools, two months after the start of the school year.
The loyal-to-band kids in West Virginia do not surprise me. Band students, in my thoroughly biased opinion, are THE BEST, and these kids appear to be like band kids everywhere—self-starters, and leaders. Good kids.There are, of course, good kids in all grades and disciplines, in every school, those who can be trusted to carry on when the chips are down.
But here’s the thing that doesn’t get mentioned in this feel-good story: the band kids in WV learned how to do the things they have done—writing rules, running rehearsals, playing tunes—from a teacher. By all indications, a pretty good teacher, someone who instilled a spirit of cooperation that led students to try to balance out the band sound by switching instruments.
Once football season is over, who will be moving their music education forward, teaching them the new skills and music they deserve? Who is preparing younger students there, who will take become the high school musicians when these amazing kids graduates? There is no building process, no pipeline of activities that lead to cycles of growth. Without a teacher, this program is headed toward a dead end.
Please open the link and finish the story.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks, Nancy!
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It reminds me of when I first started teaching. I inherited a group of kids and we were all on “A” track (we were year round) and boy were summers hot with no AC. During my time completing credentialing, the instructor said, “Have the school psychologist come in and observe. They can tell you what to do, what to look for, and whatnot.” I did. At the end of his observation he said, “Why did you want me here?” I explained that I was new and that’s what I was told to do. He said, “These kids were left behind in second grade; their teachers couldn’t handle them and just quit. And the next one quit. This is the same group and whatever you have done it’s like night and day.” I guess I didn’t know what I was doing, but got pretty good at it. Many years later, WASC came to visit. And as many of you know, I worked with at-risk youth at our continuation high school. The WASC person was in my room and said, “So, what do you do about students who arrive late to class?” Just then a young lady showed up about 30 minutes late. “Good morning Charvet.” I continued on with WASC. “Good morning Ms. Gonzalez.” She went over to the art folders, got her folder, supplies, sat down and went to work. I didn’t tell her to do anything, but somewhere along the line, I did.” And I turned to WASC, “Does that answer your question?” The point: yes, these band kids (we were band parents and my son has a Masters in Musical Performance from Bowling Green State/Ohio) and yes, they had a very good teacher who knew how to give students responsibility to take ownership of their own education. And that is priceless.
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I wish Mr. Charvet had been my teacher!
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@Diane and Bob — Like I said, I knew nothing and just treated the kids the way I wanted to be treated. I never knew the “teacher talk” until years later. But, what really worked is when I told my HS kids, “Look, why am I the only one in control? I don’t want to be that person who pretends to know — that’s BS. You all are quite intelligent. What I do know is that is you are the owner of your education. I can be your guide, but you need to “own it.” And when you do, your path will be clear.” That worked. There is no one formula and I have never been the “X and O guy” but my heart was there always. What do you need? I will get it for you. Seemed to work for me because I have a young woman (now a mom, entrepreneur) who is stopping by after all these years to get a piece of art I saved for her circa 1996. It is nice, too. But, “teach them to fish” and well, they are waaaay better for it. You are all too kind. There was never any “quit” in me when it came to students. I had this in my room:
The Don’t Quit Poem
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit
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” What I do know is that is you are the owner of your education. I can be your guide, but you need to “own it.” And when you do, your path will be clear.”
YES!!!
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Good words at any age!
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@ Diane — And just as we were discussing “self-initiative” this pops up in my mailbox from The Steinbeck Center here in CA. What an incredible story. https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-lucky-lawyer
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I’m glad I’m able to learn here from Mr Charvet. You all are MY teachers.
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Mr. Charvet rocks.
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Clone him!
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@Bob, geez…last time someone (who doesn’t appear here since then) got all frazzled and said “We all know that cloning you is not going to happen.” I , as always, just did my thing. Can’t find it in a textbook, but what I do know is if one is too creative, others don’t like it.
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Dang! That’s what the kids would say. “Charvet you got a lot in your head. No brains, just a bunch of “rocks!” Too funny.
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This is an interesting topic. So, if there is no teacher and no program in school, should we just say to kids, “No, you can’t study that. There’s no teacher here to help you. You can’t do it on your own.” Of course, in the best of all worlds, students would have teachers to teach and advise them. But should they be discouraged from getting together and trying to learn? I don’t think so. I don’t necessarily agree with the idea that without a teacher, a club or a program or a group of students learning together is headed towards a dead end. Maybe but maybe not. There are so many avenues of learning now. The real shame is devaluing and diminishing the profession so that adults don’t want to teach and kids don’t want to learn.
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I am the author of the blog—and taught instrumental music for 30 yrs. I actually think what the principal did—offering kids another class (remember, 2/3 of them quit then), then letting the remainders continue as a self-led pep band—was a reasonable , even kind, solution.
As I said, it doesn’t surprise me that they had skills and the will to continue. Good for them.
But. Who among those kids knows enough about selecting appropriate band literature, and preparing it? Many people have taught themselves to play an instrument, but organizing a group of kids to make music together is a specific skill set.
More importantly, without a teacher and a feeder, the band program will eventually die. There may well be educational settings and subjects where kids manage their own learning. But maintaining an ongoing band program, starting with teaching beginners to play a dozen different instruments, requires a qualified adult.
My hat’s off to the kids, but there’s a dark underside here— another program that has meaning and value for kids bites the dust.
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@Nancy — Being a band parent and organization of our local band competitions, I was going to say…equipment repair, copyright for appropriate music and such. THEY did the same to our art program because that’s what I did until it was gone. It seems all the things kids really enjoy get the ax. And, along with that, teachers who work with no money especially in performance based courses, get tired. And then, they leave. Bummer.
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My daughter had a class in high school where the teacher just didn’t show up for the second half of the semester. Simply amazing. There are downsides to expensive private schools, but one upside is that kind of thing does not happen at places like that.
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On the other hand, I used to tell my students, “Remember that whenever you learn something, it is because you have taken the trouble to teach yourself.”
Learning is something you undertake, not something you undergo.
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The word ‘educate’ comes from the Latin, educare, which means to lead or guide. It implies that the role of the educator is organize and direct students’ knowledge and understanding. Not all students can independently drive learning. Cyber learning seems to work better for motivated, mature students and less so for those that need an intermediary navigator. Without a teacher many students would be literally wandering in the dark. My ELLs didn’t even know what they didn’t know, or where to start. They required someone with a plan and a compass.
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OF COURSE, RT!!!!
But the goal, the end point, is to create independent, lifelong learners. It takes a lot more than 12-16 years to get an education. LOL.
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The mathematician Paul Erdos used to show up at the homes of other mathematicians with the greeting, “My mind is open.”
That’s my point. Even in a sage on the stage situation, the student’s mind must be open. He or she must be listening and HEARING and thinking about what he or she is hearing. In other words, teaching him or herself. It’s all about mindfulness and a learning mindset. This is what schools should MOSTLY teach and what should be practiced over a lifetime.
Still trying to teach myself something here. –Bob S.
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So, even when you have a teacher, I would tell them, you have to be, in a sense, teaching yourself. You must be engaging yourself in the material. This is ENTIRELY up to you. You choose to learn or not to learn. You do.
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No student will go too far without personal investment in the process.
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Ten of the students, however, decide to stay and teach themselves (with the principal’s permission, noting that he had already set money aside in the budget for a band program).
I’m a retired classroom elementary and beginning band teacher. I saw that photo and knew that the program would NOT work for very long. There were two drummers in the 10 students. There would not be any balance in whatever they played.
Who would be talented enough to pick out concert music for this group? Nothing is written for 10 performers.
Students must have a band director who can teach students to continue developing their abilities. They have to be guided on how to perform the pieces that are chosen.
I’ve played in adult bands and the director sometimes had to rewrite some of the parts to achieve a balance. Those groups were fairly large with players in each section.
I admire the principal for wanting to have the band continue. I especially am thrilled that board members and administrators put aside money for a band program to continue. Music and the arts are usually the first thing to get cut whenever there is a shortage of money.
My thought on the matter was that WaPo is a newspaper widely read across the United States. Hopefully, there is some band teacher that is looking for a job and will contact the school.
[I worked in 5 districts in Illinois. The first District #170 in Chicago Heights wanted me to teach a fourth grade class after a referendum didn’t pass by 6 votes. There were two 4th grades with 25 in each class. I was supposed to take all 50 for one hour of music so that the other teacher could get a break. She’d take the 50 for one hour so I could get a break. There was no other planning time put into our schedule. I resigned a few days before classes started because I got a job in another district.
I continued to work in four more districts. Because I had a Master’s degree + grad hours, I was high on the pay scale. I never got tenure, was let go by each district after 1 or 2 years, and eventually left the U.S. to work in Bolivia for 2 years and went to Malaysia to work for 8 years.]
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Totally agree. When I started, we had music built right into the schedule. Then, as you said, it wasn’t important. So, if a student wanted to take band it was before school (7 a.m.) and kids had to go to school in the dark on the most part. Choir was after school. As an art teacher they often told me, “You know if it was called Art in Science or Art in Math, we could get you more classes.” Total ignorance of what is involved in this highly-skilled discipline. And, if you are going to teach yourself, why do you need school? Many of my friends left to get a better gig as well. Who loses? Kids, again.
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