High school teacher Frank Breslin explains how the constant distractions of our society undermine students’ ability to concentrate or even pay attention to what happens in school.

Breslin reminds me of Diana Senechal’s wonderful book “The Republic of Noise.” If you haven’t read it, you should.

Breslin writes:

“A factor over which teachers have no control and that plays an enormous role in making it hard for children to learn is the restlessness of American society itself, its lack of self-discipline, its inability to sit still, its constant dashing about, its hatred of silence, its disregard for rules, its absence of manners, its inability to engage in civilized discourse and the public’s blithe acceptance of such boorishness as a matter of course. These habits of mind infect children even before they enter school.”

The schools must struggle to capture the attention of students who are accustomed to nonstop entertainment and noise: “The classroom today is in a losing battle for the attention of noise-addicted, distraction-ridden, pumped-up poseurs and video-gamers in an America that breaks down all sense of boundaries, decorum and self-restraint. This overstimulated culture makes students virtually incapable of being receptive to the deeper substance and structures of learning, which assume inner calm, monastic silence, attention to nuance, sustained concentration, Job-like patience and endless hard work. Very few students are equal to this, while many cannot even sit still and listen.”

The legislators demand high test scores, but teachers must deal with the reality of our society:

“The essential problem teachers are up against today is a form of national schizophrenia, a radical disconnect between what the public wants of its schools and an American culture of bedlam and bluster, which does all in its power to undermine students’ ability to focus and learn.”

In effect, the public expects the schools to create the conditions of a different world, a world that is fast disappearing, in large part due to the combination of commercial avarice and public indifference. And the policymakers are all too willing to blame teachers for the disconnect.

In a guest post for Anthony Cody, Katie Lapham calculated that 26% of her school year is spent NOT teaching.

Data inquiry, data analysis, professional development, etc. took time away from teaching.

If you teach, what proportion of your time is spent not teaching?

How much time is devoted to test prep, testing, and data analysis?

Whenever an article appears about schools or teaching, the comments that follow are often rants against both. Whence comes this rage? Why do so many people blame their teachers for whatever ails them? It doesn’t help that Race to the Top pushes the idea that teachers–not students–are the sole source of students’ test scores. If you don’t like the quality of schools, blame the teachers, not those in charge who control the resources.

This teacher says, as should we all, Enough! She is responding to Lisa Myer’s “A Teacher’s Letter to America.” By the way, that post went viral. It has been read by more than 30,000 people on this site alone and posted on Facebook more than 10,000 times.

“Lisa, I thought your post was very well written and certainly expressed how I’ve been feeling after 29 years of teaching. After reading many of the comments responding to your post, I find it very interesting that people who have never taught a day in their life seem to know everything there is to know about teaching. I would invite any one of them to spend a day with me in the classroom.

“For those of you who think teachers are overpaid, I am a professional. I have my master’s degree and have taught for 29 years. I serve on many committees at my school and in my district for which I am not given a stipend. We had 10 furlough days for which I was not paid. I spend hour upon hour outside of the classroom preparing materials and curriculum for my students, for which I am not paid. I do not get paid over the summer. I pay for part of my insurance and I have been contributing to my retirement since I began teaching.

“I would never presume to know enough about another profession since I have never walked in their shoes. Some of the comments I see here are straight from the 6:00 news or from the pages of newspapers, neither of which seem to be a friend to education these days. Please, before you throw out comments about the teaching profession and teachers, know the facts. I would invite any one of you who seem to know so much about being a teacher to walk one day in my shoes.”

Responding to other comments, this teacher sent the following:

“Experience isn’t all its cracked up to be”?????? Tell that to a surgery patient.”

“Or just try saying that about the chef in a restaurant.

“After spending much of my career teaching a lot of people who thought they already knew how to teach because they spent years in classrooms as students, I cringed when I heard people like Oprah and Martha Stewart say they believe they are teachers.

“It’s a whole different ball game when you are performing and don’t need to know anything about the people in your audience, let alone interact with each one of them daily and promote their physical, cognitive and social-emotional development.

“Not to mention TFA and all the other non-educator “reformers,” out to dictate policies in our field, who think that neither experience nor formal training are necessary in education.

“Thinking you know how to teach because you were a student is like spending every day eating at your mom’s kitchen table and then declaring that you have become a master chef.

“Is there any other field people say that about –no experience or training necessary– and so easily get away with it??”