The edublogs have been brimming with advice for the President-elect in the last few days, but teacher blogger Bill Ferriter’s stands out. ”I’m a teacher and I’m tired,” he writes. More than the relentless demands of the job, he’s exhausted by the crisis mentality that attends teaching. Educating all of our children requires “something more than sounding warning bells and asking teachers to pull up their boot straps time and again,” he writes.
Subtly, the message is being sent that if teachers would work harder, America’s “educational crisis” could be solved. If only all teachers were “highly qualified,” we’d lead the world again. If only all teachers held “advanced degrees in the subjects they were teaching,” we wouldn’t fall behind China, Japan and India in engineers and scientists. If only we could recruit “our best and our brightest” to our nation’s classrooms, no child would be left behind. The responsibility for addressing each of these issues inevitably ends up on the shoulders of teachers.
While I may not agree with every one of Ferriter’s prescriptions, it’s hard to disagree with his broader theme. We’re not going to get anywhere as long as teachers are expected to bear the load alone.
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If you want to know what’s really going on in the nation’s schools, hit the blogs. U.S. News’ Eddy Ramirez posts this piece looking at blogs written by, for and about teachers.
Although generally dismissed by school administrators as ‘faculty bathroom graffiti,’ teacher blogs, including those that are written anonymously, are becoming essential reading for anyone who wants to look beyond standardized test score reports to see what’s really going on in schools.
Well said. Ramirez cites Teaching in the 408 (although author Kilian Betlach is no longer teaching) and Bill Ferriter’s earnest and excellent The Tempered Radical as prime examples of the form. I’d have added Catching Sparrows, NYC Educator, Learn Me Good and dy/dan as well.
Having tried to organize a few colleagues to blog when I was teaching, I can state with confidence that the conventional wisdom among most is that blogging is a great way to scuttle your career. “Free speech protects teachers who want to blog about matters of public concern,” David Hudson, a First Amendment scholar, tells U.S. News. “But courts have ruled that schools can discipline teachers if their speech, including online postings, disrupts school operations. School officials in Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee have removed or suspended teachers for online postings on social networking sites like MySpace. Teacher unions have also warned members to use caution if they blog.”
(HT: Alexander Russo, who is also quoted in the piece.)
Jay Greene wonders if school should be more like camp. At camp, Jay’s kids learn an enormous amount, including a large amount of traditional academic content. “But unlike school, the kids love it,” he notes. “Don’t get me wrong, they like school quite a bit — but they love camp. They love it even though they are made to do all sorts of challenging or sometimes unpleasant things that they rarely do at home. They have to do all of the cleaning, they serve and clear all of the meals, and they fold their own clothes. It can be broiling during the day and freezing at night. They help tend farm animals. They climb to the top of a high tower. They go for long hikes.”
How are these camps able to teach kids a lot, get them to work hard, and get the kids to love it, while schools struggle to do any of these things, Greene wonders, at a lower cost than the average public school? For starters, it’s all those young energetic counselors.
They don’t get paid very much but tend to be enthusiastic, bright, and energetic. Some will later be doctors or lawyers, but they are happy to be counselors for a few summers in the meantime. It’s easier to get talented people for low pay for a short time than for an entire career.
Hmmmm..
I very much appreciate this guest blogger opportunity. The first time I posted a comment, it was on Gerald Bracey’s blog, EDDRA. I drafted and redrafted my statement before finishing with LBJ’s lament, “where can I find a one-handed economist?” I was so proud when a reply from a famed economist arrived in my mailbox. My wisdom was not mentioned, but it was Truman’s quote, not LBJ’s, I was told.
The motto of public education today should be “Inequality. It’s our greatest product.”
Despite this ignominious introduction, I’ve come to see the blogs as a modern day Village Green. Having come to teaching at the age of forty, I had plenty of experience in academic and political battles. On the other hand, when I joined the fray in the role of a teacher, an asterisk seemed to be attached identifying me as just a teacher. I wish that teachers had more opportunity to express their practical experience in the administration and the governmental offices across the nation, but at least in the edusphere we are welcome.
The wonderful discussion in the edusphere about policy and politics needs to be balanced by the practical experience of teachers. On the other hand, education is too important to be left to the educators.
We face a paradox. If our poor children are to have a future in the global economy, we need more than incremental change. High school, as we know it, is obsolete. Inner city middle schools may be the most dysfunctional institution in America. Richard Elmore is correct. The motto of public education today should be “Inequality. It’s our greatest product.”
Continue reading ‘On the Other Hand: Blogs Give Teachers a Voice in Ed Policy’
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