Nicole, A thoughtful response. I do agree with your take that those children who end up in charter schools are winnowed by the simple fact that their parents try to find a better situation for them. I used to work in New York City--in a school where 98% of the children were eligible for free lunch and most did not hear English spoken at home. The school had three programs, The "gifted" program, the bi-lingual program, and everyone else. The children who were in first two programs were admitted pursuant to a parental request. The gifted program was comprised of mostly average-- with some truly gifted students. What they had in common was parents who cared enough to be sure that their homework was done and that they showed up at school each day. The same went for the bi-lingual program. The remaining children were, at best, the children of parents who did not know how to work the system and at worst were the victims of the most ruinous family circumstances imaginable. I had 22 boys and 10 girls in my class. Two children had parents in prison for homicide. Many were emotionally or learning disabled, but the families refused help for fear of the stigma of the "special ed" label. Of course, the newest, most inexperienced teachers (me-at the time) were given the most difficult classes. I was dedicated, smart and passionate--but I could not fix my kids.
This is a tough situation. As a parent of two sons, 18 and 22, I was glad that there were honors and AP programs for my boys. (They deserved them, didn't they? They were smart and my husband and I were involved in their education.) I would by lying if I said I wasn't glad that they were hanging out with a "better type" of student in these programs. Yet, this stratification mirrors the situation that I described above. As a teacher, I want one thing, (a mixed ability classroom--with lots of positive role models) but as a parent, I want another. (To reduce my children's exposure to distractions and chaos.)
As a teacher, I want the freedom to run my classroom with integrity and discipline--yet I work in a system that is so cowed by potential litigation that the inmates are running the prison. Children are not held accountable. Parents are not held accountable. But teachers are held accountable.
The bottom line is I show up for work each day and dedicate myself to the success of all children in my class. Day after day. Year after year.
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My response to a question on Quora: Why do I tend to condone the bad things others do to me but tend to amplify the bad things I did ...
Wow. This brought on a real emotional response for me. I think most public school teachers today are faced with the dilemma of the diverse classroom with a very unforgiving curriculum. And as you say, the finger is pointed at the teachers. As all of us know, when the students get no support from home it is almost impossible to get them to succeed at any level. Sometimes you get a rare student who responds to all your attempts at encouragement. As a parent, I completely understand your comments. We all want the best for our kids. But as a teacher, we want to level the playing field, so to speak, to allow everyone to succeed. We are poised for some educational reform here...I hope it goes in the direction of empowering students to receive better educations than towards blaming teachers when they do not because of the structured guidleines we have to adhere to in proving our worthiness according to state test standards
ReplyDeleteYou know that a cynic is just an idealist turned inside-out. When did I become so angry? I used to be such a Pollyanna!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what form this re-form will take.