This has to be one of my favorite times of year and as a teacher every two or three years some of my more stressed times of year. Contract and budget periods are not fun for any teacher. One works hard during the year to do the best job possible with their students. We also attempt to ignore newspaper editorials that calls for teachers to give up the advances they had worked for over the past few years.
As teachers we understand the economic pressures on all communities. Being part of a community I know what it feels like. But, why do people attack and blame the teachers and their unions for an economy we have no control of.
Teachers, across the country know the first of the year will be the beginning of attacks on a profession they obviously have to love. In the face of changing economic conditions, these meetings are destined to be filled with anti-teacher sentiment that blames the profession for the demise of our educational system and for bleeding the local communities into bankruptcy. In fact, my profession is blamed for most of the ills of our society. It is a time when my profession is assassinated. I, and many of my colleagues, have been through these meetings and have left depressed, wondering how teachers became the scapegoats for the failed social practices of the last twenty years.
The keyword to education today is accountability. Our government states that, "We are going to insist upon strong accountability -- that if a district or school receives federal money, they must measure so we know if the children are learning. If after a period of time, the schools do not meet certain standards, the federal monies that would have been spent on each child in the school system could be used by parents to send their children to private schools."
Awhile ago I wrote an editorial to, "The Boston Globe". I was upset with because everyone seemed to blame the teachers for the failure of the public schools. In the article I stated, "Teachers are such easy scapegoats. All they want to do is teach. In order to run a successful classroom respect is critical. Over the past few decades the respect for teachers has been eroded by the breakdown of the family and by the politically motivated. How can we ask our students to respect us as teachers when our leaders are calling us incompetent and lazy?" I guess I should now add some journalists to this ever increasing lists of people who blame teachers for every ill of our modern society.
The cliche of cliche's always comes out when one writes about my profession. "Those who can do. Those who can't teach." Many of us in education consider teaching our profession. I never wanted to be a nuclear chemist or a chemical engineer. All I ever wanted to do was teach and I am far from alone. All of the teachers I work with and most of the teachers I know chose teaching as a career, not as a second choice.
Every year brings the same questions about why the community should continue to support the educational system and the educators. Some say providing more money for education does not improve the quality of the students. They argue that money should not be budgeted for extra-curricular activities, for classes with a small number of students, and that teachers should be told to teach at least six or even seven periods of the day. Today's politicians insist a voucher should be given to all families so they can choose what school to send their children to.
It is true that over the past couple of decades the academic skills of many of our graduating seniors seem to have degraded. I can only respond to this statement with a question. Do you believe that the social conditions of today are the same that they were twenty years ago? Do you believe the demise of the family structure caused by the necessary employment of both parents, if the child is fortunate enough to have two parents, has anything to do with decreased academic performance? Obviously the teacher has to pick up on this reality and try to make up for the vacuum. As a teacher, I understand that it is my responsibility to become a necessary role model and an instructor, not only for academics but also for morality and ethics.
The question of funding extra-curricular activities always has me wondering if the education establishment is at fault for the publics misconception of what an education is. The many types of sports, clubs, and intramural activities that used to exist after the school day ended were as important as scholastic programs. They existed to stimulate the student's desire to learn more. They existed to show the student that education does not only occur in the classroom, but is an integral part of every-day life. My greatest anxiety in being a teacher surrounds the question, "Whatever happened to life after school?" We can't expect our children to stay out of trouble if we create this void. For a child there is nothing worse than nothing to do.
The budgetary woes of our schools do not stop with extra-curricular activities. It goes to the heart of our educational system in that it attacks diversity in course offerings. I remember some town meetings in which people asked why the schools should offer anything beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic? Because of past budgetary cuts, I know of students who are forced to be in two, sometimes three study halls a day. They feel cheated. They are! It is critical for the student to be able to take courses like art, music, industrial arts, and advanced courses like calculus, physics, computer science, and specialized English courses. I understand that sometimes these courses are not filled to capacity. But, they are always filled with students who want to learn and have earned the right to take them. As for the humanities, remember that the school years may be the last chance our children have to become involved in something that is not spoon fed by the mass media.
Increased class size, (fewer teachers) is discussed at most budget meetings as a heal-all for the budgetary woes. Many do not understand why the schools can't combine classes and thus reduce the teaching staff. The answer to this question is simple. There is absolutely no way a teacher can effectively teach a class with more than 25 students. The reason for this is that you lose the capacity to reach all of your students. The ones in the back and toward the walls fall between the cracks.
People who never taught could only make the comment that teaching is a part time job. I have often been asked why teachers only work from 7:30 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon, with a half an hour lunch break. They can't understand why if other professionals work an eight-hour day, why can't teachers? The answer to this question is simple. What other professionals are asked to interact, mold, answer questions, and basically direct over a hundred children a day, both during and sometimes after school hours; to grade papers in the evenings and offer special help after class? It is an exhausting job. As a teacher, I can also say it is one of the most rewarding of professions. But, super people we are not.
Testing and the credentials of our teachers are again on the agenda. I have been tested so many times in my career I lost count. In reality I am tested every time I step in front of my classroom. These are the tests that mean the most. But, if it makes the politicians and the journalists happy, test away.
A simplistic solution is always the easiest and, of course, the most fun. The new politically based concepts of vouchers and satellite schools will be discussed to great length. If vouchers are supposed to be the answer I have to wonder if the private schools, who accept public money, are told that they have to follow all of the federally mandated programs that today's public schools are told to follow. By the way, today's private schools do not have to have programs like "special education". I just hope, in fact, I pray that our communities come to also praise education, not only to bury it.
Jim Fabiano is a teacher and writer living in York, Maine.
Maine Publisher's Association Best weekly column award for 2004
Theodore Richard Williams Award for excellence in teaching secondary school chemistry 2007
Email Jim: james.fabiano60@gmail.com
