Spring Break Reflection

I finally watched "Waiting for Superman" on this first morning of my spring break this year. Originally, I started this post thinking I'd reflect on my teaching so far this year, mention a few regrets that I had, and postulate about how it would be different next year in my classroom. But as the movie wrapped up, and I found myself dissolving into a tearful pile of sadness for the students who weren't selected to the schools of their choice, all I wanted to do was create a place for those students to go. I would teach them. I would help them rise above their surroundings. I would be their "Superman" if only I could have my own school. It's not just about those six kids though. There are millions just like them who want and need the same opportunity. How can we call ourselves a world power if we can't provide a quality education for our students in our own country?

There were a couple things that really stuck out for me.

• It ultimately costs less to send a kid to a private school from k-12, than fund them later in prison for four years.
• No excuses, no shortcuts. (a motto I'd like to have in my class from now on)
• The first few years I was no good. I was better than a lot of other teachers, but it wasn't until my third year that I really started to hit my stride.

Ultimately, the educational system is the same because of the adults who stand in the way of change. More money doesn't work. Laws don't work. Reforms that don't move past the unions, don't work. "You can't have a great school without great teachers," but how can you fill up the classrooms with great teachers if you have ineffective ones taking up the space? How can you get rid of the teachers who do a severe disservice to students through their practice, when you have a too-powerful union in the way? Why is tenure automatic and interminable? Why can't unions agree to give up tenure to protect all teachers equally? Newer and possibly great teachers would have the same risk of being laid off as a veteran teacher that refuses to teach. Doesn't that sound a little bit better for the students? I'm rambling, I know. But at least I'm getting my thoughts down before I lose them in the chaos that is my mind.

I can do this. I can change this system. I am capable. And I think no differently than so many others, just like myself. But together, we have to stare straight in the face of so many obstacles. Obstacles that tell us that as teachers that we're not capable of changing the system. We're not powerful enough to do anything that will make a difference. But how is that true, when there are so many successful charter and prep schools, that operate with quality teachers, real accountability, world class standards, and high expectations?

They've foregone tenure, contracts, and the protections that these grand entities "promise."

Sounds like a plan to me.

I find myself wondering if what our educational system needs is not just an overhaul of the public schools, but an influx of competition from schools that are working. Maybe then the union can be overthrown, revamped, and made more appropriate to this century. Teachers unions aren't here to protect all teachers as they proclaim, they are there to protect the worst. The use that our country had for them fifty (+) years ago is a very different use than we have for them today. We need the unions to transform themselves to accommodate for the needs of the educational system today. Perhaps when unions/NEA/AFT are transformed, then schools can be transformed.

The film ended with this:

Our system is broken

and it feels impossible to fix

but we can't wait.

How resoundingly true are those words?