Taylor the Teacher

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Sadcox asked his readers, “who is happy with the current education system?” It reminded me of an email I sent to our teacher/admin hybrid type ~the one whose job description i cannot find online, but that reportedly says is there to support teachers and teach us stuff about teaching. in reality this person is as much a lackey of the regime as anyone else who needs a paycheck, only with more power, money, and pressure from admin. this person is therefore not to be trusted. my lack of savvy in figuring this out has been a problem for me.~ whom I will call Mr. —- redacted by management — in response to a planning-period professional development meeting about the need for students to write in every class, not just in English class. As an English teacher I’ve heard that many times before, and couldn’t agree more than if I’d thought it up myself.

We had been asked, during the meeting, as a “writing exercise,” ~purportedly designed to show how easy teaching writing really is~ to answer the question “what makes an effective teacher?” I wrote down something, but emailed him my real answer:

You mentioned today that “the companies” want their scientists & engineers to be able to write, and my thought was, “Who gives a poop what the companies want?” Not that I disagree at all that students need to write in science, math, and every class, because I believe, and tell my students all the time, that if you do not read often, and for leisure, and for life, you are not an educated person no matter what the companies or the universities say. This is true by extension to writing. If you can’t write it, you don’t own it. All that is education consists of reading and writing. The rest is schooling (i.e. robot making).

What I see as the central problem in education today, (and the reason I think schools are almost beyond hope of becoming anything that produce educated, enlightened citizens of a democracy rather than robots) is this:

Every faction of our society has its own agenda regarding what the purpose of public schools should be:

1. politicians want numbers they can preen about in election years

2. companies want employees trained to take the jobs that will bring them profits

3. both of the above want the students to stay “in line” — that is, don’t think too much about injustice: just show up on time with your id on. That way the parties and the board rooms can go undisturbed in their status quo.

4. A few people, and this number is waning every day, want an educated populace that can think critically, be socially involved, care about humanity, think for themselves, and make their voices heard: both with their dollars and their votes.

5. The school system (as an impersonal system) simply wants to keep itself in business, and has the heavy bureaucracy to do so.

For the most part, I think teachers & administrators are divided between goals #2 and #4. And most teachers are somewhere between their chosen goal and survival mode because of the demands of the job. This is why I can’t answer your question in a broad way: What makes an effective teacher?

Unfortunately, the people that value education for its own sake, and for its ability to ensure the future of our democracy are usually members of the least powerful group (teachers… and sometimes administrators and parents.) The companies don’t care about these kids, and neither do the politicians. And in The United States of Commerce, most of the public views money as the highest goal in life, which aligns them with goal # 2. As long as everyone has a BMW and an MP3 player, who cares about justice? The last thing the companies or the politicians want is a populace that can watch TV news, or TV commercials, or State-of-the-Union speeches and see through, or even question, their lies and propaganda.

This de-mystification should be the role of education. But it won’t be as long as we listen to what the companies want us to do, prostitute ourselves to Pepsi for some sporting equipment, and continually rely on grants from the Fat Cats to get the basic necessities for doing our jobs. The systems, the government and, most of all, the companies, have too much power for the schools to ever change in a real way. How can we hope to be successful when nobody can agree what the goal is?

So, Sadcox is right on the money, in my opinion. The wrong people are benefiting. For me, formulating a theory about precisely who is benefiting and how they’re doing it would push me too hard into the Tin Foil Hat Crowd. ~a phrase i heard and love from the brilliant Dan Carlin~

Besides, I don’t think it matters who specifically is benefiting. Anybody whose goal in this thing is to keep people from learning is an asshole. Scary people, in general, have been the ones that try to keep the little guy from learning. Examples abound. So, whatever potential good ~bullshit~ that turd sandwich is trying to sell, I’m not buying it. The cost is way too high. Not just for “the children,” but for all of us. Not just for today but as long as humanity is able to make it. Nobody has a right to do this to us.

Then again, why are so many people willing to let this happen?

~so I guess that’s an answer by way of mickey mouse’s butt that resolves into another question somewhere around lunchtime. and yes, i do always answer a question with a question.~