If I had my way, this article would be put on every work desk and fridge, in every briefcase and on the passenger seat of every car, of every parent that sends a child to school–especially secondary school.
In 1,500 words Freda Lewkowicz describes only three of the problems facing teachers: the new unwritten ethic of teaching, parents, and students. And if 1,500 sounds like too many for those measly three terms, the sad reality is that she only scratches the surface.
What jumps out immediately to me is how long she has been teaching for. a courageous 39 years. She has seen first-hand the paradoxical progression and declination of the state of teaching. Compare that to someone just entering the profession, who sees these facets as the only reality they’ve ever known.
It goes without saying that when we’re five years old, every single year seems like an entire lifetime. We’re awestruck and fascinated and curious by and about everything. Every sentence of our lives has an exclamation to it! Or maybe a question mark? And our elders encourage us to be that way! As we get older, our years get shorter. We catch ourselves saying “where does the time go?” Teaching works the same way.
Now imagine if the childhood of our teaching careers was replaced by multiple lifetime-years of doubt, fear, agony, stress. and expectations we could never meet. And all of this behaviour was either reinforced by our elders, or flat-out ignored.
At least Mrs. Lewkowicz has the hindsight to understand and be comforted by the thought that what teaching is today is not what it was. There is, was, another way. Compassion did exist. Trust in teachers did exist.
Not anymore.
Teachers entering the profession today ONLY know mistrust. Abuse. Fear of doing something wrong. Lack of support. Lack of resources. Unfair expectations. The list goes on. When you put that list in front of you, take a step back and really look at them, the question “Is this what teaching really is?” is immediate. No wonder why so many are leaving. But why aren’t newer teachers speaking out?
As hard-hitting as this article is, it could have never been written by someone just entering the teaching profession. Yes, this is what our lives are, yes, we experience these stressors every day, but one thing not explicitly mentioned in Mrs. Lewkowicz’s article is that us new teachers? We’re replaceable. Despite 50% of teachers leaving the profession in the first five years, jobs for many are scarce. Don’t teach math or science? Get in line. Just because you’re at a school one year doesn’t guarantee you’ll be back the next, regardless of whether or not you’re in the public or private system. New teachers are “declared excess” — a phrase that bespeaks our uselessness as though it were touted over the intercom. Or maybe we’re not on the VIP list known as “priority.” In other words, despite our burning desire to be part of a collective of people who want to change the future, we are simply not important enough.Never mind the amount of time we actually have to spend planning, preparing, and developing our own teaching personalities and all the existential strife that comes with it.
Good teachers are teachers first, and people second. We are teachers who are individuals, not individuals who are teachers.The identity of a teacher is molded to their DNA. Our jobs are inseparable from who we are. Why would we open our mouths and risk the axe? We’re apparently already failing society, why speak up and run the risk of failing ourselves?
I have experienced many of the challenges you articulate but I refuse to fall into the Diane Ravitch we are at war mentality. We do control a great deal of what happens in the classroom. We are responsible for our students. We still can make a difference. While I have had some poor administrators and felt them looming over me in a menacing way, I also had a classroom full of students who need me.
I train new math teacher and attempt to instill this philosophy into their teaching psyche. The teacher’s lounge can suck the soul out of a teacher, I warn them. If we are proactive in our efforts to work with students, parents and administrators we can affect a great deal more change than what is possible venting in the teacher’s lounge.
“I got soul but I’m not a soldier.”
Randy
Thanks for your comment, Randy.
I’m in no way implying that we are at war. I have students that also need me, and they make life worth living for the very reasons that I shared in the last paragraph of my article. I have been told I make a difference by the people that matter, by parents as well as students, and those thoughts get me through the hard times.
The fact of the matter is that I represent a large majority of young people who feel and often express the sentiments that I wrote about above. Across school boards, districts, private, public, there are thousands of us that feel this way. I have seen entire schools fall under this category, weighed down by these and many other problems. The purpose of the article was to suggest that change is needed, not to address what that change is. Now that it has been brought up, however, the change needed is exactly what you mention: a universal recognition that we can make a difference. Personally, my chosen vehicles are empathy and compassion. But that’s only one path.
The truth is, Randy, that I’m glad you do what you do. I don’t know you, but I truly am glad. and I’m glad that there are others like you that train new teachers to stick up for their beliefs. But in recent years I’ve seen these mentors waning, and I hope that a next generation steps in to replace them.
One equal temper of heroic hearts.