When I worked in private industry we often talked about thinly disguised contempt for the customer. It was little things that a company would do to show that it really did not care about its customers. Not keeping the bathroom clean, and putting customers on hold were examples we often used.
Now in the wonderful world of teaching I realize that there is thinly disguised contempt for teachers. When you look at the reform movements they are not led by teachers (sorry Michelle Rhee is not a teacher) They are led by business men and politicians who for some reason feel they know more about teaching than the teachers. Nowhere do I find a teacher leading the reform movement in education.
On the more local level it seems apparent to me that administrators have thinly disguised contempt for the teachers. Why else would our copy machines not have staples in them for week. How else can you explain pulling kids out of my class for band rehearsal, pulling kids out to give other kids tours, and just calling into my room looking for someone. What all this says to every teacher in the building is that everything is more important than your class.
If people really cared about what goes on in the classroom they would not interrupt looking for a child (unless it was an emergency). They would get parents or someone to give these tours. They would take a video of the marching band so that they would not have to miss school when people came to visit. They would take things off my plate instead of piling it on.
I will finish with Buck one more time. He does everything in his power to make sure that his players can focus just on the game of baseball. He knows that it is a long grind and masters all the details so that when his players come to the park all they do is think about baseball. He has the ultimate respect for the profession, now when is that going to happen to teachers.
Sadly, I have to agree with you sentiment. Of course there are exceptions, but as a rule we are inundated daily with reminders that we are only teachers and must blindly do as we are told. To question an administrator may create push back and some form of retaliation. As I said, there are exceptions.
ReplyDeleteThe term support staff needs to apply to any job which occurs outside the classroom-including administrators. Teachers are our front line. They are the ones who may have the greatest impact daily, outside the home, on the development of the child. To say teachers are valued and responsible for the student's success in one breath and then continually interrupt instruction or not give enough time to preparation and planning is rather disingenuous. Also, to not listen to teachers or students as they express what works in the classroom is to devalue their experience and expertise. Teachers and students need to be given the opportunity to succeed and a positive, valued, learning environment are essential.
The business model of education still exists, it is still top down and until the voices on the factory line are heard then substantive change is less likely to occur.
I like the phrase "thinly disguised contempt". How many times do we come to work and have to wait to enter the office to pick up mail, when there is an administrator already in the office? A colleague let me in one morning, and the administrator who let him in stated, " you let one in and the flood gates open" (not in jest). Not a great way to make anyone feel welcome.
Thinly disguised contempt not only applies to teachers, but can also apply to students. Some teachers exhibit thinly disguised contempt for students and I wonder why in the world do they or can they continue in this profession.
An honest dialogue needs to occur. The "us versus them" mentality is counterproductive to creating a positive, creative, learning environment. Obviously, if one group is responsible for evaluating another then equality may seem impossible, but one doesn't need equality in job description just in treatment of the individual. That is possible.
I concur with the "thinly disguised contempt" argument. Numerous times in my 24-year teaching career I have encountered the mindset that passionate teachers who truly care about their subjects and their students' mastery of those subjects, are labelled as "inflexible" or "trouble makers". This has always seemed more than a little absurd to me. On the one hand, all sorts of pundits decry the performance of our students as compared to their peers internationally, but never is there a "reform" agenda directed at clearing obstacles for teachers who truly are willing to work hard to improve student performance. Instead, we look for "quick fixes" that end up being extremely costly and rarely work.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that we are not truly serious about the pursuit of true excellence in education. If we were, we would be willing to accept the valuing of academic growth and development as the one true objective of our school systems, and would work to eliminate or at least minimize the myriad distractions that get in the way. We would also be able to hold our students and our colleagues accountable. The problem is that this type of approach would make people feel uncomfortable, and we are not willing to do that. The primary goal of administration seems to continue to be (as was pointed out to me long ago by an esteemed colleague) to "keep the phones quiet".
The sad thing is that the more thoughtful students see this themselves. They know that the system has taken a "those kids will be fine no matter what we do" approach to them. Is this thinly disguised contempt for our higher-achieving students?
There's a question of reform here. How do you start? How can a teacher lead reform, even on a local level, when he or she is fighting to get staples put into the copier? How can you look at the bigger picture when you're putting so much effort into making sure that your batch of kids gets as much as they can out of the class that you're teaching? I can't see a solution.
ReplyDeleteI recently witnessed a conversation where a group of students were required to miss a period for another class, in order to take a test or give a presentation or something. And the teacher brought up a good point: Why can't they take the test after school? Why can't they take it during lunch? Who said it was okay for one class's test to be scheduled during another period? Is that the teacher? Is that the administrator? Is it another teacher? Can the teacher not allow the student to leave class in order to take the test? I can't help but feel that the lines are deliberately blurred.