Every community seems to be concerned about the state of the schools. We get reports about our children’s schools from their school district. We read about our state’s ranking in the newspaper or in magazines; and with the No Child Left Behind act, even public schools that get nationally high rankings are in danger of failing. More and more doctors and scientists, skilled professionals, have foreign-sounding accents and companies complain about how hard it is to find qualified applicants, even as unemployment rates seem as high as ever. We are setting higher standards, demanding proficiency exams—for teachers and students—and yet many of our children are still failing. Taxes seem high enough already, but shouldn’t we spend more on our schools, on our teachers, and therefore on our children? No state wants to be last in the rankings on education. It seems common sense that we could tie incentive-pay to student’s results and reward only those teachers and administrators who succeed in meeting the highest standards. How can we expect to have high-quality teachers if we don’t compensate them accordingly? But then there are the parents. Students do better when parents are involved in their education and parents are more likely to be involved in their children’s education when they are financially and emotionally able to meet their own and their families basic needs. Perhaps we need to put more money into families?

Our diverse society offers such a plethora of parenting and educational styles that kids are getting mixed messages—particularly in terms of aggression and respect. Hitting is allowed only at home or on television. Children’s movies revolve around a child’s triumph over inept, irresponsible, and mean adults—parents and teachers in particular. Schools are expected to encourage parental involvement and yet the education of parents to a standard is a monumental task for teachers who are already overworked (even if we could all agree on a standard). In addition, teachers are human, and biases and judgments, particularly those that come from inexperience, are bound to fill our subconscious, if not conscious, minds. Teachers, armed with theories, good intentions, and enthusiasm are no match for the complexity of modern schools. Yet we continue to attempt to make modern schools fit a traditional mold—nine months of classroom time. One teacher, one class. One semester of student teaching to prepare a teacher to work alone with a class. Teacher’s assistants are primarily for special education and special needs, not as a learning experience for aspiring teachers. Summer school is for makeup work or day care. Both parents and teachers are convinced that schools need to be improved, but actual change is seldom discussed. “They” need to be more responsible for their children. “We” need to pay teachers more. “They” need to be better teachers. As we spin from perspective to perspective, we get sucked down into a whirlpool of indecision and partial commitments. When was the last time any of us talked about what “we” could do for schools? Not just for our own children or our own situation. Did we vote? Did we sacrifice anything? We might make some mistakes, but we won’t see any change in the state of the schools until “we” make them. Are we really ready or is all just water cooler talk?

Home Contents