Why Aren't We Ashamed Of Our Bad Schools?

I was put back into reality this morning after a lovely week off for spring break. I asked a girl to put away her French fries as she walked into class five minutes late and she went berserk – telling me to F off and F myself and to give her her F’ing work so she could take it home and not have to be in my class “no more.” I used to react emotionally to these outbursts, but I know better now. I gave her the days work (an introductory lesson on Macbeth and a writing portfolio assignment) and asked her to please not slam the door on her way out. That was a waste of breath, as the door slammed for about the thousandth time this year.

Later in the day, my principal called me to the office and told me she thinks the work I give out is too hard. Apparently, after going crazy in my room, the young lady went to the principal complaining that I give too much work and that it’s always too hard.

After she had told me to screw myself in ways that aren’t humanly possible, I told my principal, I didn’t feel much like taking extra time out to teach her Elizabethan English, nor was this even possible. I asked what the principal proposed I do. She told me to “make the work more relevant to our kids.” I wanted to ask her if she had asked the student why she wasn’t in my room during class time, but it really would have made no difference. There’s no discipline in this school and I’ve known that since I arrived two years ago.

I think Shakespeare is relevant to all kids – even kids in this city of low expectations on all levels. I won’t change the work just because my kids are reading at lower levels or might not feel Shakespeare is relevant to their lives (we’re always told we need to relate more to the urban lifestyle, blah blah, blah). Every literate human being should read at least some Shakespeare, so I’ll keep trying.

Schools that work believe in themselves. The administrators and teachers in these schools lay out clear expectations and they make the kids earn everything they do. Of all the things mentioned as ways to improve schools, we must also address discipline, values, and school climate when speaking of education reform. What happens to teachers in inner-city classrooms across the country in terms of verbal and all too often physical abuse is intolerable. I deal with it because I knew what I was signing up for when I joined Teach For America. For now, it’s even funny to have ridiculous things happen in my classroom and then report them to my buddies on gchat during my lunch period.

Articles such as this one in yesterday’s NY Times mention all the different ideas being floated as the Obama administration begins to draw up its education policy. Not once is improving student behavior, pressuring parents to take actions regarding their student’s schools and education or enhancing the climate or leadership of schools mentioned in the article.

The article talks about the need to get the best teachers teaching in poor and rich areas alike, but not how or why this would ever happen. I try to imagine my aunt, who has taught French and English for the past 30 years, or my old English and Composition teacher, getting told by a teenager to F themselves and give them their F’ing work; and then to be told by a principal that the cussing is because the work is too hard! This would absolutely never happen.

The article in the Times touches briefly on the interesting fact that only 6,000 of the nation’s 95,000 schools are labeled as needing corrective action or restructuring under federal law. These schools, like mine, are so far gone for many reasons, but the key one is an inability to control student discipline issues. The teachers these schools need – you know the ones I’m talking about, the one who lectured and pushed you and encouraged you to do interesting and challenging things – will never go to these schools in the large numbers needed.

That’s why Teach For America even exists! These schools must be really desperate if they’re hiring huge numbers of green college kids with no teaching experience. It’s not because we’re so smart or talented that we’re here – it’s really because no one in their right mind wants to put up with abuse and dysfunction on a daily basis. Not when there are 89,000 other schools available to pour one’s heart and soul into. There’s no way I would have gotten hired in a functioning school district for a teaching job out of college because I was unqualified. Here, I was swept up in a matter of minutes with multiple job offers.

When kids are allowed to run their mouths, come absurdly late if at all and fight without fear of long-term suspension or expulsion, there is no helping them get up to speed in the subjects where so many are desperately far behind. In this school system, a student caught with fewer than two bags of marijuana with intent to distribute can’t even be expelled – only suspended for 45 days.

A study should be done – maybe I should do it someday – about where these 6,000 schools are that are so pitiful. We should be able to see which congressional districts they are in and what the politicians and people in power are doing to aid their own failing schools and communities. If a school fails, I believe the community has failed too. If a community fails, it means there is neither leadership nor pride. Recently, I was invited to a seminar on politics in the city. All members of TFA in the city are being urged to attend a speech by a high ranking city official. If I go, I’ll ask one question: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

In the meantime, I’ll go F myself and prepare my classroom for another day tomorrow.