Ed. "reformers" say the interests of public-school teachers and their unions are completely out of sync with those of students and their parents.
Well, given this, I've been living with a terrifying secret for a long time: I am both a teacher and a parent. So, do you wonder if each day I must struggle with complex internal conflicts stemming from my dual lives? Are my two personas the Jekyll and Hyde of my existence?
Let's briefly examine my situation:
As a teacher by day, I am one of those portrayed as a scapegoat for society's problems. I am among those supposedly responsible for widespread poverty.
By night and on the weekends, I am a parent trying to make ends meet. I have seen grocery bills climb at a far greater rate than any salary increases. To the extent, that I feel my services have been underpaid, I guess I am a poor teacher!
By day, I am asked to prep students for tests so as to save myself, my administrators, my school, and my students. Test prep could kill curiosity even in a cat. The Common Core only further complicates the problem. Test prep is ineffective teaching. To the extent that my success depends upon test prep, ironically, I am grossly ineffective!
By night, I must also be grossly ineffective since I am one of Duncan's "white, suburban moms." My kids need to have their egos smashed; indeed, seventy percent of NY state's students need to know that they suck! Once again, minority populations have been decimated the most. And, the Common Core is just the tool by which to accomplish these tasks.
By day, I thank goodness for my union. It helps protect my rights to a fair salary and safe working conditions. It also helps protect my due-process rights through tenure. Otherwise, business-minded administrators might be tempted to replace me with cheap, inexperienced TFA labor while disguising it as something else.
By night, I hear Vergara stories about a few "grossly ineffective" teachers, one of whom was once Teacher of the Year, offered up as evidence to deprive all teachers of the due-process rights guaranteed by tenure. But my kids seem happy with their teachers. School administrators know when to deny tenure and how to ensure their workforce does its job.
By day, I teach in classes of upwards of thirty students. In September, sometimes the numbers reach over forty.
By night, I give a lot of small group instruction to my own children. I recognize the importance of knowledge, but I hope I do more than stuff their little minds with facts. I hope I am raising socially well adapted, caring little people who will one day be big. I still believe smaller class sizes aid effective instruction.
It seems my interests as a parent and my interests as a teacher do not differ much. I wouldn't have become a teacher if I didn't want to help young people. And, I wouldn't have become a parent if I didn't want to do the same. I believe the social and emotional skills children develop in schools are just as important as any stiff fact or figure learnt--which may soon be forgotten. As a parent, a teacher and a concerned citizen, I am sorry that ed. deformers have concocted their own Mr. Hyde and unleashed him upon our public-school system. The damage has been great.
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