My Thoughts About Teaching

5th grade, 20 years now. At the end of my first year I was not sure I wanted to return for a second. But... somehow I have kept on coming back year after year, one year at a time.

Teaching is rewarding. There's that deeply satisfying sense of contributing to the greater good of society; the opportunity to weave together my talents and my career; and the joy of having former students return to share their successes in post-school life and to thank me for the role I played. Of course, there are also those 2-month-long summer "vacations" to look forward to when the going gets rough, usually around April and May, but sometimes as early as September. (Side note: Contrary to public opinion, the term summer "vacation" is a misnomer, as it implies time off with pay. The truth is, teachers are not paid for their forced summer layoff.)

Although teaching has its rewards, it's also more stressful than I ever imagined it would be. There is absolutely no "down" time during the school day. I have to be consistently patient, fair, firm, and diplomatic-- and that's just with the parents. I must always remember to stay politically correct. The worst thing, though, is the "experts." Everyone in the world is an expert on education. And everyone knows what should be done to fix our "failing" public schools. Uggh! The media and our elected officials have sure done a great job promoting that phrase. The truth is, it's NOT about our failing public schools. It's about our public, failing schools. Please don't get me started!

Now with "No Child Left Behind," legislators on both side of the aisle have become the worst "experts" of the bunch. Once upon a time, kids got their fannies paddled, or put on restriction, when they brought home failing grades. Now it's the teacher's fault! And bashing teachers for the poor state test scores of students who don't even speak English is like blaming the fire department for the house that burns down, or blaming the doctor for the 3-pack-a-day smoker who has a heart attack. Sometime before I die it would be nice to hear someone in a leadership role just say it: our students themselves- AND their parents AND their neighbors AND our government- and NOT ONLY our teachers- all need to take their share of responsibility for our students' progress. Good teachers are getting very tired of being labeled the bad guy. Yes, I have students who fail. For the most part it's their own fault. Arnie Duncan, look at these pictures of my classroom, and then explain to me exactly why their poor choices make me a failure too. I should be flattered that you think I'm superman or something.

Somehow, despite the mess created by NCLB and the same people that gave us the tax code (and by all of the special-interest groups that try to force their own agendas onto our public schools), at the end of the day I still feel like I have accomplished something important in the lives of real kids who are more than just a test score or a label- most of whom are actually doing a fantastic job. And these kids will one day be out there running the show. Hopefully, they'll do a better job than we have done.

Teaching does remain a noble profession, despite the lack of respect it receives.