The Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

A few weeks ago I heard of an upcoming documentary that is being released today called "Waiting for Superman" that examines the crisis of public education in America today. In fact, Central Dallas Ministries is going to host a screening of this movie on Oct.7 and I am eagerly waiting to see it. However, before it's even been released, this documentary is already stirring up a lot of conversation and heated debate, especially after it was discussed on the Oprah show on Monday. Many educators are outraged because they feel that both the documentary and the Oprah show make teachers and teacher unions the scapegoats for a broken educational system. The documentary also apparently highlights the success of several charter schools as it tells the story of five desperate families trying to get their kids into these select schools through the random draw of a lottery. Some have taken offense to the idea that charter schools are the answer as opposed to failing public schools. Apparently this episode really fired a lot of teachers up and I have become fascinated this week in reading and examining all sides of this very complex issue. I find myself reacting very strongly as well. This has long been a critical issue in my mind. I heard someone say that inequitable education in America is the civil rights issue of our time and I completely support that statement. Therefore, this conversation is one that I will be following closely in the days and weeks to come.

However, while most teachers are outraged at the questions being raised by this documentary...questions that seem to focus on whether teachers are doing their job or not...I personally couldn't agree more. I have long said that I truly believe one of the most critical issues with our struggling educational system are the quality of teachers and administrators leading the schools. In fact, I've blogged about this very topic before. I am not offended when the implication is made that maybe the problem lies largely with ineffective teachers. Yes, there are lots of wonderful public school teachers out there and no one is trying to take away from the important and sacrificial contributions they make every day. But I think it is important to acknowledge that there are thousands of teachers who are in the wrong profession. There are thousands of teachers who are academically incompetent, who don't believe all kids can learn, who set low expectations for kids, who are unprofessional in their ethical decisions, and who are unwilling to commit the time it takes to reach kids who are coming from extremely difficult circumstances. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear teachers complaining about the lack of parental support and involvement, about administrative decisions, about lack of resources, lack of time, about how bad the kids are, etc. etc. etc. But I never hear teachers acknowledge that there may be some deficiencies in their own abilities, approaches, and attitudes as teachers.

Yes, it is a problem that often our kids don't come to us with the level of parental support and involvement that we would like to see. As a teacher, I was as frustrated as the next teacher when I couldn't get the parental support I so desperately needed. Yes, it is a serious problem that the kids come to us and haven't been raised to show the kind of respect for adults that we were raised with. Yes, it is a serious problem that kids come to us from homes and parents that have very little value for education at times. All of that is extremely discouraging and frustrating as we try to do our jobs every day. But to me, the bottom line is that we have a job to do. No one ever said this job would be even remotely easy. But the kids in front of us every day had no control over where they came from, who their parents are, and how involved their parents choose to be. But they deserve an education just as much as Joe in the suburbs whose parents enrolled him in private school at age 3 and read to him every night an hour before bed. They deserve that education whether they realize they need or want it or not. They deserve to be able to choose their fate when they reach adulthood. Our apathetic and failing schools are choosing the fate of too many for them.

Teachers say it's not fair that they can't just teach anymore. They say it's not fair that they're expected to play parent, teacher, social worker, counselor, law enforcement all at once. Teachers say it's not fair that so much is asked of them that they have to work 11-12 hour work days and still pay for supplies out of their own pockets. Teachers say it's not fair that they are blamed when a student fails. And they're right...it's not fair. But it's reality. This is the nature of the business we are in right now. We cannot change how parents are raising their children or the influences that kids come to us with. There is nothing we can change but what we do in our classrooms for those 8 hours a day that the students are with us. But too many teachers refuse to see past all the other frustrations to see what they can do to work around those tough obstacles. They throw up their hands and look the other way when they see difficult students slip through the cracks....I know, because I've done it. And no one....NO ONE...ever held me accountable for it. Not a parent, not an administrator...no one.

Teaching is too easy of a career to get into to be such an important work. People can decide on a whim they want to teach and two months later be in a classroom. Teaching is not a valued and respected enough profession. Therefore, we get way too many people in classrooms who really don't know much about the subject they're teaching, have no background in any kind of pedagogical theory and practice, and are really just counting the days until their summer break....the reason they decided to go into teaching in the first place. I am just appalled at what I see from my colleagues daily. I am appalled at the lack of expectations not just for the students, but for ourselves. I am sorry. America deserves to be outraged at teachers, because in all harsh honesty, there ARE a lot of sorry ones.

Teachers defend themselves, citing the long hours they work and all that is asked of them. And granted, it is A LOT. Teachers are asked to be almost superhuman at times. But again, you know this going in. You have to have an innate belief in the importance of quality education for all, you have to have an innate love for and belief in the capacity of all children to learn, and you have to have a passion for what you teach. If you don't have those things, you can work 23 hours a day and not be effective. If you have those innate values driving you, you will have the stamina and the selflessness that is MANDATORY for this profession! Teaching is not for the selfish, bottom line.

We can stand around and point fingers at parents and school boards and superintendents and rappers and everyone else all day, or we can point that finger back at ourselves and say....I have a job to do. This child needs to learn and what am I going to do to make sure that happens? True, there are some kids that even the best teachers can't reach. But another good teacher down the hall might connect in a different way and be able to motivate them. If a school is filled with quality teachers, more than likely almost all the kids at some point are going to be reached by someone. More importantly, all too often there are kids with gold mines of potential, that do have the support of parents at home, that are overlooked while teachers are so busy complaining about all the "bad kids" they have to deal with. There are LOTS of parents out there who do care tremendously about their kids and their kids' education...but just don't quite know what to do. Don't get so caught up in frustration at some parents' lack of support that you overlook the ones who do care.

I wasn't a great teacher. I wasn't the type of teacher I speak of above. But what bothers me is that no one ever called me out for not being better. No one expected me to be better. I was good enough...at least I was allowed to believe that. But really, I wasn't. And although I can admit that, there are too many teachers who can't.

The reason I feel that this is the civil rights issue of our time is because schools are more segregated than they were before 1954, according to lots of national statistics. Schools are starkly segregated along lines of race and socioeconomic status and the achievement gap is astounding. Lack of teacher quality is most noticeable in the schools in the poorest areas. Lack of technology and resources is most prevalent in the areas that need them the most. Things are tolerated in urban schools in low-income areas that would never be accepted in wealthier, more well-supported schools. And who suffers are the children who had no control over where they were born and what school is down the street from their house. Being born poor equals a poor education and that should not be true in a country with the ideals that America touts around the world. If parents don't advocate for their children, children still deserve to be advocated for. If parents don't choose to make education a priority, children still deserve to get one. And for the low-income parents who do want to make education a priority, they deserve to have a good school available to them.

There is so much more to say, and believe me, I will have more to say. This is such an amazingly intricate and complex problem. The answers are so difficult to find. The blame does not lie all in one place. But somehow, we have got to start peeling these layers away and finding solutions. I hope that "Waiting for Superman" can stir up the conversations that will make those solutions possible. I look forward to the reactions and commentary to come.