There is a lot wrong with public schools. Just like there is a lot wrong with the whole world. Public schools are public, so they are in the public eye. So when the public eye is harsh and nasty and micromanaging, well then that's the public eye public schools have to deal with, fair or not.
And today, I realized, that for all of the fair reasons that folks are frustrated with public schools, for which there is plenty and for which there is a very important policy discussion about what might redress a lot of those concerns, there is one really important thing that is wrong with public schools:
Everyone is scared. And tired. And often feel kind of beaten down.
I had a talk with administrators today that convinced me that one of the more important problems in public schools is that they are constantly making decisions because someone threatened some lawsuit, someone threatened some action from downtown, someone threatened some dire consequence, fair or not, that a teacher or an administrator or someone would have to deal with if someone didn't get what they wanted.
Special education is actually a huge focal point for this kind of insanity. All kinds of people threatening all kinds of mayhem if their sense of how unjustly they were treated somewhere didn't get resolved the way they liked.
And it has fucked so much shit up in public schools. It has teachers and administrators and everyone compromising all over the place the ways that they relate with kids, care about them, are honest with them, treat them like kids they care about and hope the world for. People demand into oblivion all of that great and important stuff that needs to happen in schools and probably did happen at some point in many teachers' earlier careers all so some parent or some kid can get some petty little demand taken care of right now.
And it has everyone scared. No matter how much they try to pretend otherwise. And I mean everyone. The best and the worst teachers. The best and the worst administrators.
And it is a damn shame is what it is. And terrible for kids.
A lot of public school teachers and administrators and folks just feel demoralized and scared and threatened into submission around every foolish want or desire that someone - some parent, some lawyer, some kid, someone - has at some moment when they feel like threatening lawsuits or higher administrative action or whatever threat comes to mind when they aren't getting what they want, in the moment (and they wonder why they're kids are often struggling in school).
I have three pretty great administrators, truth be told. One of my assistants is the best assistant I've ever worked with. And my principal is likely the best principal I have ever worked with. They disappoint me plenty, as do all people I know and work with. But they're good people, generally. They have plenty of faults, as do we all - me, especially - when we're not so focussed on the faults of others and getting what we want. But they, generally, care about kids quite a bit. I genuinely like and appreciate the efforts and abilities and commitment of all of my teaching colleagues, even as they disappoint me plenty, as well, like all people I know and work with.
But one thing they all have in common is that they're scared. And a little demoralized by all of the battles they've been through over the course of their teaching careers. And its the saddest fact of life in public schools. That people who care enough to make not so hot salaries compared to their private sector options and who clearly give a shit more about kids than many, many people do since they chose the job and who often care about communities more than many community members do, even though many teachers don't live, many times, in the communities they teach in, that these folks who care so much get cowered by so many people looking to bully their way through difficult problems, even though it, likely, often undermines their children, since it clearly undermines their teachers.
Most people who bully their way through problems don't like to take responsibility for the consequences of their bullying (which bully does like facing their actions).
But the saddest consequence of bullying through difficult issues in public schools is how much it undermines teachers and administrators in making judgments on many difficult situations on the merits of the situation rather than based on their fears of who might win a legal or political arm-wrestling match.
That'd be a novel way to run things in the world, wouldn't it? On their merits. Rather than based on who has the most muscle.
Because whether they want to face it or not, those who advocate muscle as their means of doing business in the world, primarily, rather than as a last resort and only when people are in real, clear, physical danger, are not resolving anything on its merits, no matter how much they may protest that they are operating under a better idea. Like it or not, they are only demonstrating their muscle, not their merits. And then they wonder why the fight never ends. But it was never genuinely resolved in the first place.
What's wrong with public schools is what's wrong with the world. That issues all too frequently don't get resolved based on their merits. Because muscle is substituted instead. And it leaves everyone afraid, rather than inspired to do what is in their best judgment in the interests of the children that they care about.
Wouldn't that be a novel way to run schools? Everyone doing what was in their best judgment in the interests of the children that they care about. That would be a nice way to run things, wouldn't it?
Love,
Ben
