Back to School

Wow, my first week of school began last week…crazy as usual and full of change. That IS the first week of school at any age level.  So much goes into a new semester: roster changes, procedural changes, new faces, old problems, the excitement of returning, and the awkwardness of getting back in a groove; there’s really no need for that proverbial needle on an educator’s back.  But I found it…three to be sure!

1. The Christian Science Monitor had an extensive bio on Arne Duncan. They balance the hope and humanity of the Secretary of Education with an underlying tone of targeting inferior teachers as the problem with schools.

2. TIME magazine’s entire issue this week focused on the potential of charter schools while subtly citing teacher unions as the problem with schools.

3. Probably my favorite was Newsweek’s editorial on why school reform fails, naming students (!!!) and their lacking motivation, as the problem with schools.

What is it about our national fabric that requires we find a boogeyman, a scapegoat, a fall guy, or otherwise something or someone to blame?  America’s public education system is hugely complex to the degree that appointing one boogeyman for the ailment is crassly shortsighted.

The journalistic timing is optimal that as teachers begin our year, usually the hardest part of our job, it becomes a popular time to critique and dissect the profession that we’ve sacrificed so much to uphold, not for the institution itself, but for children.  Still, a hallmark of problem solving and continuous improvement is to identify root causes and fixing them which may sound like casting blame.  Great educators do this every day with our students, finding out what is missing, what is needed, and what can be better, then doing it.   Let’s hope that was the intent of this latest media blast of education, so that after the first few weeks of a new school year settles in, we can continue the great work of improving schools from the inside out while thanking mainstream media for their hearty analysis.

I appreciate the tools and views of the HOPE Foundation. Simply through the moniker (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education), I feel reassured that there are voices in the darkness discounting boogeymen and blame, and focusing on the positive energy to approach solving the litany of challenges each school faces.

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