A question that requires thoughtful consideration

Question: GFT, I've enjoyed your thoughtful posts over the years, esp. on literary matters.  Thought I'd tee something up to get your thoughts.  You've read about the Dr. Seuss estate ceasing publication of some books b/c of outdated, bigoted depictions of some characters.  For example, drawings and wording around an Asian character in one book.  The estate presumably controls the right to the IP.  If so, why not do a new edition cleaning up the bad parts and republishing the sanitized version?  Is it an "artistic purity" thing?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/books/dr-seuss-books.html

Hhhmmmm.....I have no idea what the members of the Seuss estate who made this choice were thinking, or why. Neither you nor I can influence the individuals involved w the Seuss estate, nor the current tide of PC-ism running through our culture. I hope it’s not due to Dr Seuss’ political cartoons drawn before he wrote children’s books.....Not that they are great, they’re pretty awful actually, they have not withstood the test of time, but must be analyzed in the context of their historical moment. It seems obvious to me that Seuss’ greatest works indicate he moved on to imaginary animals and thus, beyond drawing specific ethnically imagined humans, grew in his personal sensibilities......But the entire issue requires more than just a “sound bite” answer. It is of course ironic that early 20th century books and toys, full of stereotypical depictions of assorted ethnicities spanning the globe, were in themselves an awkward attempt at being pan cultural.....the thought of inclusivity was there - just flawed execution. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/before-dr-seuss-was-famous-he-drew-these-sad-racist-ads-2012-3

Also, Idk what you mean by “artistic purity” thing. (Once you figure that out, let’s find another name for it, bc as you say it, it sounds kinda Nazi-ish.) Do you mean : Changing the author’s original text? Or illustrations? Maybe the editors etc realized that doing so just keeps the dialogue going - on the wrong topics.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/03/02/publication-ceases-6-dr-seuss-books-hurtful-wrong-portrayals-minorities/

But here’s what I do know: 

I “get” that these are children’s books, and we want our children to grow up without the racist genderist views of the past. 

I “get” that white privilege makes you and I oblivious to slights others see and feel. (As a woman though, I can share many interesting anecdotes on bs I have had to put up within my own life.) These slights are legit, and should be examined, discussed, and brought into the cultural dialogue as “not okay” any more. We need to use this moment as an opportunity to discuss civilly and teach others about the harm exclusion, stereotyping or over simplification, and hate speech (ideas, illustrations) can bring.

But rather than see a revisionist cancel culture take over, I’d rather see more open dialogue and learning take over. I’m generally against banning any books - even horrible evil wretched ones. Because once you start cancelling one author, artist, book - where does it stop? The vaguely Chinese dancing mushrooms in the 1939 cartoon “Fantasia”? Stereotypical costumed dancers, Russian, Chinese, African and more - in Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”? The Madame Alexander collection of dolls from around the world? The “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland? 

And of course : No one is asking unrealistic images of the female body that cause women to hate their own natural flawed human beauty be removed from pop culture. No one is asking misogynistic novels, movies, video games to be banned.

Three examples as food for thought : 

“Huckleberry Finn”, the 1880’s novel by Mark Twain, contains the “n word”. It is a novel that has always sparked controversy : on one side, for use of the “n word”, on the other side, bc Huck (who’s white daddy is a cruel belligerent abusive drunk) turns to his runaway slave friend Jim as a surrogate father figure, instead. Huck has a chance to turn Jim in as a runaway slave, and doesn’t - and feels bad about it, bc his 1840’s southern USA world has told him that Jim is someone else’s property. So Huck feels bad for doing the “right” wrong thing. It’s a nuanced point that 99% of people on either side of the issue can’t process. So the novel remains controversial bc of its use of the “n word”, bc that is inflammatory and riles people up. They never look beyond that to what Twain is trying to tell us - or even to accepting the historical setting and verisimilitude of the word choice. So a parable, trying to teach us about deeper human relationships, is unacceptable bc of one word. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07huck.html?referringSource=articleShare

“Gone With the Wind”, a novel by Margarette Mitchell written in the 1920’s (as the generation of individuals who had lived through the Civil War were dying off), and published in the 1930’s (bc the research took her 10 years to complete), was written by a young southern woman about her grandmother, who lived in Georgia in the 1860’s. MM grew up hearing all her grandmother’s stories, and along with a ton of research about that period in Ga history (Civil War battle specifics, economic forces, train schedules, farming practices, cost of goods, what people ate-wore-did), wrote it all up in a “fictional” memoir. The only thing MM ever intended was to tell her grandmother’s biography. Publication of the novel brought it to the attention, made it a cause celebre of pop cultural forces during the 1930’s Jim Crow era. MGM turned the novel from a tale of how a dozen different female characters survived the Civil War, into a movie about a sexy bitchy she-vixen. Over 2/3 of the novel’s characters / events were cut from the film. Now both book and movie are deemed politically unacceptable - even though Margaret Mitchell took the “n word” out, at her publisher’s request - bc no one ever reads the book any more, only watches the movie - and the movie has characters in it that are stereotypes (even if true to MMs account of her grandmother’s stories.) So personal experiences, white southern people’s memoirs, are unacceptable, bc not currently “woke.” (But Hillbilly Eulogy” is “woke” so it’s ok.) 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/movies/gone-with-the-wind-controversy.html?referringSource=articleShare

What about Steinbeck’s simplistic depiction of lower class caucasian migrant farm workers in “Of Mice and Men”? Conrad’s depiction of natives in “Lord Jim”? Pearl S. Buck’s overly archetypal peasants in “The Good Earth” ? Hemingway’s depiction of nobly suffering Cuban fishermen? Any story where Nazis, Communists, etc are bad guys? Complex analysis and discussion is required for consideration of each of these.

And yet, no one is talking about this at all:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/arts/blackface-american-pop-culture.html?referringSource=articleShare

But the third example is my personal beef du jour: My alma mater, Rice U, was founded by a man who made a fortune on cotton and sugarcane plantations in the 1800’s. Just like so many American universities, from UVA to Brown to UT and more.....the wealth that financially underwrote their creation was achieved via the exploitation of others. Slaves and migrant workers and native Americans whose land was taken, who were worked to death or just killed off in an intentional racial genocide - all suffered a loss as white European men did whatever they did to earn money. Britain and other European nations did it too - out of sight in the colonies. Yes, it’s horrible - akin to the Old Testament story of pharaoh subjugating Moses and the Hebrews, or Nazis exterminating Jews, Poles, gypsies, gays, etc in the Third Reich. But recent student protests at Rice prompted a meltdown on an alumni FB page, with younger alumni wanting a statue of the founder of Rice removed bc he had slaves. Apparently irony impaired, these same people felt it was ok though to continue to enjoy the “white privilege” of a super posh campus, lifestyle, and degree - all available from that money. My point in all this was that merely removing the statue (a special revered feature on campus, one that represents the esprit de corps of its denizens, much like the Statue of Liberty, or the Vietnam Wall) continues to “whitewash” history, literally, and does nothing to make amends or raise awareness for those who were exploited over 150 years ago. Demands to remove Willy’s statue offer a momentary “feel good we achieved something” moment, without bothering to explore the issue at all. What then? Go about yer business of getting an education on a campus, without the troublesome statue to remind you where it all originated? How does that solve anything? Better to turn the statue into a teachable moment, with some additional historical contextual information next to it. 

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/rice-asked-to-remove-statue-of-slave-owner-namesake-11479143

I am sure you did not expect such a long winded answer, but my point is this : None of these issues can be resolved with a sound bite or knee jerk response. To truly move forward, we must preserve the old, so it is never forgotten, and offer tours or paratextual material that explains historical context - Just like touring Auschwitz, or slave auction buildings in the south. So history won’t forget, but will learn from it and grow. 

What are your thoughts on the subject?

How does a mediocre high school principal demonstrate what’s wrong with America? Why is “The Queen’s Gambit” a delightful yet thoughtful exploration of what is needed to truly MAGA? Read to find out

 

The way our leaders in the USA, Texas and local communities, et al have responded to the 2020 Covid pandemic reminds me why we (my Rice University friends and others from high end quality schools) are in fact different, and yes special. Not the faux “everyone is special” bs. Not like Lake Wobegone where every child is above average. We do live in a bubble and the diff is: We were not only intelligent- there were lots of smart lazy kids at my hs who wanted to get in to RU yet didn’t - we did the work. The grind. And the work ethic set us apart. 

When I was teaching I always said : Give me a hard working student over a “smart” one, bc the hard working one will achieve things. The “smart” ones are generally entitled assholes and so are their parents. (“Billy needs to get an A so he can go to Harvard,” they’d tell me at Open House. And I’d think, “Then Billy needs to learn that you don’t get into any college with that attitude.”) 

It’s not glamorous.... Day in day out the hard work - studying, reading, going the extra mile. Self discipline. Building up skills in the process. Asking Q, finding solutions. Willing to risk and to fail.

As a teen, I gave up Thanksgiving ski trips w my fam, starting in 8th grade, to write research papers (always due right before xmas). Off they’d go, parents plus sis left town for Colo, leaving me alone in the house with food money. Age 14, 15 w no adult around to nag me, I’d get up early and catch the bus out front to SMU library, do research all day long, come home in the evening, work more. (My dad was in law school at SMU at the time, so he showed me how to navigate there and back, and how to collect info, org research materials.) Written, 100% my own work: 8th grade paper age 14 “French Utopian Colonies in Texas”. 9th grade paper age 15 “IQ and Cruelty: Analysis of Nuremberg War Crime Trials”. Who tf as a young teenager does that? (It’s a habit I continued throughout college - a sustained week of work on one single project, at Thanksgiving. Got into a groove.) Helicopter parents micromanaging their kids every second, take note. You cannot do it for them. 

Wanna know why/ how I got into Rice? Bc of all the other smart kids out there, a dime a dozen, each with Top Ten GPAs and 1300+ SATs, I won second place IN THE NATION in a Nat’l Latin Club academic competition . (Who won first place? Ronald J. Mann. Look him up. All my life that guy was in my way.) But I didn’t win bc I’m a genius, bc I’m not..... I won bc I read a book. One book. I did the work. 

On a 3 day long bus ride to the nat’l Latin Club competition in Fla, I asked one of the older kids in the group what materials to study for the exam. (We were signed up for the same one.) The girl hands me a reference book and says, this. So while all the other kids on the bus spent those 3 driving days playing cards or making out, she and I moved to a back corner of the bus and alternately read sections of the book to each other, (only had the one copy), and grilled each other on the info. Didn’t even have stuff to make flashcards. Just organized outlines of material, wrote lists, made mnemonics up, memorized shit. You know, stuff you learned how to do in school but most people ignored. Passed the time on the long boring bus ride. We were like that girl in “The Queen’s Gambit”, learning, practicing chess. The “smart boys” ignored or laughed at us. Until they didn’t......

I came in 2nd, my friend came in 3rd. In the nation. 

But this isnt a rant about my awesomeness, bc I’m not. Not even in the same league as other folk I know (and I dated that same Ronald J. Mann my soph yr at RU - he taught me how to study. Really study. And that if you get organized early on, and keep it up, it’s actually less time and effort, than not. And that practicing is part of studying.) .....

......it’s about how most people on this planet are too fucking lazy to just do the fucking work. Any work. Not even hard work. Just do their f-ing jobs. WTF do these people do all day to pass the time? Gov Abbott, tRUMP, the chancellor at our local uni, other leaders. Just a LITTLE bit of organization, analysis, and effort at key points in this whole past year could have saved 100s of thousands of lives. 

You know how my friend, a local middle school principal, spends her days? She walks the halls: greets kids as they come off the bus. Chats w teachers in the halls in-between class periods (where most of the real work of the school gets done - short convos during passing time) . Pops in unannounced on all classes and teachers. Personally mentors new ones screwing up and on probation. Knows the face and circumstances of every single (out of 1000) students in her school. Knows the face and circumstances of every single (out of 200) teachers in her school. Knows who is sick, hungry, is going through a divorce, needs help, car just broke down, or someone to pick up their sick child, or who just did something awesome. Who wants to earn a promotion and works w them on how to use the talent he/she has, so everyone’s happy. Knows where all the campus fuse boxes are, which goes to what, and how to fix them when they blow. Not afraid to crawl into the attic or basement and get dirty to fix it. A hands on approach. (PS She is my hero. See? It’s not all negative about education on this blog.) 

You know how the principal at the hs where I worked spent his days? Hiding in a fucking closet. No lie. An actual, literal real closet. Along w his 2 bff coach buddies.,... once, I had to chase him down for a signature for something. His school secretary said, look here, look there. As I went here and there, others along the way said look over there. I went to his office, the field house, teacher lounge, golfcart shed - all over that huge fucking campus. These people were lying. They knew where he was. It was a wild goose chase to make me go away (I got my 10,000 steps that day.) Finally someone said, if you can find coach “X”, he’ll be with him. 

So I go to coach “X”’s classroom (he didn’t actually teach a class, just ran the school store from there that sold junk food to teenagers), which was dark and empty, and in the back wall, hidden behind pallets of candy chips and soda, there’s a locked door that clearly has a light on inside, which is seeping out from around the edges. I can hear male laughter. I knock on the door several times, say “I’m not going away” and eventually it opens. A thick hazy fart cloud rolls out..... it stung my eyes, was as dense as cigarette smoke- and there in that closet (yes the irony) is my principal, Coach “X”,  and another coach, lolling about on beanbag chairs, eating beef jerky, laughing, farting, having a good ‘ole time. In the middle of a school day morning.

Guess which school has stronger academic results? Lower teacher turnover, higher moral? 

It’s the same with running a country or trying to resolve a pandemic crisis. People just need to do their fucking jobs. Why not pass the time that way, instead of goofing around, hiding from responsibilities? If your job requires you to know about something, you better research it. If your job requires you to be good at something, then practice. Do the work. 

RETIRED ! (and re-TIRED)

I finally did it, I RETIRED! I have worked consistently since I was 16 years old, without a break even to have my children, worked while putting myself through school, worked when sick, when pregnant, when fed up, I have done it all. The situation of trying to be a quality teacher in today's environment, especially in Texas where teachers are underpaid and treated like dogs - seriously, I had better benefits and working conditions as a cashier at Sears in 1976 than in the past decade as an AP English teacher at a local suburban high school - was like being Rumpelstiltskin, being forced to turn straw into gold with less and less straw and a demand for increasing amounts of gold. Well, I have put in my time, earned my pension, and I AM DONE. Now for some "me time". I just need to figure out what that is. 

No More Worlds Left to Conquer

At my end-of-the-year teacher review conference this year, my administrator asked me what new classes/ certifications I was going to pursue this summer. (Thinking to myself, "Hell, none, I'm just skiving for the next 18 months till I can retire.") I said, "Well, this is my 30th year of teaching English. Not to be arrogant, but I am the only member of my entire department who has a master's degree. I am also the only member of my dept. who is certified in sp ed, autism, reading, gifted and talented, library science, and history/ soc stud. I am the only one who has been a dept chair, a testing coordinator, an admin for sp ed, and has taught every grade level both on level, remedial, and advanced/ AP/honors. I have been to every single teacher training "in-service" offered by every school I have ever taught at, as well as the Texas Humanities Institute, the AP Institute, TWU, UNT, SMU, not to mention the state of Maryland MANCEF. I have passed the teacher certification exams in Ca, Ny, Va, Md, and Tx. A few years back, I went back to graduate school and earned a second master's, in literature. There really is nothing left for me to study, as pertains to my job assignment, unless you want me to start working towards math or science." He looked at me like I am a trouble maker and says, "Well, you have to put something down. You have to fill the box on the form." So I wrote down some b.s. about continuing my education and training. What do all the teachers put in that box who have never accomplished any of these things? I forgot, momentarily, that we were supposed to lie about that stuff. No one ever follows up the next year to see if you did it. I think next year I’ll write some elaborate b.s. about going back to college to finish my PhD in aerospace engineering or neurology, just to see if anyone actually reads it. 

And Alexander wept, bc there were no more worlds left to conquer. 

The Greatest Gift

The greatest gift any teacher can have is for one or more of their students to take what that teacher has taught , and run with it. To be successful, smart, funny , creative, to use your insights and academic quirky loves and build on them.

For teaching is a love affair - Pygmalion had it right - not only with words and ideas , but with one's whole view of the universe, with knowledge, one's topics, ones students ( and yes, sometimes the sound of one's own voice). Great teachers inspire great learners , and there is no egotistical high quite like hearing your ideas, the seed you planted in some young person's mind, grown and expanded and developed in ways you never thought possible.

Growing up, I had a lot of great teachers - but the one most universally beloved was Magistra Roberts, my high school Latin teacher. Generations of students in Texas were fortunate to learn about Latin, memorize declinsions, all about the titillatingly seamy dark side of ancient Rome, how to translate and compose poetry in a language not your own, and hopefully not incur one of her strange insults, such as to be called a "furry tailed ick" .

I once was at a party some 25+ years long past my high school years, several hundred miles away from where I grew up. Somehow the topic came around to great teachers. Some guy I had never met who was 20 years older than me said, "My favorite teacher was my high school Latin teacher."

"Why that's very unusual, " I replied. "My favorite teacher was MY high school Latin teacher. Where did you go to high school ?" I asked.

"Richardson ," he answered.

"Why, I went to high school in Richardson,"I said. "Which high school did you attend ?"

"Richardson High," he said.

"Oh my gosh ! " I squealed, "I went to Richardson high ! When were you there ?"

"Early 60's, " he said.

"I was there in the late 70's ", I said. "My favorite teacher, my Latin teacher ,was Magistra Roberts. Who was yours ?"

"Magistra Roberts ."

It was then that I knew - this woman had been teaching since the dawn of time, influencing generations of students. Now that is a legacy.

Along my life's journey, there have been many other great teachers in my life- my undergrad ancient history professors, my graduate Shakespeare prof. My first mentor in my first real job right after college.

It was because of these teachers that I quickly figured out that the buisness world was not for me, that a life of teaching was my true calling. I have been teaching now for 20 years.....and , as one of my old profs said to me when I went back to college for a milestone reunion, "it's the early years of your career that you remember most .....the students, what you taught, how you taught it."

And so it is with me. I remember those students from my first few years of teaching as though it were yesterday. They were such bright, talented, funny kids. I was so green . One day, as I stood with my back to the class to write on the board, ( Surviving teaching rule # 3 : Never position yourself so that you can't watch the students at all times . Never.) , the entire class of 20+ 15 and 16 year old boys and girls simultaneously took out of their pockets rubber bands, pulled their hair on each and every head into a topknot ponytail , all exactly alike - they did this swiftly, silently, and clearly in a pre-planned manner . When I turned back around to look at them, I saw a sea of faces looking like creatures from a Dr Seuss book . I broke into laughter at the absurdity of what I saw (Surviving teaching rule # 17 : Never laugh at them. Never . Be stern, serious, and in control at all times.)

One day a female student, obviously bright and bored and coasting through my class making high A's with very little effort, came up to me after class and asked for something to read for fun, outsdide of class. I was busy struggling how to figure out my own time management skills ( write lesson plans, stay one novel aheqd of my studnets for in -class reading, invent tests / assignments, grade essays) , how to keep the class behaving and on track, why were certain kids failing and / or discipline problems.....I had no idea how to challenge the top end of the students. Absent - mindedly my mind flashed through "what books had I read as a teen ?" The answer I came up was cmpletely random, I could have just as easily said ,"read about archaeology" as I said,"Gone With the Wind". (Part of it, I think, was I wanted something nice and long, to keep her from coming back with this same question again, in a couple of days !)

So off she went.....got the book from the library.......and the rest, as they say, is history. Came back to talk to me about it, as she read it ......In the words of Captain Renault in the film "Casablanca" , it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. She went off to college, we stayed in touch - always talking about books we were reading . Over twenty years have since passed, and this student and I have remained friends, reading and sharing books , our ideas about books, long conversations about writing, writers, the writers craft, books turned into movies, etc. Eventually our friendship has grown more well-rounded, and we actually share gossip, news of our lives, family, friends, careers, etc. But it all started with that one book recommendation.

Recently, my heart grew 3 sizes on the day that this one former student, now a full fledged adult with a far more " grown - up" job than I've ever had , met with one of my other dear bookie friends, and we all talked about our writing ideas until way into the night.

"Here's looking at you, kid"

Rage Against the Machine PT I

My readers may have figured out that I am a teacher by day (and a blogger by night!) and wondered why I haven't spoken up more about what's really going on in education. Truth is, I have - under a pseudonym - because like most teachers, I fear for my job and the havoc it would create in my family were I to lose it. 

However, as I am getting older I am getting bolder. I am close enough to retirement that I am starting to just not worry about it anymore..... And I have seen enough truly horrible situations with colleagues (both good and bad) to realize that the worse they can do is send me to teach at a middle school. (That's what they do in my district when teachers have been "bad", and have "lawyer-ed up", have no connections or administration doesn't like you. If you have connections or they like you, you get promoted!) For the few years I have left till I am gone forever, I think I can tolerate that fate. And I am not really "bad" in the traditional sense: I come to work each day on time. I do not humiliate or ridicule students. I am not a sexual predator. My only sin is being outspoken, and my test scores are damn good. I turn my paperwork in on time. I follow the rules for employees (dress code, grading, etc.) I pass (or at least, don't fail) the requisite number of students. Did you know these are the criteria for being a "good" teacher these days? 

Most importantly, I have been around long enough to know where some of the bodies are buried. As long as no one hassles me, I will keep my mouth shut about who did what. If any of my 19 bosses decides I am a problem for telling the truth about education these days, I am not afraid to spill all - names, dates, places - and I have saved the documentation, over the years, to prove it. Emails, paperwork. Yes I have.

I know all about:

* A school that hired the wife of a friend of the principal, we'll call her Teacher Z, despite Teacher Z having no formal education, experience, or qualifications as a teacher; Z was a former airline stewardess. She kept her job for over 7 years in spite of the fact that she was a drug addict (OxyContin pain pills) who rarely even showed up for work. Even Z used to tell stories about "waking up to find my principal inside my apartment, because the door was left open- principal had come to wake me up and drag me into work for the day." Apparently this happened more than once. Year after year passed and Teacher Z could not pass the certifying test for her profession. Teacher Z's students had dismal test scores, she never turned in lesson plans, she had no furniture in her classroom except beanbag chairs and pillows, and she never put any grades for her students into the online (and view-able by all) computerized grade book. Her supervisor had to invent grades for Z's students out of whole cloth. When Z did show up for work, she let her students roam freely and graffiti the walls so badly the first year she taught that the next year she painted all the walls of her classroom black. Yes, black.

* A school that hired a friend of the principal's, we'll call this person "Teacher Y", as a coach and special education teacher. Teacher Y had no qualifying education, prior experience, or teacher credentials, and administration decided to put the name of a different teacher, Teacher X, (another one on the same campus, one with legit credentials), on every document that contained Teacher Y's name. Teacher X, was put into the computer as the "teacher of record" for all Teacher Y's classes taught, students legally responsible for, paperwork, etc. Every document associated with Teacher Y had Teacher X's name on it, but Teacher Y filled it out, and signed Teacher X's name to it. Anyone who looked carefully enough - an auditor, a payroll clerk, a state accrediting agency - would notice that employee X seemingly taught 2 full jobs - double the classes, double the students, double the subjects, as well as coached, all because Teacher Y had no credentials for the job whatsoever. But no one ever did. Situation went on for years, and may, in fact, still be going on. Teacher X was never notified of any of this but found out accidentally due to an email she was accidentally cc'd on.

* A school hired a friend of the principal's, we'll call this person Teacher Q, who had no education, credentials, or experience to be a teacher. Teacher Q routinely ridiculed and failed too many of his students. He made them sit in a box in his classroom when he decided that they had done something he didn't like. This teacher was promoted to administrator! 

*A school that hires many coaches without any certification, education, or experience teaching whatsoever, and assigns them teaching study hall and similar courses. One guy just mows the grass, for which he is paid $70K a year. 

*A school that hired a friend of the principal's relative as a teacher's aide (all the same work for half the money.) This teacher's aide decided to start a club, which had a show and a fund-raiser, and sold thousands of dollars of raffle tickets for a car donated by a local dealership. Somehow, all the money mysteriously disappeared....all while the Teacher's Aide found Jesus and was telling her co-workers they were going to hell bc they hadn't done the same.

This is but the tip of the iceberg, my friends. However, if you are concerned about the education your children are getting, I urge you to look up your students’ teachers’ qualifications, education, and certifications online. You can check out the teacher certification of anyone in Texas on the TEA website. I am sure it is similar in any state- there is a state licensing board. While certification isn’t the guarantee of a great teacher, at least it is a starting point. It means the teacher passed a basic test, took some college courses. With “No Child Left Behind” laws coming to an end, the rule that teachers must be “highly qualified” (at least certified and have college coursework in the area they are teaching) is coming to an end. Which means the shenanigans will end, and schools will just openly hire whoever they wish and not even try to make them appear to be qualified. 

I Was Called to the Principal's Office # 2

It is no secret that I am a teacher…..I have kept my mouth closed all these years about what really goes on in your child’s school. But enough is enough.

I have been teaching what we used to call “honors” and which is sometimes now referred to as “pre-AP” as well as AP English classes for nearly 30 years, when  I encountered a bunch of particularly whiney, entitled, demanding students (and their parents) one school year. Over the course of one particular autumn, I was called in to my principal’s office on a near weekly basis, and told the following things:

1) Principal called me down: ”You are not allowed to assign reading of a novel of over 100 pages, without breaking it up into smaller sections.” Me: “But I am teaching the same novel as the other teachers in my grade and subject, and teaching it in the same way with the same assignments and pacing.” Principal: “Does not matter. Change the assignment.” Guess what? I cancelled the reading assignment of that novel, or any other, over 100 pages. Because even in an “honors” pre-AP and /or AP English class….”parents are complaining.”

2) A few weeks later, I get called down again ….Principal says, ”I do not like the way you handled the (mandatory ”volunteer”) school holiday project. You put too much pressure on the students to participate. They are upset. Not all can do as you suggest.” Me: ”I just read the script you gave us, from the faculty meeting, and told us to read. I didn’t say or add anything else. I just did and said what I was told, by you, to do.” Principal: “You must go back to your class and correct what you said.” Guess what ? I cancelled my class’s participation in the program, forever more.

3) Principal called me down: “Parents are complaining that your recent assignment was graded unfairly. You will change the way you graded it.” Me: ”I have a rubric, which I gave the students beforehand, and went over it with them as to what was expected, and taught them how to do the taks involved. For those who did not follow it, I offered the opportunity to fix the assignment in tutorials, for a re-grade.” Principal: “Does not matter. You will issue a grade of “excused” for x, y, and z students, whose parents complained.” Guess what I did? I cancelled the assignment, for evermore. Even though the other teachers of my subject continue to do it.

4) Principal called me down, says: “You taught a poem yesterday that has the word ‘breast” it in. Parents are complaining. You will not teach this poem again.” Me: “In this poem, the word ‘breast’ is not sexual; it is a 19^th century word that means chest, male or female. Also, the poem is in our textbook, part of our assigned AP curriculum, follows the TEKS (state curriculum standards) and has been approved by the state of Texas and the College Board. “Principal: “Does not matter. Parents are complaining.” Guess what ? I stopped teaching that poem.

5) Principal called me down:”Students are complaining that the group work you have assigned them is unfairly graded.” Me:”I don’t have any group work assignments, for that very reason.” Principal: “Nevertheless, you will stop it.” Me???? How do I handle or “fix” something that does not happen?

6) Principal called me down to her office: ”Students and parents are complaining that you are never available for tutorials before or after school. ”Me: ”I have been working and present on campus, available in my classroom for students and parents,  from 8 am till 6 om or later for the past several years. If a student cannot find me for tutorials during those hours, then he or she isn’t really looking.”Principal: “Never-the-less, you will post your tutorial times on your wall and be available for students.” Me: “OK, but my times are already posted on my wall. Have been for years. I see a dozen or more students before or after school, already, as it is, every day.” Principal: “You will fix this. I had better not hear one more complaint.” Me:?????? How do I handle or “fix” something that does not happen?

7) Principal called me down: “You need to change your overall grading. You must have a weekly quiz over material you have taught. You may not assign homework. You may not have completion grades.  You must have one grade per week – no more, no less. You must allow students an infinite number of re-takes on daily quizzes or any other assignment, including tests and essays. You cannot penalize a student for not following directions, or turning in late work.” Me: “This will destroy academic standards, and lower student learning outcomes. Testing scores will decline; students will not be prepared for college.” Principal: “This is the rule. Our board and curriculum have voted on it.” Me: “OK” (To myself: I already do this, so????) Ironically, the principal STILL says this statement on a WEEKLY basis to EVERY teacher at our faculty meetings. Which leads me to suspect that some teachers are not doing it….but not me. I am doing it.

8) Principal called me down: “You are not allowed to have reading assignments that fall over student’s holidays.” Me: “I don’t. My reading assignments, and pacing (due dates and such) follow our department and campus guidelines. I do what all the other teachers do. Students are assigned reading during the school calendar days, but if they are reading it over the holidays, that’s their own choice.” Principal: “Parents are complaining. You will stop this.” Guess what?????

9) Principal called me down: “You haven’t been teaching “x”. I want to know why.” Me: “On the computer generated printout that you gave me at the first of the year – the one that shows my name, and my schedule, with the code numbers –  and the classes I am teaching, it says I am teaching “y”. “Y” is what’s on the schedule. I didn’t know I was supposed to be teaching “x”. Principal: “We sent you to that one conference for a day, a few years ago. You are trained in “x” now. Me: “Yes, but our campus (i.e. “you”) never bought the texts that went with that course. All I have available to me are the texts for “y”. After several requests for the associated textbooks, and being told “no”, and going with the printout from administration that shows what I am to be teaching, I just thought decisions had actively been made, and that I was to be teaching “y”. No one ever had a conversation with me about we should do in this matter, and my efforts to ask about it were always rebuffed.”

10) Principal called me down: “You are getting a new student tomorrow. (Four weeks from the end of the school year.) “Susie” has no credits in x, y, or z and we want you to teach her all of them in the remaining time we have left, so she can earn her credits and graduate. We are putting her in your “z” class (with 30 other students). You will devise some packets for her to complete that cover the material.”

11) Principal called me down: “We hired Mr A as coach, and he’s going to be teaching some classes, too. He’s not certified in teaching yet, so , as a work around, we are going to be putting your name on all his classes, but don’t worry, he’ll do all the teaching, grading, and paperwork. It’ll just have your name on it.”

12) Principal called me down: “I want to know why you haven’t published as many issues of the school newspaper this year.” Me: “My budget was cut to $0 this year. We have no textbooks, no computers, no typewriters, no photography equipment; we have no supplies of any kind.” Principal: “That is no excuse.” Me: “I went to the book-keeper and asked for funds, and he refused. I asked you several ties back in the fall, and you told me ‘there was no money’. I just do not know how to run a student newspaper and actually publish work without a budget or classroom supplies of any kind.”

13) Principal called me down: “We will not be able to fill your request for a set of classroom textbooks this year.” Me: ”What can we do to fix this problem? I really need those books to teach my classes…..” Long conversation ensues…..turns out “someone” had made an “accounting error” and “mistakenly” reported that we had tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of textbooks that we didn’t actually have. They went "missing" somehow......

And, for the record: a) My student test scores on TAKS and STAAR have continually been 10% higher than anyone else in my campus, district and state. My AP test takers scored 3’s, 4’s and 5’s 75% more often than local, state, or national test-takers. My PDAS (teacher evaluation system) rating has always been high.  I am not a lazy teacher - I am a good teacher. I care about my students, about their learning, and the skills that prepare them for whatever lies ahead. I follow the rules, and keep my head down and my mouth shut.

Making Straw Into Gold #1

Classes-preps-student load

When I first started teaching, almost 30 years ago, I taught 4 class periods out of 6 in the school day, and two different subjects (what teachers call “preps” i.e. different subjects you need to “prepare” for.) I had a total of about 15-25 students per class, about 60-100 essays to grade for each assignment. This was a slightly lighter load for English teachers than the norm, bc we had so much grading to do. Other subject teachers at the time taught 5 out of 6. Clubs, sports and extra-curriculars, even teacher meetings, were held before or after the school day ended.

This was pretty much the same level of work load / schedule that I had while growing up. As a high school student in the late 1970’s, little had changed a decade later.

For a long time, until just a few years ago, high schools where I taught had moved to a “double block” schedule : what is called “A” days and “B” days. High schools had four 90 minute long classes, called A1, A2,A3,A4 on one day, and four different classes B1,B2,B3,B4 on the next day. This A/B schedule repeated throughout the year, with students taking 8 classes. Many teachers, especially those who taught arts, science, sports, ag, tech, theater - anything with a lab or where you had to get out equipment and do something, then put it all back, loved the long blocks, bc once you got used to the extra time, you could really dig in and get a lot accomplished.  Less time was wasted on setting up and taking down. Math and foreign language teachers weren’t quite as enthusiastic about the block schedule, bc students forgot a great deal of material from having class only every other day. Athletics coaches loved this schedule, and filled their 1^st and 4^th block every day with their sports teams, with spill-over before and after school. Teachers, required by law to have at least one conference period a day, loved having the extra time to do paperwork, lesson planning, grading, call parents, etc. During this period I had about 25-30 students per class, graded 150-180 essays. In the early years, English teachers had only 5 out of the 8 blocks to teach, and a study hall the remaining block, so they could grade papers. That was phased out after a while though.

Then someone, somewhere, probably one of those “efficiency experts” who specialize in these sorts of things, took a look at the A/B long block school schedule, and decided that teachers had too much free time on their hands during the school day. So we went to a “modified block”, a sort of pea shell con game, now with 5 periods in a school day: 1^st and 5^th were an hour long each, and 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th were the usual 90 minutes.  The school day was expanded 30 minutes and lunch was cut to 20 minutes to accommodate this (with no resulting increase in wages). Administrators tried to sell this idea with the explanation that it was really the same as before, it’s just that we now saw some of our students every day, and some of our students every other day. No one believed them, however, because the simple fact is we had gone from teaching 3 out 4 periods a day to teaching 4 out of 5. This new schedule created the added challenge of now your 1^st and 5^th periods had 5 teaching hours a week, and the 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th periods had either 3 hours or 4 and a half. It was hard to keep classes in sync with each other.  Teachers started cramming and skipping the material taught in the less frequent long blocks, and slowing down and fluffing with movies, make-up days, homework days, and other things to stretch the curriculum in the more frequent short blocks.  Staff meetings were moved from before and after school into the school day to accommodate the extended school hours, so teachers lost even more planning time due to meetings and conferences.  If your conference period fell on a short block, you were really screwed.  Talk is we are going to teaching 7 out of 8 next year, with a planning period only every other day.

Class size expanded as well, often reaching 35-40 students all sitting squashed together in classrooms designed to hold 20-25. No room in the aisles for teachers to walk around and monitor students; some teachers put desks in pairs or quads to fit them all in, regardless of whether all the kids could see the board. The year I had 38 students, I just divided them up into groups and took half of them into the hallway to work. I could not fit them all in my classroom.  I graded 188 papers at a time that year.

Did I mention that during these increases in workload, I taught 4 different subjects? The other teachers in my department taught 1 or 2. No one else taught 3 or 4. Just me. Apparently I am invaluable that way.

Here's the thing : Do you want teachers that have time to pay attention to your child? Do you want classrooms that are not over-crowded? All this increase in "productivity" exhausts not only teachers, but students as well. If a teacher does not have time to go to the restroom or eat lunch, her health will suffer. If a teacher is tired, worn out, and cranky from too many students, too many meetings, too much grading in too little time, her patience with her students will suffer. If a teacher has to teach too much material to too many students in less and less time - she will simply teach less.