Teach Our Children Well
I am incredibly thankful to be a public educator. Not only am I able to work with outstanding educators each day, but I also get to work with and learn from incredible young people and their families. The lessons we teach through our actions and the way we treat others are just as important as the lessons we teach in the classrooms. Not only will our scholars need to know how to evaluate arguments and use critical thinking to develop complex solutions, but more importantly will need to know how to communicate effectively, accept and treat others with respect, and what and who are truly valued based on where money and resources are spent. On this last piece, we need to do better to show our children that we believe they deserve the best to prepare for the future.
Last month, my family and I were traveling for a family wedding. As we approached security, my ten year old son asked who owned the airport. I mentioned that the airport was actually owned/managed by the government. He breathed a sigh of relief (he is still confident we will be taken care of) and then mentioned that he thought the people keeping us safe at the security station must get paid a lot of money by the government. In my son’s eyes, they were performing the most important function of the airport. Why wouldn’t they receive a high level of compensation? Without tight security procedures and top-notch individuals working each station, all of us could be placed at risk and the airport as a whole would be considered in danger. Obviously, the cockpit and control tower personnel perform a vital role in the safety of people flying, but the pilot doesn’t matter if a threat gets past the security station.
Sadly, I informed my son with the truth. Our government does not pay the security employees extremely well. In fact, they make much less than many other roles at the airport or other jobs in society that play a much smaller role in the overall safety and security of our citizens. To my ten year old, this didn’t compute…nor should it. We say we want an incredibly safe airport and airplane experience, however, although we make improvements, we don’t put enough resources into the right areas to make sure our security is airtight. We could do it, but we choose not to designate the highest amount of resources for this purpose.
In education, the story is not much different. People get bogged down with why this is and others will get influenced by whatever interest groups contribute to their campaigns, however the shared goal should be the same. We must educate all children at the highest level possible. If this is true, then we should put “our money where our mouth is.” Effectively educating ALL students means investing in communities, health care, educators, and professional training. It means providing what is equitable, not what is always equal. Scholars that require a greater deal of support deserve a larger chunk of the resources; not the other way around. Quality facilities, before and after school programs, counseling/mental health resources, food, and medical resources must be incorporated to make sure our scholars can be ready to learn and access the quality education presented.
If education is the priority, then educators should also be some of the highest paid and supported individuals in our society. On top of higher salaries, we should provide all educators with a greater level of initial and ongoing training and professional development in order to ensure continued growth and utilization of well-researched best practices. This will recruit an even larger pool of qualified talent, provide educators with the tools necessary to teach all of our nation’s children at a high level which will in turn create a feeling of confidence and self-efficacy.
Yes, educators must also be held accountable, and we should probably look at the best structure of our calendar year for scholars to learn (instead of farm) as well. However, the accountability should never be boiled down to one examination that their students take (or opt out of) at one point in the school year. To put this policy in place is to show a total lack of respect for the teaching profession and ignorance of how best to evaluate the multi-dimensional and very fluid process of educating a child. Imagine evaluating a parent on their child’s ability to follow directions on one given day. So many parents would be labeled “ineffective” just based on their child’s performance on that singular day. It seems unfair and we would never stand for it in other professions, but somehow it is allowed in education. We must focus on implementing well-documented best practices and realizing that high quality, scholar-centered education within a collaborative professional culture will always result in better outcomes for all. If we invest in the means, the end will be better as well.
In simplistic terms, if we truly cared about educating all of our scholars in this country, we would figure out a way to recruit, pay, retain, and continuously support and encourage the best teacher candidates this great country has to offer. We would also realize that we must invest in community resources and providing support for students and families in a very holistic fashion. Teachers/educators are amazing people that deserve to be treated as the huge contributors and shapers of society that they are. However, they alone, cannot carry this burden. We, as a society, must prioritize the future of our children as a necessity and provide the resources we know will support them and nurture the future leaders of tomorrow. As we all take some time to love those around us and reflect on all we have to be thankful for, let’s also look at how we can put some more action behind our good intentions. If we can get this right, scholars in this country will have reason to be thankful for years to come.
