Teaching is not an easy job. The profession is filled with more pitfalls and potholes than the way to hell, yet many people embark on the path of teaching – often as a last resort and often without an end in mind.
I was in this position when I first started teaching last June during summer school at a small private institution in Jackson, MS. I had no clue about the ethical monsters I would confront as a teacher, some of which I kept at bay and others to which I gave ground. The beginning of the regular school year brought them all rushing toward me pell-mell, and I attempted at times to fight them off, at others I ran away from them in a similar fashion. But the school year came to an end, I had time to recuperate from the battle and then the opportunity came for summer school. I would like to think that I have the metaphoric monsters on the retreat. But let me here give name to these monsters, and castigate their followers in passing, for there is nothing so vile as an enemy who flies friendly colors, or a devil who is adored as a deity. I propose to accomplish this over a series of blog posts in the following weeks. But here I start with one of the most vile of the creatures.
Upon taking up my post as a teacher, I was introduced to a new and innovative method of teaching. A method which involved the use of two simple materials: a study guide and a test! In this method of giving credit, students complete the study guide and then take a test on the chapter in question. By this method, students can sometimes finish year-long classes in a matter of weeks. There is no discussion, there is no lecture, students do not have homework or activities, simply study guides and tests. I once confronted an administrator about this issue and was told that the way I taught class was “thought provoking” but students needed a more “basic course.” A more basic course! The thought is so detestable to me that I do not know what to compare it to – a sandwich without meat, an Oreo without stuffing, a taco without filling? I was wise and held my tongue in the face of this criticism but I cannot imagine how anyone thinks it a good idea. There are worse methods: giving out grades with no work to show for them, grading for completion or not grading at all. Zeus or Jupiter, their names are different, their effects are similar. In any case, my own track record against this monster is clear – I have never once allowed a student to complete a course in such a manner.
I must here pause to castigate the followers of this method who have the daring to call themselves teachers. Can you make no effort to bestir yourself to teach? Do you not care about the subject you are teaching? Are you afraid of any work which involves more than going through the motions? How is it that you can value your work or accept your paycheck? Are you not aware that by giving students credit for completing a course in which they learned nothing that you are giving them a false sense of achievement? Do you imagine that your actions are unimportant?
In answer to this last question I wish to describe an episode which arose in one of my classes this very day. My students were trying me to see if they could escape completing some work, I was in the process of declining when one of them said to me “Mr. Duke, you act like this is a life or death issue, it's just Government.” In short I responded by asking him if he would say the same in other educational situations: the doctor learning the location of the heart or the physicist learning how to harness the power of atomic energy. He agreed that it was important. Nevertheless, his unconsidered objection is the stated opinion of many 'well-educated' people. I have only to say to them that bad politics is as deadly as bad science. The point is that high school is not some throw away time period when students should not be expected to learn. Every subject is important for its own reasons. If you, as a teacher, are unaware of the reasons why what you are teaching is important, you should be deeply ashamed and immediately try to find out or find a different job.
Teachers are not the only ones to blame. We must also castigate parents and students for being such poorly informed consumers of education. Any parent who is not concerned about whether their child is actually learning or not (as opposed to simply passing classes) does not deserve the title. If the error is one of being intellectually unaware of the difference it can be forgiven. If it is one of not caring to make the distinction, it cannot.
But here I must go on, because it is not enough to blame those directly involved in the classroom and the home (teachers, parents and students). There is a fourth class of perpetrators who are perhaps most culpable for the practice continuing, namely, administrators. First, administrators have the responsibility to oversee teachers. In my own experience, as well as that of other teachers I communicate with, I have not found that administrators exist to actually help facilitate the educational process. All too often, when a teacher sees an administrator coming into their room it is so that they can discuss 'alternate means of assessment' which is a kind of Orwellian, educational doublespeak for an easier assignment. Administrators often mandate that certain students receive easier work than others (more 'basic courses'). They have removed students from my classroom, taken their files, given them work and then had the nerve to suggest that I lost the student's material and that I need to turn in a grade for that student. In the earlier periods of my employment, I am sad to say that I was sometimes intimidated by these tactics and once or twice gave ground.
The problem is that many administrators are too driven by empty results. These results vary from school to school but all have the same effect. In private school, more students graduating (and thus more money) is the object. In public school, better scores are the goal. Better scores and more graduations are not enough. Students must actually learn something! A few words for the wise administrator: Identify those teachers who are not teaching – fire them. Do not interfere with the curriculum simply because some students are incapable of completing the material to the state's standards – perhaps these students need to learn a trade which does not require them to know about English Literature, Algebra, Physics or U.S. Government. Finally, acknowledge that your roll in the actual process of education is as a watchdog – a watchdog against the unethical, against anyone who would waylay the educational process or give in to those who would do so. If you are involved in marketing the school in any way, you should either make no promises about what will happen in the classroom or be honest about what is possible when speaking to parents.
As I wind down this rambling diatribe, which I hope to recommence some time in the future, I would like to say that not everything I write about deals with issues at the school where I teach. Much of my writing concerns stories I have heard from other teachers at other schools, though some of my experiences are included. Above all, I believe that education is a process which must constantly subject itself to criticism and self-reflection. Otherwise, the process never changes and we all keep plodding along trying to educate as we always have, often ineffectively.
