Definitely not blaming teachers!
When I left a comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog (http://dianeravitch.net) about this website as a support for the teacher voice that she advocated, an angry respondent thought I was blaming teachers for not speaking up. Teachers need to focus on their classrooms with no time for the larger fray, he/she argued. I don’t want to come off as “blaming,” however, so I need to continually make this completely clear.
What am I saying, then, when I assert that we teachers haven’t used our voice in the public sphere nearly enough? Well, it’s completely understandable that it hasn’t happened. First, speaking out publicly simply hasn’t been part of our teacher culture — which means we don’t get to learn how to do it (the way community organizers do), and we’re not accustomed to it. Second, finding time really is hard. Third, just like everyone else who worries about job security, we don’t want to get ourselves in trouble.
YET — if we don’t tell the stories of our work that only we really know, then who will? And without those stories, decisions are made about education that aren’t always well-thought-out. So to say that the changing times mean we need to start doing something we haven’t done enough of — that’s not blaming. It’s just stressing a need, and hopefully encouraging and aiding teachers to step up and address that need. The recently developed standards for teacher leadership, by the way, strongly emphasize teachers’ role in joining public discussion.
So call me out if I don’t say it well! It’s all part of the conversation.
Steve, with each passing day I realize the importance of teachers speaking out about what we do… not to complain, but rather to tell the other side of the story that’s been told and retold in the narrative. If we don’t speak up for ourselves, who will do it for us?
What does it say that our Secretary of Education has never been a teacher? What about Superintendents/CEOs of large urban school systems that are business leaders, no educators? Can they really understand the realities of the classroom?
If not us, who?
Steve, it appears we can be “called out,” legitimately perhaps, for not using our voices, for using them but not well enough, and for using them too well! Let’s honor any efforts to overcome the leverages “muting” teachers, including their working conditions, and stive for voices so well used that those goaded are those who should be! JSD
Many thanks, Jim! I hope you’ll be encouraging teachers you work with to visit the website so they begin adding their voices to the chorus.