Teachers

Stepping out of our normal lane for a minute, but we're on the eve of (or already into) the first week of school, so this feels worth saying. Public schools, and the people who make them run, are both a security blanket and a safety net for our communities. They're just there, every day, waiting to catch our kids when they need them. For most kids, most days, it's pretty simple. They go to school. They learn. They eat lunch. They see their friends. They come home. But when it's not simple, there's an entire network of people waiting.

When a child is hungry, somebody feeds them.

When they can't see the board, somebody notices.

When they show up without a coat, somebody starts looking for one.

When home isn't safe, somebody has to figure out what happens next.

When a child has a disability, people build supports around them.

When they're grieving, scared, homeless, angry, sick, struggling...or simply need an adult to notice that something isn't right...somebody at school usually does.

And then tomorrow morning, the bus comes back again.

We spend an enormous amount of time arguing
about public schools: test scores, curriculum, discipline, funding, politics, phones, books and a hundred other things.

Those conversations matter. Public schools aren't perfect. Nobody who actually works in one would tell you they are.

But sometimes all that noise obscures something pretty remarkable:

Every weekday morning, communities across America open their doors and essentially say, "Send us your children. We'll take care of them today."

And millions of families build their lives around the assumption that those doors will open.

Before daylight, a bus driver starts a route. A cafeteria worker prepares breakfast. A custodian opens a building. A teacher prepares a lesson. An assistant gets ready to help a child who needs them. A nurse prepares for whatever walks through the door. A counselor gets ready to listen.

And a principal is about to discover a problem at 7:42 that nobody on Earth knew existed at 7:41.

Most of it isn't glamorous. Most of it never makes the news.

Bring us the kids.

The ones who read three grade levels ahead and the ones who can't read yet.

The ones who have everything and the ones who show up with almost nothing.

The easy ones and the ones who will test every ounce of patience we've got.

Bring them all.

We'll teach them. We'll feed them. We'll keep them safe.

We'll make mistakes.

We'll try again tomorrow.

And we'll keep the doors open.

So as another school year begins, maybe this isn't the week for arguing about public schools. There will be plenty of time for that. Maybe this is just the week to notice them.

Notice the yellow buses rolling before sunrise. Notice the lights coming on in buildings all over your community. Notice the people standing at the doors waiting for children who aren't even their own.

Tomorrow morning, millions of families will send the people they love most through those doors...and thousands upon thousands of people will be there waiting for them. That's a pretty extraordinary promise for a community to make.

-Public School Apologist

What do we do best as teachers? by Glen Brown

We inspire others. We influence and move people to action. We take a person’s potentiality and make it an actuality. We offer our help to others because of our compassion and our empathy, because of our humility and our dignity. We communicate truths because of our integrity. We never give up because of our moral responsibility towards one another and the importance of trust among individuals. We fight against all injustices. We understand; we discuss; we mediate, and we act. We do what is right and model our behavior for others. We hold ourselves accountable for what we do and what we believe is true. We set the example.

What are we as teachers? We are leaders, consultants, diagnosticians and evaluators; we are life-long learners; we are architects for the experiences of others. We are what we want to see in others: our idealism, our indomitable spirit, our commitment to human rights and to the creation of a better society. We are responsible, intrepid and just. We are one of last bastions of hope for a society driven by amoral envy, indifferent greed and partisan politics.

We are appalled by hypocrisy and lies, by incompetence, irresponsibility and cronyism. We are appalled by intentional faulty logic and the unethical scapegoating of others, by arrogance and self-interest, by prejudice and the injustices done to others. We are appalled by irrationality, indifference, and authoritarianism; therefore, we must stay united and fight not only for the rights of others but for our teaching profession. 

-Glen Brown

I taught full time for 46 years and loved it: 35 years in public schools (29 in high school and 6 in junior high), plus 11 years in a Catholic University and part time at night in a junior college for many years while working full time as a teacher.