Bill Schechter: I Was a Teacher, Not a Number
Guest post by Bill Schechter.
Clearly, I was a superb teacher. Probably one of the best. That's what the numbers show, and numbers don't lie.
Before I retired after 35-years as a high school teacher, almost none of my school's students failed the state standardized tests mandated by the 1993 Education Reform Act in Massachusetts. How about a passing rate of 97%! True, I taught in an affluent district where most students were so enriched even before they entered my classroom that sometimes I thought their heads would explode. Mostly their parents were professionals. College? Not an issue. The real question: Would it have a little ivy hanging from its name?
If truth be told, the students generally thought the state exams were a joke, and one that they greatly enjoyed. On the ever-proliferating exam days, upperclassmen could sleep in and then needed to attend only an
