Please Don’t Call Me Coach
If I were still teaching, I don’t think I would want people calling me “Coach.”
Referring to teachers as Coaches has been in vogue for the last dozen years or so. Instead of being “Sages on the Stage,” teachers became “Guides on the Side.” Better yet, they were “Coaches” who brought out the best in their students. “Coach” was understood to be a high compliment, a term of great respect. It carried the message that this particular teacher understood individual differences among his or her students and had the skills to bring out the best in each kid. That was then…..
Times have changed, and, if I were still teaching, I don’t think I would want people calling me “Coach.”
Here’s why: the bottom line mentality is increasingly in charge in public education, with 25 states (and counting) judging teachers according to their students’ test scores. That’s a key provision of the federal government’s “Race to the Top” program as well.
This bottom line philosophy is built on the concept of winners and losers, profit and loss. In education