Tomorrow’s Teachers?
WHO WILL STAFF TOMORROW’S CLASSROOMS?
Earlier this month blogger Peter Greene struck back against the increasingly frequent “teacher quits via internet post” genre. He wrote a “not quitting” letter to an imaginary school board.
So I will stay here, and I will do what I consider– in my professional opinion– to do what is best for my students and my community. When I am told to implement a bad policy, I will circumvent it by any means at my disposal. I will disregard directives to commit malpractice. I will question, I will challenge, and I will push back. I will speak at every board meeting. I will talk to every parent.
Unfortunately, not everyone can do that. To his credit, he did acknowledge that not everyone is in position to do what he suggested. In the school I volunteer at, for example, anyone who did what he said would get fired due to insubordination.
Yes, I know. Not everyone is in the position to be this feisty and confrontational, and not every situation lends itself to this approach. I’m not advocating this for every single teacher up against it. And yes– lots of teachers have adopted this “stay and fight” stance– they just haven’t written a letter announcing it.As I said, I am not unsympathetic to those who quit. You can only take as much as you can take.
I get it. Teachers who are strong will stay in the classroom…until they can’t. Some teachers will leave because they can’t handle the cognitive dissonance of the education malpractice they are forced to dump on their students…and would Tomorrow’s Teachers? | Live Long and Prosper:
