"Educational Triage"

"I will get my education - if it is in home, school, or any place." - Malala Yousafzai

In a matter of weeks, educators will be looking at their professions through an entirely different lens.  Parents, children, all of us will be waiting for fall out of decision-making made

by those who have never stepped into a classroom.  The cavalier attitude shown by our government officials is even more concerning. I listen to the news because I want to be informed and be able to make the intelligent decisions. I need to in order to go safely back to my job...AS AN EDUCATOR.  What I am listening to and seeing is not very encouraging. 

The questions I have for anyone who is planning our fate, are the following: "When did teachers become expendable? Has it always been this way and I did not notice? When did education become an afterthought? " If I have learned anything these past few months is that it took a pandemic to get me to look at teaching without the rose-colored glasses.  The altruism I had 15 years ago when I began teaching has clearly dissipated as decisions about my profession are continually being made by those who think they understand my profession better than I do or my colleagues do.  The educational triage that teachers have been asked to perform has forced them to go beyond their skillset and our children were educated regardless.  Teachers did their best.  Kids can learn anywhere provided they are monitored and held accountable and guess what?  Success has always started at home with the vigilance and care of parents and guardians.  Whatever public education looks like in September, it has to be a family affair for it to succeed.

Teachers have been at risk ever since the shootings at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook, and countless other incidents and no one is saying a thing.  Now we have a crippling health crisis, and everyone has plenty to say and none of it looks respectful of teachers, administrators, and their endless job responsibilities.  It is about time that the country awakens to not only this pandemic but to working together to try and educate our young people.  Politically, spiritually, and emotionally, teaching needs to be respected again. For those wonderful kids and their parents of school years past, you are in my heart and I know that you understand this quagmire.  Why then do not our political leaders?  

I fully understand that I have been fortunate with my decisions and my profession. Although immensely difficult from year to year, teaching has given my life such meaning.  A teacher's life should be as meaningful and as valued as any other profession.  It also true that my life in public service is not any more valuable than anyone else's.  There has to be a value placed on the education and the life skills that public education offers.  There has to be a conscious effort on all of our parts to give our kids a healthy world in which to live.  To live in denial that nothing can happen to them at school is a travesty.

Teachers need to plan.  They are planners.  They are organized and they understand the severity of taking care of their students.  They engage with every ounce of their physical energy and their emotional energy. You cannot play "Russian Roulette" hoping that everyone will be happy with forcing teachers back into an unsafe working environment.  Politicians may believe it is the right decision but the rest of us with any common sense know otherwise. Teachers are now in the category doctors, nurses, police officers, emergency medical technicians find themselves.  Endangered species.  We are endangered species. Now we get to witness first-hand what our beliefs really are.  Do we care about each other regardless of political viewpoints?  Do we care about each other in spite of others who clearly do not?  As a nation, we have to be on the same page when it comes to education. What public education will look like has got to take into consideration our students' well-being and their teachers. We are not sacrificial lambs.

Public education has been failing for quite a long time.  It has failed in that not every student needs can be accomodated. There is not as much differentiation to accommodate the passions and talents of our youth. It has failed because if we would just let teachers find their confidence again, our students would thrive and not be bored out of their minds.  Not every student will want what the government says they should want or for that fact, big business.  We need to get our kids to communicate appropriately and we need them to function without an Xbox.  Individualizing education means finding the appropriate way for kids to problem solve and yes...they must be allowed to fail. Let kids fail and they will learn a whole lot more than if we pat them on the back and send them on their way thinking they have succeeded when they really have not.  To lie to them is a terrible mistake.  Ignorance is infectious too.

The reason education is being so mitigated at this point is because many people feel threatened by what they do not know or understand.   I know how that feels because I have felt very fearful about things I do not understand. It is easy to give up and walk away from difficulty. Ask my "math teacher guru."  This is a natural reaction for many.  The trick is to embrace the idea that the world is an interesting, more compelling place because of our differences not in spite of them.

We have roughly eight weeks before school starts in September.  September has the most important meaning for teachers.  It is our beginning. It is our immediate challenge for the year ahead.  Keep politics out of education.  Let common sense prevail and let respect for learning take precedence over political rhetoric.  It is time to grow up and understand that we are in this together. Until the respect is in place, we are in a total, complete mess.  The only way to handle the mess is if we all collaborate and tell our kids that pandemic or not, you will do your best to learn and behave appropriately.  This may be a democracy, but a parent's last word is non-negotiable.  At this present juncture, the guilt that is being transferred on both the backs of parents and teachers is so incredibly sad and unfortunate.  No one should be made guilty for wanting to protect their health or their family's health.

There are alternatives that appear to be working in other parts of the world.  Denmark seems to have found a reasonable way of scheduling their children, with small class sizes, the safety of PPE and making sure everyone gets outside in the sunshine.  They started with scheduling younger children and then rotated bringing in the older students.  Students wash their hands every hour and desks and chairs are sanitized twice daily. Surprisingly, their plans seem to be phenomenally successful because of strategic scheduling and preparation and that makes one pause...Are we really looking at whatever countries are doing to find resolutions to this pandemic?  At this juncture, it appears we are not. We are not in control of this virus yet.  We are choosing pride and political rhetoric over common sense.  We are legitimizing ignorance.  We are risking everything for an intangible.  The only thing any of us know for sure is that masks and social distancing work.  To think otherwise is a huge disservice.   To mitigate the importance of public education is also a disservice.   If we do not care about each other, particularly now, everyone loses.