What Frank McCourt Could Teach Joel Klein and Arne Duncan

Frank McCourt died yesterday. He was a wonderful writer, and very unsentimental about the teaching profession. He taught in NYC high schools for thirty years and wrote a book about his experiences called Teacher Man. His insights would be very valuable to Joel Klein or Arne Duncan, if they had ever listened.

Check out this interview from 2005 on WNYC radio:

Leonard Lopate: "If you were named Schools Chancellor what would you do?"

Frank McCourt: "I'd certainly go to Albany and get more money for the teachers' salaries...and I'd cut the school day and certainly cut the size of the classes, because they're monstrous. And I've have a parliament of teachers, no supervisors and certainly no politicians."

He also mentions, heartbreakingly, how the huge teaching loads in NYC schools meant that he had too many students and too little time to develop real relationships with any of them.

When one or two students first asked him to have coffee, at first he said yes, but he soon learned that he just wasn't able to get to know them- with 175 students each semester.

He bemoans the lack of respect for teachers -- how hard they work, how little their opinions and professionalism matter to elected officials; and how their views are never heeded about how schools could be improved.

Indeed, in national surveys, over 90% of teachers regularly respond that the best way to raise the quality of education would be to reduce class size - over every other strategy proposed, including increased salaries, merit pay, professional development, or anything else.

And yet the powers-that-be always criticize this view as somehow merely reflecting self-interest, rather than in the best interest of the children as well. They never make the same attack on merit pay or increased teacher salaries, somehow -- just the one proposal that would directly improve classroom conditions and the ability of children to learn.

If 95% of doctors year after year proposed a certain reform as the best way to improve our medical system, would they be brushed off so easily? Not likely.

I remember a great speech McCourt gave at the UFT spring conference in 2006--- telling a packed audience at the Hilton a hilarious story about how he was once so overwhelmed with all the homework he had to correct that he threw all 175 student papers into a dumpster.

He also went on at some length about how elected officials and top administrators never listen to teachers, but unfortunately by that time, all of those who had been there, including Joel Klein, had left the room.

See also this interview, also from 2005:

McCourt: ... Teachers here are treated like second-class, third-class, fourth-class citizens. They're told to come in the back door. ....This is all a matter of class and status, and maybe snobbery. And the figures go along with this -- the lousy pay they get and the lack of respect.

When did you last see a teacher on a talk show? Movie stars and athletes and politicians -- criminals! They all get on the talk shows. But not the teachers. They are regarded as dull people. The ones who take care of the children every day. Almost like super babysitters. That's the way they are treated.

And then when you do see something on television, a panel on education, you see someone from the board of education, you see a professor of education, or you see a bureaucrat, someone from a think tank, a politician, but never a teacher. Never. Imagine a panel on medicine without a doctor? The uproar there would be from the medical profession!

But all the politicians think they own education. Just the way the pope and the cardinals think they own the [Roman Catholic] Church. Which they do, of course. We don't get the keys. The politicians have the keys to the educational system, they control the purse strings, and they don't have a clue about what education is. I know they've been to school and all themselves, but what goes on in the classroom is another story.

Comments

[EstuaryQueen]

There is enough empirical evidence supporting the claim that small class sizes improve students' learning. The time is now to start implementing small class sizes. We must not wait till more research is done. Our children need small classes NOW, not when twenty more studies are concluded (by which time kids in school today will be out of school).

[rosie17]

Ed is right. There are way too many adminstrat­ors(likely graduates of that famous "Leadership Academy") who are inexperienced and incompetent. Yet they have the audacity and authority to dole out U ratings indiscrimately. Thanks to Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, schools are now run like a business. Of course any educator knows that schools should never be run like a business. It's now all about the numbers.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

I have an addendum to the old joke;
Those who can't do, teach.
Those who can't teach, teach gym.

Those who can't teach gym.... run the NYC or federal education departments.

(Apologies to teachers, gym or general.)

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Just imagine the howl if an unemployed former anti-trust attorney was set up as the head of the American Medical Association -- and had the final word on how our medical schools train heart surgeons.

Why we stand for the politicization (frequently for profit if not pander) of our school system is a mystery to me.

[Ed Greenspan]

It is also my hope that when Chancellor Klein leaves his current position, he should commit to teaching for 5 years in one of our many SURR schools. He should teach under the conditions he has created. Ditto for Randi Weingarten, Ernest Logan and all members of the hierarchy of the UFT and CSA. You have to teach for at least 10 years to develop full competency. Only at that point should you be considered for a supervisory position.
Too many of our educational big-wigs have been out of the classroom for so long that they don't fully understand the rigors of classroom teaching. They ought to be reminded by a good classroom stint.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Wow, Ed. You must really hate those kids. ;-)

[Ed Greenspan]

Sorry to read of Mr. McCourt's passing.
I have been saying the same thing now for quite a while. We need a committee of teachers-both active and retired running the schools. Since supervisors would scream at such an idea, they would have to be included.
I wonder what McCourt thought of the Academy for Principals. What a waste this is. They're bringing in people to serve as supervisors who never taught one day. How can they supervise teachers? Ridiculous. You need at least 10 years of teaching experience to develop competence and then you can think about becoming a supervisor.
I also liked what Mr. McCourt said about shortening school days. Our most disruptive children don't need longer days. They're literally bouncing off the walls as the school day ends. Frank McCourt certainly would have advocated work-study programs for older, disruptive pupils.
The following also must occur in the school system. Along with Mayor Bloomberg being forced to adhere to term limits, there has to be term limits for UFT and CSA heads. You can't be out of the classroom for so many years and still be able to accurately know what is going on in classrooms.
Restoration of the 600 school concept for disruptive pupils needs to be tackled. Of course, smaller class size is vital as well. The mayor and chancellor refuse to deal with either of these subjects.

[Jose Vilson]

Excellent read. I found the point about expertise and teachers particularly poignant. When do teachers like me or the other teachers I know actually get tapped as experts of their own experiences? I can't remember the last time I saw something on a national scale that let teachers just talk about their experiences in a panel. With that said, I also know that when teachers DO get documented, it's always in the classroom and it's usually not about anything abstract like policy, but more concrete like the day-to-day stuff, as if we're that simple. Unfortunately, even with all the teachers that blog and write, we still have this idea that teachers are indeed boring and one dimensional.

I'll stop there, but thanks for posting this up, Leonie. This was realllllly good.