When I've studied the issue of who chooses to teach and why, its status as a profession always comes up. In case you haven't noticed, teachers as a whole are not taken very seriously these days. Teaching as a respected profession has been on life support for quite some time. Current so-called reformers appear poised to finally pull the plug once and for all.
Teaching is and should ideally be viewed as an intellectual profession. As such, educators should challenge conventional wisdom and encourage students to do the same. I recently called into question my own dual role as an educator and activist, rethinking how I negotiate the fine line between them. Someone whom I respect greatly suggested that I read Representations of the Intellectual by Edward Said to understand this struggle. A particular passage resonated with me that I think applies to educators of all kinds:
The fact is that the intellectual ought neither to be so uncontroversial and safe a figure as to be just a friendly technician nor should the intellectual try to be a full-time Cassandra, who was not only righteously unpleasant but also unheard. Every human being is held in by a society, no matter how free and open the society, no matter how bohemian the individual... In any case, the intellectual is supposed to be heard from, and in practice ought to be stirring up debate and if possible controversy. But the alternatives are not total quiescence or total rebelliousness (p. 89).
One big problem with the debate on education reform is the tendency to trample nuance and force people into two exclusive and competing categories: reform versus status quo. The reform camp on one side is pushing a very specific vision of change in education based on a particular ideology. Those on the other side, typically classroom teachers and their oft-criticized unions, possess their own ideologies. Yet, they are erroneously tagged as pro status quo only because of resistance to the prevailing reformers' arguments. And status quo is used as a derogatory term in the reform debate.
In reality, solutions likely rest in those in-between spaces, which is suggested by the first part of Said's above quote. Teachers are reluctant to participate in reform debates because any resistance is mistakenly viewed as outright revolt. Although, teachers don't seem too shy with lodging complaints in staff lounges and workrooms about testing, lack of resources, or parental support, for example. When the rare opportunity to speak truth to power arrives, all we hear are crickets.
The last part of Said's words above suggests that educators who do not question or critique are totally abandoning a significant professional and ethical responsibility. Moreover, those that discourage dissent are denying educators an important part of their job. All of this assumes that teachers are intellectuals and education is at all levels an intellectual profession. Now, I'm not so sure.
To revisit the question that titles this post: is the teaching profession dead? I'm pretty close to admitting that it is indeed dead, or at the very least so deprived of intellectual and professional vigor that it cannot possibly recover. Teaching is now closer to a vocation than a profession; a teacher is what Said calls the "friendly technician." I'm disappointed. I mean: I don't have a problem with vocations, per se. But educators, man, I expected something a bit more from them.
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http://www.examiner.com/public-education-in-los-angeles/the-lost-teachers-of-lausd
I work in a department whose members all hold advanced degrees, and wherein most engage in daily, substantive personal reflection and faculty-room conversation about applications of classroom technology, nuanced qualitative evaluation of student writing, and the evolution of the "lesson" in the age of the Common Core and GERM. I am a union member, vocal in my school about what constitutes quality evolution of educational practice, and a daily participant in the education discourse in the Capital District of New York State.
Start by reading my posts @ChrisMazura, which admittedly aren't as intellectual as most out there. Then try reading the stream at #edchat, #nwp, and #edtech. Follow the best and write a new piece on the exchanges you observe. Oh, and don't forget the nuance.
You've found your way into one of my categories: uneducated, misinformed (and worse yet) education beat writer who reifies teacher sterotypes while claiming to walk the politically constructed line that divides reformers and teachers. Frankly, I expected more of a former teacher. Is the profession really dead? What game are you watching?
Thanks for giving me something trivial to talk about in the faculty lounge tomorrow.
Lobbying doesn't work because freshman staff members one is permitted to speak with have less knowledge about education than a student teacher, having already slurped the GERM Kool-Aid dribbling from their bosses' chins. And even some of the most organized historical protests have ended when the weather turns or the college semester ends and the progressives get moderate enough to go on summer vacation.
That's not to say I won't take responsibility for my own use of time.
I'll take your bio at your word -- so you've taught. You know the hours, and you may even be aware of the hours that those most dedicated teachers put in. I'm writing a response to a little-read education blog at some dusty corner of a news aggregator. What kind of a loser does that make me? These are the hours: 24-7. Perhaps I'm misallocating my time. Perhaps I should be spending time hitting the pavement, writing editorials, screaming in my community, using the #ows infrastructure to bring the anti-GERM agenda to the fore.
xirdneh132, you are right, it is a marketing problem. Teachers are pretty defensive lately. There is just always this feeling of vulnerability, that someone will get hurt, that someone is being bullied and you are blind to it, that you can be falsely accused of something. It is hard to overcome that fear, and stand tall. But you are right, we have to do it.
While I cannot tell anyone what to do, I think that parents are expecting too much of schools. We are extremely limited in what we can do. Teachers want to explore topics in depth as much as you want us to but when we are forced to move at such a rapid pace, depth is just not an option. I teach history and we have to cover from pre-Columbus to present day in 9 months. That is just unreasonable. But I can't just not cover it because I want to go "in depth" and cover the Spanish influence of Texas for an entire six weeks. We are all have to make sacrifices and instead of yanking your kids out of public schools or complaining about inadequate teachers, then maybe parents should go to bat for teachers instead of bashing us without even trying to understand our point of view.
The publication of "Teacher Data Reports" and other information that tries to break a complex process (teaching) down to a single number has forced teachers to retreat into hiding. BUT be SURE OF THIS - teachers are preparing for battle! There are pockets of resistance to the insanity of Race to the Top and the DEFORMERS! Visit us at www.dumpduncan.org and JOIN US!
My students write quite frequently and they get upset that they have to write. Whether they become intellectuals or not, they will be required to write in some capacity in their adult lives. My job is to teach the curriculum but also to infuse such rigor that my students feel challenged academically and at the end of the year walk away with a greater historical knowledge base and also with a stronger set of academic skills.
While I understand that your son may not have been at the best school, it is not fair to bash young teachers. I personally am offended because parents completely discredit young teachers who are trying to make a difference and eventually tear these young, optimistic individuals down to the point where they want to take their talents elsewhere.
And yes, we tend to get a lot less respect from parents than the older, more established teachers do..it's just something we have to accept and hope we can make it to the day when we are the older ones...