2/11/2017
You may have noticed that among the many kinds of individuals who are beyond outraged at the current presidential administration, educators are pretty high on the list. The appointment of Betsy DeVos, someone with zero credentials in the realm of public education, to serve as the Secretary of Education, is probably the most conspicuous reason that educators are so outraged. This makes some sense. After all, here are some facts that we know about Ms. DeVos:
* She never attended or worked at a public school in her life;
* She was fully unable to understand Senator Franken's straightforward question regarding her views on the distinction between performance-based versus growth-based assessment of learning (this stuff is sort of taught in 101 classes in Education programs);
* She literally suggested that schools in places like Montana might consider having guns on hand in case of grizzly bear attacks;
* etc.
If you are reading this blog, you're probably up on the news and you probably know the deal with Ms. DeVos.
But from my perspective, as an advocate of public education, the problem is actually much more personal. You see, for one, I only attended public schools my whole life. From humble beginnings in New Jersey (Wilson Elementary School, Grover Cleveland Junior High School, and James Caldwell High School), to two of New England's premier state universities (The University of Connecticut and the University of New Hampshire), I'm fully a product of public schools.
Further, since 2000, I have been privileged to be employed as a professor with teaching responsibilities at the State University of New York at New Paltz. While I do a lot of things in my job, it is without question that teaching is my number one priority. And I cannot overstate how much I put into my teaching. As I've argued before (see my Psychology Today post, Teaching as the Single Most Important Profession), I don't think there are any professions that are more important to society than the teaching professions. Behind every successful individual in any field is the hard-fought work of an army of teachers. Every successful physician has dozens of teachers across all kinds of levels to thank. Every successful baseball player, has all kinds of teachers, including batting coaches, to thank. Every successful politician has an army of teachers to thank as well.
In the teaching professions, we build people. We build the future. In addition to transferring knowledge to bright young minds, great teachers inspire the next generation of leaders. For my money, teachers ultimately influence the next generation within a society more so than do folks from any other profession.
In my case, I'm like a lot of other teachers. I work tirelessly. I bring my work home. I care deeply about reaching all of my students - about getting them to see that they are capable of greatness - of making a difference. When my students graduate, I tell them two things. First, I tell them to keep in touch, because I want to hear about their future successes. A teacher's primary pay is in successes of his or her alum.
Second, I tell my graduating students this: "Go out there and make the world a better place - no pressure." This is, to my mind, the bottom line of education. We are shaping the future leaders of this great nation. And we are ultimately charged, through the work of our alumni, to make this world a better place. This is how I see what education is all about.
Why Teachers Really Care about the Current State of the Nation
So this gets to my point of why teachers really care about what is happening to our great nation. Sure, we are terrified of Betsy DeVos and are concerned about future funding for public education - and all that. But for me, the concerns run much deeper. I have been teaching college students since 1994. I have spent decades of my life working at break neck speed to educate, inspire, and guide the next generation.
And I partly do this because I believe in this country. Because I believe that these young minds will go out there and, given the American dream, will make this world a better place.
With the current administration, it's hard for me to actually believe in that right now. Do I really want to send my alum out into a nation that is pretty much at civil war? Do I really want to send my alum out into a nation that is premised on hate and xenophobia? Do I really want to send my alum out into a nation that has a madman behind the wheel? A leader who is working as efficiently as possible to dismantle every single fabric that holds together the values of the USA? Whose work on dismantling the American Dream might have effects for generations to come?
The real reason that a huge majority of teachers voted for Clinton (see this article from USA Today for data on this topic) isn't that we were concerned about the dismantling of public education (although that certainly was a consideration). The most fundamental reason that teachers so overwhelmingly voted for Clinton was this: The current administration's perspective on the world has, in one fell swoop, taken away the America that we all stand for. The America that we felt proud sending our alumni out into. The America that is based on freedom and opportunity for ALL people. From my perspective as a lifelong educator, the main reason that educators in general are outraged by the current administration is the fact that we no longer feel that we live in a country that we believe in.
The current administration literally has me feeling like all of my hard work in the domain of teaching is about to go down the drain.
If ever there was a time to become politically active and rise up, that time is now. Here is to the uprising.
Join the uprising at www.moveforwardnewyork.org
Note that the views expressed herein are expressly the views of the author and are not necessarily the views of Move Forward New York as a collective entity.
