So What IS the Problem?

So What IS the Problem?

How in the world did a faith and fitness writer take on the challenges of education? Believe it or not just a few weeks ago I was happy to sign my contract. I was pleased with my position as well as my salary. But then a few things happened that opened my eyes. In the musical Sarafina, there is a song that includes this in the chorus: An injustice to one is an injustice to all. Amen, Sister! When I saw how some of my colleagues were treated and then heard several of them tell me they were transferring or going to another school district, my heart stopped. How could I think everything was okay in my world, but others were suffering? Well, maybe everything was NOT okay in my world. I just happened to have a good year THIS year. In my own teaching career and with conversations with other colleagues, there are a few problems that keep coming up. 1. Not being valued as a professional. Many buildings have top-down management, and in many cases teachers feel like they can’t offer solutions they think will work in their own classrooms. I addressed fear yesterday, but it really is sad if a teacher feels like he/she can’t have a conversation with their administrators. Talk about not feeling valued!

2. Not being supported. In many of our schools, discipline is a problem. I’ve worked in at least three other middle schools, but when I worked in central office, I had the opportunity to go to every single building in the district. In many schools discipline is a problem. What teachers see as the biggest problem is administrators who do not support them as they deal with discipline. Student uses profanity towards a staff member? They might be disciplined. Student uses it in the classroom regularly? They might come back with a treat (no exaggeration). Are teachers being petty about this? Absolutely not. Students who disrupt class on a regular basis and are sent back to class without consequences sets a tone that nothing is done about misbehavior. The students who were borderline behavior problems now take that as a license to do even more and behaviors in those students start to escalate. I’ve often said that I have only spent a small amount of time in my career teaching. In many cases all I did was discipline: correcting behaviors in my classroom and breaking up fights outside my classroom. Educators deal with a lot in this area, and in many schools these educators don’t feel like anyone is supporting their efforts.

3. Which leads me to another problem for some of my colleagues, and that is safety. How many of my colleagues don’t feel safe in their buildings? I don’t feel that way now, but I have felt that way in other buildings. At one time I worked in a school with overage students, so some students were 16 and 17 in a middle school setting. I was constantly breaking up fights between students who were twice my size. In one case I got knocked into a door and obtained a bruise the size of a baseball. That was the day I called my mama and said they can have this job because I’m not coming back. Obviously I came back, but some teachers would have packed their bags and not looked back. Correction—some teachers would have left everything behind and walked out the front doors. No one should go to work and feel physically threatened by students. We have administrators, security officers, and in some cases resource officers, but that doesn’t negate the fact that some buildings have students that make both staff and students feel unsafe. I will address the criminal aspect in a later blog, so stay tuned.

I’m sure some of my colleagues could add to this list, but these three seem to be the most recurring.