"Ask an impertinent question, and you're on your way to a pertinent answer." —Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man
As of October 2015, my goal for this blog is to ask 101 impertinent questions.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Apologies To miner5

Following my first blog, I received this comment from a teacher, miner5.

"There was a fight in the hall over a stolen $20 mp3 player....A colleague of mine was...knocked down the stairs and trampled by students in a hurry to see the fight. The students were given a stern talking to and the next day (it was) business as usual. My friend and colleague suffered several tramas to the head, has severe headaches and vision problems." miner 5 went on to say she left that high school and took an elementary school position. She then adds, "we are in crisis mode here and I don't know how to impart this to the public." But her reason for writing was not just to lament the problems because she concludes that what resonated with her was my comment that children are not our future but our present." miner5, you are experiencing the same grief over what's happening to children that motivated me to create this website. Yet, I didn't respond to you. I'm sorry.

I myself knew a teacher who was stabbed and another who was beaten up. By the end of my career in the early nineties, most teachers I knew were so demoralized by the lack of discipline and emotional abuse from students that they suffered varying degrees of the psychological condition known as "battered teacher syndrome." Why didn't I respond to you, miner5? I created my website to promote conversation about how We the People can demand better schools. Yet I turned away from your grief and frustration and began to tell a story. Yes, the story will offer insight into what's missing from our education system. But philosophy is not reality.

You know, as I know, miner5, that no meaningful change will come to our schools until we realize as a people just how desperate the situation has become and how damaging schools are to our children. I heard you, miner5. I will continue telling my story in another blog. But I will resist the temptation to turn away from the fact that the history of violence in America's schools shows that no school is immune from the possibility of tragedy. Certainly, media reports also confirm that our children are falling behind the academic achievements of every nation in the industrialized world. But the real problem is not that our children are falling behind.

The real problem is that school administrators lack the skills and will to solve the problems in our schools. Because of this lack of leadership, teachers are not receiving the support and training they need to give our children the education they need and deserve.

Suddenly overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and the faceless world of the blogosphere, I fled the issues and ignored your lament, miner5, for our children. It is my lament as well. Starting tomorrow, The Gullog will be back on track with The Daily Squawk about business as usual in our education system.

1 comment:

Miner 5 said...

I appreciate your apology...I am enjoying the story you are telling. It's been almost 2 years since that incident. The students didn't target this teacher, it was an 'accident'. Unlike being stabbed or beaten. I know that you do understand and your thoughts indicate just that. Since I have left, the state ordered the principal be removed and replaced. The principal was moved downtown to be the supervisor of secondary schools that have been identified as failing and in need of a plan to be 'turned around'. Apologies accepted but not necessary. :)