Friday, August 14, 2009

What is wrong with these people?

I hadn't thought much recently about teachers. Mostly because I'm not in school, no one in my family is in school and the people I know who teach know what they're doing and don't whine to me about it. And then, today, someone sent me this Washington Post Link: Schools Need Teachers Like Me: I Just Can't Stay.

Now, in my defense, I didn't read the whole title when I got the link. I stopped reading entire sentences sometime over the past few years and now just pick up keywords and if I can't tell what's going on, will read a phrase here and there. If I had read the title, I would never have read the article. The title itself says exactly what this girl's, Sarah Fine's, issue is and I certainly didn't need to hear it again. But I read so fast I didn't realize until I was three-quarters of the way through how absurdly offensive it was.

Sarah Fine is evidently the child of an upper-middle-class suburban upbringing who then went onto an ivy league school and then felt oh so terribly guilty about who she was that she went to teach children at a DC charter school. Immediately, you've lost me. I know these bratty little suburban idiots and they have nothing substantive going for them. They are sheltered and whiny and waste everyone's time with their incredibly boring monologues about the depth of their thoughts and how oh so unique their circumstances are. Most importantly, they can't for the life of them see the big picture because, in real world terms, they are simply dumb. It doesn't matter where you go to school or what you study if you know absolutely nothing about people - about how they work, how to influence them and how to improve both your and their lot in life - you will achieve nothing of substance.

The reason I was done with this piece before I started has to do with many things. I know a lot of teachers who teach genuinely challenging student populations and who had privileged upbringings and aren't engaging in a public display of self-pity over it. In part because they actually know how to work with people but mostly because teaching is not akin to slaving over a series of cutting-edge scientific discoveries. You're literally doing nonsense like teaching children to read and write. I'm sorry and I don't care what population you're working with, it simply does not rise to the level of "difficult." It may be difficult for an individual due to his or her circumstances and psychological weaknesses, but it is not objectively difficult. I would also like to note that teachers are MORE than fairly paid for the minimal (compared to the rest of us!) time they spend working (and yes, I am including time outside the classroom) and maybe Ms. Fine should try living someplace a little less trendy than DuPont if she wants to cut down on expenses rather than whine about how she thinks an underfunded public school system should give her a raise.

Ms. Fine reveals her absurdity rather clearly when she notes that she was near or in tears upon being told by a school administrator that he/she didn't like the way she was conducting her classroom. Um, why the tears? Why not come up with a constructive solution? Oh wait, I know why. Because you're a spoiled little brat who has never considered for a moment figuring out how to work within the system, exploit the administration and use the over-burdened hierarchy to your advantage. You don't realize that in the real world, people try to thwart you every step of the way and you have to constantly hold your own if you ever plan to succeed in achieving anything. In sum, you aren't smart enough to be a teacher at a real school.

Of course, the title more or less alludes to this obscene level of self-involvement - why exactly would schools need teachers like her? What does she have to offer to some grade schoolers or high schoolers that millions of others her age across the country don't have? Nothing, from what I could discern. She seems unable to reach her students, unable to overcome administrative hurdles, unable to marshal forces to her side in favor of her cause, just generally unfit to teach. If you can't ignite intellectual curiosity in your students - wake up! - you're not a good teacher. It requires innovation, creativity and above all, intelligence, none of which she evidently has. And it was odd how the story was just about her. Not about her students or their lives or the community or the purpose of the charter school or any of the things that are actually interesting and she should care about, if she is actually interested in teaching. I don't know why she would think anyone would care about her. And I can't imagine why she thinks the system needs her.

I worry a bit about her, really, as it seems to me she is unfit to do much of anything. News flash Sarah - of course people ask lawyers and doctors and consultants why they do what they do, and often it actually is with a condescending note. It's not some huge conspiracy against you - it's your personal belief that teaching is some sort of sacrifice you're making, that you are somehow "better" than teaching, that is causing you to construct a negative association where there is none. I don't doubt that some people say things with precisely the intention you suggest but people say completely absurd and offensive things to me upwards of 50 times a day. You just have to ignore most of what people say or the world is an overwhelming place.

But, as someone who grew up in a privileged environment, went to an ivy league school, and taught in the DC public schools, I have to say that this piece really underscored why most Americans hate me before they meet me. It is people like Sarah Fine, who feel they are entitled to a certain standard of living, both monetarily and psychologically, who are going to destroy the country as we know it. If I were the head of a rebel group seeking to implement a socialist agenda, I would use her story as an example of why we have to remove the privileges of the wealthy and create a new system based on "merit" (quotes as I don't believe we currently have a definition of "merit" that makes any sense or adequately measures the skills and talents that are of use to society). What a horrible little girl.