These Things We Believe

By John Norton

I’ve been working with teachers as a journalist, writer, and online-community moderator for more than 25 years. And I can’t remember a time when so many outstanding teachers were so discouraged about the conditions under which they’re working and the daily criticism they’re hearing from political leaders, school reform groups, and media pundits who’ve identified teachers as the chief cause of public education’s problems.

Good teachers are frustrated, I believe, because they care so much about the work they do. They feel strait-jacketed by conflicting directives from above, and overwhelmed by constant budget cutting that makes a hard job even harder. More and more, there’s a temptation to respond to the constant criticism with angry rebuttals that point out society’s mixed messages: “Teach to the test.” “Individualize instruction.” “Stick to the teaching script.” “Transform students into critical thinkers.” Then, when teacher tempers boil over, we hear: “How come they’re always whining?”

This point was underscored recently in some interesting dialogue that took place in the Teacher Leaders Network daily discussion group. Bob Williams, a high school math teacher and Alaska’s 2009 state teacher of the year, noted all the time and energy he’s invested lately in “adamantly opposing” the criticism he found to be poorly researched or ill-informed. (See this recent essay ...

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