"Stop Humiliating Teachers"This 2016 commentary in the New Yorker addresses the pervasive tendency to blame school teachers for all social ills. The author, David Denby, references a book I mentioned in class, The Teacher Wars.
Denby works through several specific entities blamed for perpetuating bad teachers and teaching, and dismisses them. He argues that the real problem is much more difficult to tackle, so teachers become a kind of scape goat: "[Teachers] are being assaulted because they can be assaulted. The real problem is persistent poverty." Have a read through his short commentary here. What do you think about this perspective? How can we change it as educators and citizens? What are some quotations from the piece that resonate with you?
9 Comments
Jenna Sheeran
1/17/2017 04:17:32 am
I enjoyed reading Denby's commentary, because as he discussed, shaming teachers and blaming them for all of society's crises has become fairly prevalent. I also appreciated that he mentioned that this sentiment is bi-partisan and cannot just be chalked down to a single political party. If both Republicans and Democrats are shooting insults at teachers, this must be a real problem. As a future teacher this is fairly disturbing. I agree with Denby that teachers are not the cause of poor performance in most cases. What is particularly upsetting is that we have a fairly good idea of what does cause poor performance: demographics, poverty, race, etc. This is more logical, but people are uncomfortable talking about it. If placing blame on all the "bad teachers" is not the answer, then that means we need to tackle a much more complicated issue. We need to look at distribution of resources (access to early childhood educations, school supplies, technology, GOOD TEACHERS) as well as understand that not every child has a steady source of food, or parents that are home at night to help with homework, or even parents that can read. We need to address this before we can blame teachers for having difficulty effectively teaching students that are at a disadvantage before they ever enter school.
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Abbi Griffin
1/19/2017 07:35:54 am
With a family of educators, I have always noticed that parents (and the community) blame teachers for problems with the students. For example, when a student doesn't do well enough on a test to be admitted into GT classes, the teachers and administrators are the ones at fault. Despite this view, teaching is widely seen as an "easy" job, one that anyone can do. As they say, those who can do, and those who can't teach. It all comes down to "accountability," and even now, Betsy DeVos, our possible secretary of education, speaks of keeping schools accountable for maintaining equality within the school, district, state, and even country. It's impossible for teachers to shoulder the burden of equality alone; before low socioeconomic students even come to school, they are at a disadvantage. The media is partially to blame for this view. When someone sees a movie like “Freedom Writers,” it’s easy to believe that that’s what the classroom is for every teacher. It just takes a little elbow grease and time, and students will thrive. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case; sometimes, you’re lucky to help one student.
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Maci Catoe
1/26/2017 11:26:00 am
I really enjoyed reading this article by David Denby because he talks about a problem that I am very aware of. I believe that teachers can make all the difference in a student’s life just by being a positive influence and a friend. This can be even more effective when you are dealing with students that come from low income or impoverished families/homes. It is important to realize which of our students fall into that category and need us even more than our other students. When we know what our pupils need, we can rise to the occasion and help them be the best that they can be. Denby suggests that firing the “bad teachers” that are in schools and looking for “better teachers” will help our students be more successful. I believe, however, that schools should try to implement serious professional development/training to help the “bad teachers” grow and be better for their students first, before immediately firing them. I think that teachers can change the world by being a safe place for their students to turn to, and that they can be the cause for many students choosing to do well and succeed. However, this does not mean that I think that teachers are to blame for the shortcomings of students. Like Denby mentions, there are some factors in a student’s life that are simply out of the teacher’s control. As future educators and citizens of this country, I think that we have a responsibility to work as hard as possible to encourage our students and be their cheerleader every single day. If we do our part and the students know that we care, I believe that they will be successful (and when they are successful and happy, so am I!).
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Alyson Driscoll
2/14/2017 05:55:00 am
Like my peers on this post, I could not agree more that the issues surrounding failing schools delves much deeper than the efficacy of individual teachers themselves. There are a multitude of very complex, interwoven factors in society that affect how each individual student performs in the classroom. Yet there is a tendency to blame teachers for their failure to reform children, when children must learn outside of the classroom as well. I like how Jenna points out that the contextual factors surrounding low income student failure are often times very uncomfortable to talk about. Blaming teachers seems to be a scapegoat to avoid discussing real issues.
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Laikyn Hackett
2/14/2017 01:08:38 pm
As everyone has mentioned above, I really enjoyed reading an article that defends teachers. I believe we all understand to some degree how anytime a student, classroom, grade level, and so forth is considered 'below average', blame is immediately tossed onto the educators for not teaching properly. For someone who is not in the classroom every day, it's easy to throw the blame on someone who is. When, in fact, there are so many factors that should be considered when reflecting on groups of students who are not meeting the standards they are expected to. One consideration that is oftentimes overlooked is that we have teachers in a classroom who have been working for many, many years; and the way that they were taught to teach their students have vastly changed since then. Yes, teachers are required to be re-certified which surely contributes to them being able to provide a better education to their students, but this does not garuntee success. There is a reason that the education system is constantly changing, it is because we still have yet to find that 'perfect' method to educate students. Perhaps there is no perfect solution, which boils down to the obvious: 1. Educators should give their all to their classroom and be devoted to helping each and every student improve, and 2. It's about time that we cut our educators some slack. Standardized tests may make a school look superb on paper, but at the end of the day what really counts is what our future generations are learning. They are the future of our society and should be treated as so, not as a bunch of robots who are programmed to get a perfect score on their SAT.
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Alana Reynolds
4/11/2017 01:20:25 pm
I really appreciate everything written in this article, and what strikes me initially is, of course, Drake's introduction. She describes teachers in a way that surpasses the usual influencer/mentor narrative of teachers and moves into a more powerful description of teachers as law, knowledge, justice, and the "most morally impressive adults that their students will ever know." These words gave me chills as I read them. And yet, she says, teachers are the perhaps some of the most targeted individuals in American society. But what Drake, and all of us, know is that teachers are hardly the problem when students aren't successful. The problem is that the education system (and the country!!) is pitted against minority students and students of low socio-economic backgrounds, and there is only so much a teacher can do to overcome that problem. Of course we are justice and law and knowledge, but we can hardly carry out those duties as teachers when the administration of the system strips us of the tools we need to give students the quality of education they deserve. People blame teachers so that they don't have to blame themselves, but those in power are those at fault. Those who make the choices to underfund and devalue schools in rural and poverty-stricken areas are those responsible. Teachers are scapegoats. Those in power have the tools to help students, but we have the passion. We cannot overcome our problems until those two things are combined.
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Estefani Domingues
4/15/2017 01:18:46 pm
I agree with what Denby's article had to say. I've seen the issue first hand when people look to bash teachers in certain districts for not teaching, when in reality the school setting, students and their backgrounds matter. People don't seem to want to take into consideration that the problem could be one that originates with the parents, even bypassing the parents and simply the general area the student in located in. The better environment that a student finds themselves in, the better they will do in school. The resources are there for those students. It would seem that some people would rather accuse the teacher rather than a student's poor living situation which in turn affects their learning. Schools that are constantly having their budgets cut can't be blamed for the low scores they might prevent. It has always blown my mind that some question why low income schools struggle even after having been explained it was due to their budget cuts. If the gov't were to put more money into the education, we, as a society, would see the improvement. Yet, we see them cut costs yearly and then wag a finger at schools for not teaching students properly or producing bad scores.
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Dalvin Armstrong
4/18/2017 07:10:03 am
I enjoyed reading Denby's commentary, because he discussed, shaming teachers and blaming them for all of society issues and problems.Denby doesn’t really say who’s doing this specifically, except for vaguely defined “reformers.” But his point is clear: testing, tough teacher evaluation, and charter schools are bad. Denby’s essay is jam packed with talking points but thin on facts, concluding with a head-spinning twist ending where he concedes that reformers are right about a fundamental point. I think it goes without saying that we cannot equip our teacher enough to truly blame them for the failure of schools and students. I think should continue to express the need for professional development and coaching of our teachers and schools. Denby says,"We have to commit to universal pre-K and much more. And we have to stop blaming teachers for all of the ills and injustices of American society." Once we change the attitudes of society in regards to teachers and teaching, we will become a better system for educating kids.
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Kaila Morris
4/19/2017 06:14:31 pm
I agree with Denby's piece on "Stop Humiliating Teachers." As stated in the article, this has become a hobby for some people in this society, who constantly talk down on teachers as if they are the cause of all of the issues that is going on in the schools and society as a whole. I love the fact that Denby points out that poverty and a student's home life has a lot to do with why some students are not performing well. If students do not have access to books, technology, adequate food, or just a decent environment at home in general, it is a high chance that education is not on that student's mind. It is likely that this student is thinking about his/her survival, or this student can internalize all that he/she is facing at home and bring this unfavorable behavior into the classroom, therefore making it hard for any teacher to do their job. Denby states,"We also have to face the real problem, which, again, is persistent poverty," and I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. The schools in the inner city and rural areas of this country are ill-equipped and inadequate for students and when students see nothing but poverty reflected in their environment, how are they going to be motivated to learn? These are the schools that are often overlooked by the highly qualified teachers, because the pay isn't worth the hassle. This is where this society can make some changes in the way they regard teachers, as stated in the article. Teachers should be paid more to do what they do, and the field of teaching as a profession should be held in high regard, just as any profession. Last, but not least, this society and the officials of this society should take a good look around them and on the inside, before they blame teachers for the ills of society again.
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