Article Contributed on: 9/10/2008 1:49:35 PM
My father and I were talking politics the other night, and found ourselves at odds about the Bond and Mill levies many communities are asking for to fund education.
As a retiree, his point was our economy is struggling, food and gas prices are higher than ever, and he's on a fixed income. He's against any tax increase, no matter how small. As a teacher of seventeen years, my point was many of our schools are physically falling apart, kids are more challenging to teach than ever, and it's impossible to give students a 21st century education using 1960s facilities, 1980s technology, and a 19th century philosophy. We understand the dilemmas facing each other, and have agreed to disagree.
I was talking about that conversation with a parent volunteer after school a few days later. The parent looked at me and said, "You know, the fact schools are struggling is your fault. "
My blood started to boil as I readied myself for another debate about how schools and teachers aren't being held accountable, but the parent went on. "Your problem is you care too much and do everything imaginable to get your kids to succeed. I've seen it. You don't have enough money in your budget, so you spend your own money rather than have kids go without. You don't have enough teachers to help kids who are struggling, so you give up your lunch periods and stay late after school to help kids on your own time. When you're able to do it with less, you get less."
She was right, strangely enough, it really is our fault. If we simply put in the forty-hour work week we get paid for, and spent only the funds allocated to us, student achievement would suffer greatly. Instead, when our budgets get cut, and our class sizes increase, we come up with creative ways to succeed anyway.
For years now education has been going through a transformation that we educators have partially insulated from the public. With the changes in society and technology, it has become more difficult, and expensive, to educate America's youth and we've sheltered the public from the actual costs of educating their children. Due to the antiquated way we fund schools, our choices have been do more with less, or, be satisfied with less success. Being satisfied with less success is not in our nature. Teaching is a calling, an opportunity to do something meaningful. We didn't get into this to see our students fail to reach their potential, so we sacrifice our own money and time to help them reach that potential. What our communities don't understand, is that the time is fast approaching when even that won't be enough.
Smaller class sizes matter, modern technology matters, updated resources matter, recruiting and retaining highly skilled educators matters, and giving our kids the opportunity to reach their full potential matters most of all. Yet for that to happen there will be a cost.
Like many Americans, I have no interest in giving the government any more money than I already do, but every week I look into the faces of my students and then open my wallet and pay for something they need. Supporting your local Bond and Mill Levy isn't about Republicans or Democrats, it's about our kids. Remember that when you vote.