It's back to school time and the rise in teachers' anxiety seems to be running a bit higher than normal. Of course, there are the back to school jitters that never seem to go away from our days as students. Maybe these jitters are a good thing. I had one professor tell me that you will know it is time to retire when you don't get a little nervous about the first day of school. Since I'm still getting a little nervous, I guess I should keep going!
Teacher anxiety is also high because of the political climate, one that has been particularly harsh on teachers. Like many in the US, teachers are overworked and underpaid. Unlike many professionals in the US, they are often viewed as less than capable and in need of constant development and reform. Claudia Swisher illustrates this anxiety quite well in her article Frog in the Pot, Canary in the Mine, or Rats from the Ship? In short, she questions why teachers don't attempt to take more control of their destiny, fighting against politicians, philanthropists, and critics (most of whom have never taught or do not currently teach) who are trying to determine how to training, assess, and direct teachers. In her analogy, she questions whether (1) teachers are the proverbial frog in the pot, adjusting little by little to the warmer waters until they are cooked, (2) canaries in a mine, sounding the alarm, often when it is too late, or (3) rats on a ship, most of whom are leaving the profession in droves. Although she is retiring soon, she still sees herself as a canary, hoping that her calls are not too late and advocating for other canaries to squawk as well.
Although I truly appreciate her thoughts, I'm not entirely convinced that any of Swisher's analogies quite fit the current state of education and education reform well. More specifically, I'm not sure why the canaries aren't trying to figure a way out of their cages while squawking at the same time. Indeed, in many ways, teachers are "in a cage." For example, politicians control the money that flows into education systems. While this provides a certain check on overspending, the situation requires educators to justify their expenses to those who often don't know what they are talking about. Another example of "caging" can be seen in the development of high-stakes standardized tests that most educators rightly view as an impediment (often a detriment) to deeper learning.
While these caging mechanisms are certainly things to squawk about, there is also the caging effect of public opinion. Here, unlike the examples of political/economic caging, educators have a bit more leverage, if they choose to use it. To be sure, there will almost assuredly always be detractors, those who think that teachers just aren't doing a good enough job. However, we have enabled a culture of critics as well. Let me explain...
Over the last couple weeks, I have repeatedly seen my Facebook friends post messages complaining about going back to school. They talk about how much they will miss their vacation, how much they hate their job, and how they will spend their "at Wednesday" of freedom. While I understand their sentiment, most of America doesn't. In fact, most of America (at least the luck ones that still have a job in this economy) hasn't had "a Wednesday of freedom" since they were in school themselves. In the court of public opinion, these comments amount to the "teachers as whiners" and "teachers don't have a real job" labels that most educators resent a great deal. Ironically, through unthoughtful uses of social media, I fear we are perpetuating this perception.
How is this perception illustrated in culture? One recent way these perceptions are realized is through back to school advertisements. My "favorite" is Old Navy's commercial, where Jenny Garth is described as a teacher in great jeans. Here teachers, both male and female, are seen as older versions of the children they teach, teddy bears and all. Certainly, most people in business might say, these teachers don't have real jobs; they don't even need to get dressed up for work! If this commercial can be used as an example of the publics perception of education and educators, we have fallen a long way from the respected professionals that Swisher describes her ancestor-teachers as.
I agree with Swisher; we, as educators, need to squawk about injustices to our students and our profession. We need to take back some of the power that others have ripped away from us because they don't view us as professionals. At the same time, however, we need to free ourselves from the cage that we have built, the cage where we think it is ok for others to view us as less-than-professional. We need to stop talking about our "last Wednesdays of freedom," start talking about new scholarship and our own scholarly work, and dress in nothing less than what a "professional" should look like. While I may agree with you if you argue that some of these suggestions are cosmetic, I would also argue that they drive perception. And as we all know, perception is reality.
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