CHECKER AND ME

Oh, Checker, Checker. You and I have led such different lives. I totally (and I mean this sincerely) appreciated your piece, 'Lessons Learned'—on the Gadfly and in EdWeek -- because it was a ripe opportunity for me to compare myself (a small-potatoes education blogger and 30-year veteran of the classroom) to you, Chester Finn (internationally famous and influential education reformer). While I toiled away at what you termed the retail level, you studied the research, analyzed the data, and made pronouncements impacting education across the nation. It’s interesting to think that you have, in many ways, shaped the work that I actually did. For decades.

I love the first sentence of your mini-memoir: Great, committed teacher/adviser/mentors, high standards, a focused curriculum, a culture of achievement, and plenty of hard work by students well aware that real consequences attached to their performance--what more does a successful school need?

What more, indeed? You then proceed to suggest that only a handful of schools today provide this strong, thoughtfully tailored academic program, and toss in a bit of nostalgia about exclusive, expensive private academies and Catholic schools in the 60s (!?) being the pinnacle of exemplary scholarship. You seem to be making a pitch that students who do not demonstrate effort and strong potential, early on, are not entitled to the intellectual and pedagogical goodies—approaching an argument that educational meritocracy might be the morally correct thing. Being a “democratic equality” kind of gal myself, my perspectives on education in America are a little different.

Those young delinquents in your Outward Bound group? I went to high school with them. At my 35-year HS reunion, we honored dozens of boys in my class—many now grandfathers—who fought in Vietnam (and a couple who didn’t come back). Lots of students in my high school were leading what I’m sure you would see as “tough lives”—especially if you define a tough life as zero family connections or prospects for a lucrative professional career. Most of my classmates were aiming for a good job at the bowling-pin factory, but a handful of us went on to state universities. I was one of the lucky ones, attending college on scholarship, and finishing with a teaching degree

Blue Collar Public High prepared me surprisingly well for the rigors of college; nearly all my HS teachers were thrilled to provide extra challenges, extended assignments and encouragement for those of us willing to take a stab at moving out of the working class, albeit into pedestrian occupations like teaching. In English 10, Mrs. Drabczyk let me skip three-quarters of the regular curriculum and read Great Books instead of grinding out daily Warriner’s Grammar exercises. Mr. Gilbert suggested I take American History as an independent study, using original source documents instead of the tattered textbook.

I will never win any smarter-than-thou contests, Checker, but I made good use of my free and low-cost public education. In the post-war decades there have been millions of teachers like me: upwardly mobile, hard-working, intellectually curious, still dedicated to the idea that education is the ticket out of poverty, and still committed to kids who are less than intrigued by a classic, liberal-arts college preparatory curriculum or getting up at 3:00 a.m. to read Beowulf.

Sorry that your first teaching job didn’t work out, what with all those discipline problems, probably resulting from kids already irreparably scarred by their dreadful public school system. I’m not so sure that a strong syllabus or demanding accountability measures would have made a difference in your sense of efficacy—although a good mentor may have helped. One of the lessons I’ve absorbed is that nobody learns how to teach well in a single year. I am always mystified by pundits who suggest that putting graduates from our most prestigious colleges into our toughest schools with little training or on-site assistance is a good idea.

My first year of teaching wasn’t all that I hoped for, either, but I stayed with it, because (as you yourself noted) persistence counts. I came to love teaching, and was very good at it, for more than 30 years. I persisted because I had tangible evidence, every day, of my impact on real children and a real school. Later in my career, I worked for two years at a national education non-profit. I attended lots of conferences and meetings—saving the world one white paper at a time—but discovered that the real juice in education reform comes from the work with kids, and went back to the classroom.

As for American parents being “unfussy” consumers of scholarship, once offered market-based schooling options, you and I both understand—as parents—that what matters most are smart teachers who are committed to our unique children, and push them to learn, whether they’re skilled test-takers or good at other things. For parents in my neighborhood, what you label “convenience” was the only factor in where (or if) we went to school, since transporting kids to and from school or paying tuition was not an option. Features judged unimportant in your school program hierarchy (sports, for example) are considered essential character-builders, even scholarship opportunities in mine. And, of course, as you said, character counts.

Looking from the inside out, I’m still not willing to relinquish my belief in a free, high-quality public education as the thing that sets America apart from other countries around the globe. Yes, I am aware of all our failed national educational experiments—I’ve lived with them, daily, for 30+ years—but don’t we have an obligation to keep trying? Like you, I have made many errors in judgment, over the past four decades, but many of my “mistakes” graduated, went on to colleges, jobs and productive lives. 

Comments

[Bob Heiny]

A thoughtful statement, Nancy. Did you send him your link and receive a response from Checker?

[Nancy Flanagan]

Thanks for posting, Bob. This has been a lonely little blog--all the "Checker" action seems to be taking place over at Teacher Magazine and EdWeek.

I do--seriously--respect Chester Finn and think his unpredictability is one of his assets. Lately, he's been pretty proactive in writing about unintended consequences of NCLB, and the real need to involve students in humanities education. He has had a broad spectrum of field experiences--but then, so have I. And mine are just as important and worthy as his.

Haven't sent him a message, but if he uses technorati or other blogging tools, I'm sure he can track down all the blogs linked to his articles. I'd like to think that I might hear from him.

[jim]

Wow, for only having a public school education, I think you made your point.

Keep Writing.

Jim