Every week, I visit classrooms across the U.S. and see the same problems again and again. It frustrates me to no end when I see a teacher who cannot teach; however, in the vast majority of cases, the teacher is not the problem. The problem is that we have placed teachers in a no-win situation and forced them to become babysitters, social workers and police officers. Consider this, nearly every teacher in an urban school district is expected to do the following activities simultaneously:
- Answer the questions of approximately 30 students, many of whom are functioning at significantly different levels of academic performance.
- Get EVERY student to a level where they can pass a standardized exam.
- Keep everyone interested in learning!!
Some people will say that this type of challenge is exactly the reason why teachers become teachers – and that may be true – until you begin to consider that these same teachers also need to deal with:
- Family and social issues of students who lack a strong support network.
- The never ending encroachment of electronic games, cell phones, pagers and more into a busy classroom.
- The mainstreaming of students with special needs (note: this is not a criticism, just another challenge for many teachers to face).
Put it all together and what do we get in the typical U.S. classroom: frustrated teachers, students, administrators and parents. The model for education in the U.S. has not adapted to the new challenges presented in today’s classroom. We MUST start supporting our teachers and students in new and innovative ways. The answer is not more training, better text books or even fancier software. The answer: we must devise ways to enhance the ability of teachers to do their job effectively – and this means reconsidering what a classroom in the U.S. should look like.
Next installment – your ideas on how to fix this problem… (e-mail lpiconi@apangealearning.com).
~ Louis Piconi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer ~
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