The New York Times recently ran a feature on teachers who decided they could run their own damned schools, thank you very much, without the interference of random administrators. I thought this was a pretty awesome instance of educators taking the initiative in school districts that really needed it.
It amazed me to see that some people didn’t like the idea. To quote from the article:
But some educators and parents question whether such schools are the solution for urban districts… say[ing] that most teachers have neither the time nor the expertise to deal with the inner workings of a school, like paying bills, conducting fire drills and refereeing faculty disputes.
“Ever try to plan a vacation with a large extended family? That’s what it’s going to be like,” said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy group in Washington. “It’s a good idea in theory, but there are just a handful of teachers who can pull it off.”
On the steps of Brick Avon last week, Lisa James, 26, a home health aide with a daughter in second grade, said she worried that teachers doubling as administrators would lose their focus.
“Teachers should be teachers,” she said.
See, this is why I have to keep ranting, because unqualified people keep acting like teaching is the equivalent to working at McDonald’s, as in simply showing up on time. Running fire drills, on the other hand, is (to quote Elle Woods) “like, hard or something?”
Let me break it down in real simple terms here: teaching is a demanding, multi-tasking type of job that already requires leadership, management, and yes, planning as though you’re dealing with an extended family vacation. And yo, Petrilli, what’s with the financial diss — hey, we all have bills to pay in real life. Are you saying teachers aren’t good at it?? Oh, right, that’s because you’re not paying them enough.
One of my most memorable moments in teaching was reading BeyondAcademe.com, the granddaddy of “getting out of academia” blogs. One page (which I can’t find on the new site) breaks down teaching into its individual tasks, the better to put together a real-world resumé. It took reading this list, which was about twenty items long, to convince me — a teacher — how many different jobs teachers do, and to realize how managerial the position actually was. But as long as education theorists, parents, and administrators deny this fact, the profession will never get the respect or money it deserves.
As for the parental concern about “lack of focus,” this also assumes teachers need the guidance of an “expert” manager — as though they’re students themselves. Now, to be fair, I don’t think that saddling teachers (or doctors, or nurses, or anyone) with tons of administrative crap helps them do their job well. But neither does giving them no say in how a school is run. Administration isn’t difficult, it’s just annoying and endless; anyone with organizational skills (which we’ll presume you’ve got if you’re already running a classroom) can do it. So really, it should be thought of as grunt work facilitating what teachers are already doing. But somehow it’s gotten a reputation as being harder/more CEO-like/better than actual teaching.
The main difference I’ve seen between teachers and administrators is greed and/or self-preservation, depending on how you want to frame it. Administrators’ wages are staggeringly high given that they’re doing what I’d call less demanding work. Now, as someone who left precisely because I valued my time, I wouldn’t blame anyone for choosing the overpaid rather than underpaid position — and as it turns out, Mr. Petrilli did just that, going from high school teacher to (I’m guessing) highly-paid public speaker/administration advocate. Which would explain his low opinion of those who are dumb enough to stay in “inferior” teaching jobs, I guess.
Anyway, I’m gonna go draw up plans for my own teacher-run academy. The motto? “You don’t get to decide what we’re learning today, I do.” Or maybe “Suck it, consumer-driven education.” Now that’s education management.
The greatest challenge is switching from the I-am-an-employee mentality to I-am-my-own-boss. There’s some truth to what they said – growing up is easier said than done. But all in all, I think many administrators worry about losing their jobs to capable teachers who can also do the administrating… This Lisa James is brainwashed, btw – no clue whatsoever, just babble.
Sure, they worry about losing their jobs because then they’d have to go back to actual teaching — and what does that say? The brainwashing is exactly the problem; until people understand what’s going on they’re going to keep having these assumptions.
Thank you! While I can certainly understand the role of an accountant or a lawyer or two, there is a lot of administrative “bloat” in several professions. My old PCP worked for a medical group, and then she struck out on her own. She said that she was able to handle the administrative duties herself, plus one employee, and she was mad that she had been forking over money to the medical group for so long. She was thrilled with the money she was making, now that she was liberated from the notion that she couldn’t “administer” her own business.
Yes, I’ve heard the same thing from a couple of other doctors who went into private practice. Unfortunately, most PCPs I know work at universities, where (surprise, surprise) they are expected to do ALL their own paperwork for 2000+ patients. It seems it’s either feast or famine, too much or too little. If only we could find a happy medium…
who cares if every teacher is gifted with administrative skills/bill paying or not. these particular teachers seem to genuinely care about their students’ success, which is the KEY to good education. AND some of my favorite teachers growing up were forever behind the planning ball, but were the most engaging and truly gifted teachers i had. if the lights get cut off, something tells me that the staff will find a way to keep it interesting and be inventive. i would give anything to have teachers so enthusiastic about starting the school year.
I agree that not all teachers need be 100% on the ball, and perhaps some do need a little administrative help; but again, why not see that as helping these enthusiastic types, rather than running their lives and telling them how to teach?
“Administration isn’t difficult, it’s just annoying and endless; anyone with organizational skills (which we’ll presume you’ve got if you’re running a classroom already ) can do it. So really, it should be thought of as grunt work facilitating what teachers are already doing. But somehow it’s gotten a reputation as being harder/more CEO-like/better than actual teaching.”
I couldn’t agree more. Even I end up getting into the admin. side of things for location and $$ reasons, I’ll always know that administrative work essentially = grunt work related to teaching.
I also agree with themorselblog above; in the case of the teachers featured in the NYT piece, they appear to genuinely care about student success, not just their pocketbooks. So, please ,do us all a favor and get over yourselves. All you holier-than-thou/only-I-can-organize-and-pay-bills admin. types are publicly skewing the realities and demands of teaching, and ruining things for the rest of us as a result.
Yup, I agree, it’s the public skewing that earns these guys a place in the Fifth Circle. But as I’ve said elsewhere, it’s also infuriating college administrators get paid so much while the Academy at large still operates on a DEY (Do Everything Yourself) schedule for already overscheduled instructors. It’s like there’s no actual administrative help where it’s needed, and a bunch of power-hungry twits claiming they’re doing something helpful.
I’m in. I’d love to smack these people.
Agreed, though an arrest for assault might look bad on the job market.
The teacher task list sounds like the one that comes out every Mother’s Day for moms…both are endless, I’m sure. I think it would take a certain kind of teacher/person to make this “run their own damned school” scenario work, but the ones who couldn’t wouldn’t even think to try (and might be in the wrong profession). Sounds like a great idea to me.
Oh, and I love your mottos.
Yeah, I like those lists too — the last time around, stay-at-home moms were at about $200,000 of unpaid labor a year and I think that’s a good thing to remind people of. I agree it would take a pretty self-motivated teacher to do this, but that’s why I’m shocked to see people upset by the idea! And thanks, I’ll try to think of more mottos.
Have I ever mentioned that I work at a teacher supply store? Because I do. It’s aimed at elementary, so I get parents/teachers from Pre-K up through 6th grade or so. Recently, I’ve gotten a lot of charter-school teachers who I’ve had a chance to talk to. There are a couple in my area which are teacher-run and cut out the administrators. They seem to be flourishing.
Of course, I’m not on a certification board, but if cutting a few administrators enables teachers to get the pay they deserve, even if it gives them a little more responsibility, I think they should go for it.
And I’m totally with you on the “if you’re not a teacher, stfu about what teachers can do/are/should do etc.”
That’s good to hear. I assume that anyone who’s successfully put together a charter school has the admin skills as well as the drive. And it’s interesting to think about this as a trend in education.