CNN reported today that presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke said, in 2012, that charter schools “were a good idea.” While this is a more definitive statement of support for charters than Mr. O’Rourke has been willing to make in his recent run for the White House, that’s not the sentence that caught my attention.
It was this one:
“Because remember, at the end of the day, the person that we care the most about in the educational system is the student.”
While this is the sort of “feel good” platitude that is designed to make listeners feel all warm and fuzzy about the person who says it, it’s also the kind of verbal pablum that reveals more about the speaker than she or he probably intended.
Because, when you say that we care “most” about students, you’re also revealing your true feelings about everyone else who works in the schools.
You’re saying–whether you intended to or not–that you care less about…
teachers…
and secretaries…
and principals…
and nurses…
and custodians…
and counselors…
and school cafeteria workers…
and librarians…
and bus drivers…
and the people that take care of the athletic fields, and lawns, and maintain the district’s buildings and grounds.
And when you care less about all of those persons, you’re also less likely to support the policies that protect the rights of those persons.
Like support for teachers unions. And teacher tenure. And better pay for teachers that doesn’t involve complicated “merit pay” schemes.
You’re also less likely to advance policies that help improve teachers’ working conditions. And as we know, teachers’ working conditions = students’ learning conditions. So if you truly do care about “the kids,” then one of the best things you can do is support their teachers.
And whenever you hear a politician, or some pseudo-education-policy-expert say “it’s all about the kids,” what that person is really telling you is to get ready for some hare-brained scheme to pay teachers less, or hire fewer teachers via “personalized learning” schemes, or “hold teachers accountable” by tying teacher evaluation to student test scores, or “introduce competition into the educational marketplace” by attracting more charter schools to your community.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’ve been a teacher for most of my adult life, and I care deeply about my students–always have.
But being a public school teacher also means that you care about your colleagues, and all of the persons who work in the schools. And that you care about the people who live in the communities in which our schools are located.
Because public schools are places that are supposed to make sure that everyone who works in them is treated with dignity, respect, and compassion.
Because, Mr. O’Rourke, we don’t just care “about the kids” in public education; we care about every single person who works in the schools, or chooses to send their kids to those schools.
So, let’s hope that Beto has rethought his position on charter schools since 2012–we should give everyone the opportunity to learn, change, and grow.
After all, that’s what we do in public education. We care about everyone.
