Education is something that is vital to the existence of a country where financial prosperity is something that is universally longed for. This is because that in order to reach financial prosperity one must reach a level of knowledgeable prosperity that unlocks the true innovator within them. However, if our countries goal is to allow for everyone to reach a level of financial prosperity then its time for us to sit down and come up with a dedicated pathway to delivering education with equality, equity, loyalty, and dignified passion in mind. If this is our goal then it is time for us to do away with the days where our educational system is balanced on the practice of every child left behind and every teacher for themselves. The time has come where we must push forward, with dignified loyalty, professional reservation, and universal respect for the student, the classroom, and the privilege to earn and hold the title Educator.
If we are going to reinvent education, revolutionize the way it’s delivered, and renew the drive that was once behind the educators entrusted to deliver its time we stop in action and evaluate our current direction. We can no longer wait for a savior to save what is far from savable. For this voyage to the pathway for reinvention of education to happen it’s important that we redefine what education means and what education is. We must not stop there though, we must redefine the role of educators and their position and we must redefine the meaning of school.
Students: Students must no longer be seen as incompetent subordinates who are subjects of a grand experiment of what and what doesn’t work. In the reinvented model of education we must treat students as young innovators and future leaders. Their potential must no longer be limited to what’s in the lesson plan and their knowledge must no longer be mitigated to what’s on the test. Students must be given the opportunity to exceed the norm instead of defining it and students must be given the chance to be themselves instead of being forced to conform to the model of typical. Students must be given the opportunity to be the extraordinary individuals they are and must no longer be held to labels that disrespect them. Students must no longer be subjugated under the premise of positional dominance.
Educators: Educators must no longer be subjected to humiliation, demoralization, and manipulative tactics. Educators must be allowed to innovate and exceed perceived norms, their gift must no longer be limited to prewritten curricula and their knowledge must no longer be reduced to the opinion of others. Educators must hold themselves accountable and hold their students equally accountable and must not settle for anything less. Educators must be given a voice to speak out, to stand up to social injustice, and to stand against any perceived injustices against themselves or their students. Educators must be respected and must be held to a code of professional ethics that is binary, clear, fair, and equal. Educators must no longer be above reprimand for participating in conduct that is unbecoming and must be punished with the consideration of students first and foremost.
Administrators: Administrators must no longer be free from the wrath of accountability and must no longer subject educators and students to punishments that are unjust in nature. Administrators must be decisive, competent, and free from external forces that can impede judgment. Administrators must be held to a code of professional code of ethics that is binary, clear, fair, and equal. Administrators must be publicly held accountable for their decisions and those decisions should be made in harmony with the wishes of students, parents, and educators. Administrators must be enabled but not overpowered and should be made aware that that power is binary and can be revoked if abused.
School: School must no longer be a place of oppression, suppression, and control. School must no longer be a place of humiliation, incompetence, indirection, and uncleanness. School must no longer be a place of where impropriety rules and universal respect remains grossly abyss. School must become a place of nurturing, enablement, respect for personal beliefs and emotions. School must become a place where external opinion is irrelevant. School must become a place where creativity is challenged but not hindered, personal liberties are respected and where due process is praised. School must become a place where self is found and kept, where space is given, where privacy is not amok, and where dignity is instilled. School must become a community where rules are fair, unbiased, and balanced. School must not become a platform for politics, religion, personal agenda, or directionless leadership.
Charter School: Charter Schools must no longer be held to higher standards and must no longer be allowed to remain free from those standards. Charter Schools must no longer become places of oppression, suppression, control, humiliation, and incompetence. Charter School must no longer be used as scapegoats and must no longer be held to rules that are indifferent. Charter Schools must no longer be schools of impropriety and must no longer be used as catalysts for re-segregation. Charter Schools must become places where opportunities are afforded and not trampled upon and where educators and students are given unwavering respect. Charter Schools must no longer be free from accountability and must be ready to at any given moment to answer questions concerning competence within leadership, conflicts of interest, and qualifications. Charter Schools must become counterparts of non chartered schools and must be free from politics, religion, personal agenda, or directionless leadership.
Education: Education must no longer be inequitable and unequal. Education must no longer be used as a tool to indoctrination and control. Education must no longer be limited in availability. Education must be free from politics, special interest, religion, or agenda. Education must no longer be used as a tool of punishment and must no longer be used in ways that discourage creativity and ingenuity. Education must be used for the purpose to empower and to free from instances of poverty. Education should not be private, should be free of catchalls, and should be available to all students regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, religious preference, or geographical location. Education must be holistic and must exist beyond the four walls of a classroom. Education must be student adaptive and must be free from constraints or overbearing regulation. Education should not be subject to measurement or devices that interfere with its purpose.
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Really interesting, Jabreel. Thank you for thoughts!
Posted by Penny | June 2, 2012, 4:30 amYou made a number of grammatical mistakes in this letter. Please focus on grammar and punctuation. Also, I found your article to be idealistic, redundant, and high handed. Why did you separate charter schools from schools? They’re both schools and charter schools are not free from restraint. In Richmond,VA, they are public schools. Therefore, they must abide by most, if not all, Richmond Public Schools regulations.
Posted by Cassandra B | June 2, 2012, 7:47 pmCassandra, thanks for pointing out my grammatical mistakes in my post…I will take your advice at value and focus more on grammar and punctuation. I separated charters and traditional public schools because while they are both legally public schools, charters (in some states) have more lenient rules and regulators are not as tough on them. Where I live in Ohio, a charter can remain in operation years after the Ohio Revised Code states while traditional public schools are punished with swiftness. Regulators in a lot of states seem to be lax with enforcing regulations because charters are supposed to be “superman’s secret weapon” and this lax oversight does more harm than good.
Posted by Jabreel Chisley | June 2, 2012, 9:05 pmI appreciate your desire for clarity, Cassandra, but as far as norms go here on the Coöp, we avoid opening with judgment and prescription. I like to think part of our shared work is learning just to listen to many voices. Regardless, thank you for also engaging with Jabreel’s message.
I’m curious about Jabreel’s decision to separate schools and charter schools, as well (teaching in a Virginia charter school as I do). The fight over charters seems to me a red herring and difficult to tackle given the differences between states’ charter laws and charter schools themselves. Do some have oppressive pedagogies? Sure, but so do many – if not all – traditional schools. There is nothing in the charter system that we do not perpetuate daily in non-charter public schools. If we could ameliorate what’s going on in our schools, then charters might lose some of their gleam in the public eye.
Jabreel, could you share more about problems that you think are specific to charters? I see most of their inequities as microcosms of those in all our country’s schools.
The very best regards,
C
Posted by Chad Sansing | June 3, 2012, 10:04 amExcellent. I agree with you. Education in this country happens from a deficit perspective, as if teachers/admins have the secret knowledge and the students should thankfully shut up and receive it. We should all be learners. We should all be thinkers. The content in which one chooses to think is irrelevant. The thinking, the foucsing, and the questioning is the important part. The more minds in which you collaborate while investigating your interests- the better. Keep moving forward.
Posted by Paul | June 2, 2012, 6:01 amReblogged this on Teacher as Transformer and commented:
There are some excellent points here. The role of students, educators, and school provided insight into a different way of thinking about education. I disagree with the premise that administrators are a separate group, although they are. Are administrators not part of the whole as educators themselves? If they are not, we need to think about that and create a conversation about that point. What about the child who needs help? What do we do to raise him or her up? I think this article is a great starting point for a conversation.
Posted by ivonprefontaine | June 2, 2012, 9:49 amI understand your prospective on administrators but I separated them because admins are usually seen as “educators with badges” and if they are going to go on this role they should have to abide by a higher set of rules. I do agree that there is more need for conversation, especially on the topic of administrators because when they are removed from the classroom and have their head filled with book knowledge they loose intuitive knowledge. Your last two questions have me stumped though, I will have to sit back and think about those two a little.
Posted by Jabreel Chisley | June 2, 2012, 9:13 pmJabreel, thank you for sharing and responding. I know there is a need to consider the ‘management’ aspect of education. I am a stumped about my last two questions, as well. I think it is part of a much larger conversation that is just beginning to take shape. I really enjoyed the candour of your post and like the phrase, “educators with badges.” I wonder if administrators want that?
Posted by ivonprefontaine | June 2, 2012, 9:18 pmReading the responses, I am not sure the role of charter schools or, for that matter, private schools. In Alberta, we only have a handful of charters available and most of our private schools are either elite or have a ‘religious’ component to them. When I say ‘religious,’ this does not mean Catholic, because Catholic schools are public here. What purpose do charter and private schools play in a democratic society? This is a mystery, because of my lack of experience and exposure. Are they short-term fixes that turn us away from the real conversation to examine public education for all?
Posted by ivonprefontaine | June 3, 2012, 12:35 pmFrom what I understand, Charters were introduced as apart of the public schooling platform to provide an alternative to students who couldn’t be serviced by their local SD’s. However, somewhere down the line Charters became the bait in a game of forced competition against their nearby public schools as a way to force public schools, esp. big city school systems to do better on standardized tests. People started automatically assuming, charters were better because they were “independent” which has created this (what I call) 1st generation PS v. 2nd generation PS scenario. However, I think that in the way charters are being used now it is a short term distraction to a bigger problem that has yet to be solved. Very few cities across the country have yet to realize this and implement a take and give system. Like with Cleveland Metro Schools, they actually go to charter operators and ask them to co locate (either with CMSD schools or with other charters) in certain neighborhoods where the city has historically done poor on student success. If you were to take that to NYC..you would have a storm of angry parents, teachers, and union reps..so it goes to show that the charter movement has different sides and some area’s address certain issues while others fight them off.
Posted by Jabreel Chisley | June 3, 2012, 2:29 pmGreat insights and inquiries here — perhaps the school culture is reflective of society at large?
Posted by Brent Snavely | June 5, 2012, 7:45 am