Confrontation v. Collaboration

There is considerable political rhetoric these days that blames ‘overpaid’ teachers and recalcitrant unions for the so-called “crisis” in education. It’s sad when I hear school board members - who ought to know better - piling on, as I did at a recent state meeting.

(I say ‘so-called’ because educational quality has not declined over the past generation; the reality is that public education hasn’t kept pace with a vastly increased expectation, both in terms of the knowledge and skills we expect students to learn, but also the proportion of students - i.e., everyone - we expect to be successful.)

First, if teachers really are overpaid, how do we explain the fact that half of new teachers leave the profession after five years - three years at inner-city schools - long before they become vested in those ‘overly-generous’ pensions? Second, anyone who believes that a typical teacher works a 35-hour week, with three  months vacation, hasn’t talked to any real teachers lately.

What the rhetoric overlooks is that we have no chance of accomplishing the necessary transformation of our education system unless everyone – policy-makers, administrators, teachers, students and parents – begins to see themselves as on “the same side”; as partners with differing roles. This won’t happen if we continue to pit “sides” against one another. Even the feds appear to understand this: a top DOE official recently told a gathering of state lawmakers: “States need to take a more active role in promoting cooperation between teachers' unions and school districts”.

This is why Joel Klein had little chance of success in New York. As noted in Irving Hamer’s commentary in Education Week (Collaboration Is Essential in Public Education), Klein’s “combative approach …  ignores the reality that reform cannot be something we do to teachers.” (The same criticism could be made of Michelle Rhee.)

It continues to amaze me that it never seems to occur to these so-called reformers to ask teachers what they think could be done to improve education. Trust me, if you ask, you’ll find many teachers who’ve given a lot of thought to this and have something to say.

Instead, it’s often just the opposite: “teachers cite a lack of support and poor working conditions” as the biggest reason for leaving the profession, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.  As Walt Gardner put it (in yet another response to Steve Brill): it’s not about finding “a way to motivate the rank and file. … these teachers are already motivated. What they are not, however, are masochists.”

At worst, a confrontational, toxic school climate will drive away the good teachers (or keep them from coming in the first place). At the very least, it will inhibit the collaboration, risk-taking and creativity that is essential to meaningful organizational change.