I was lucky that my wife worked at a major university when I lost my job. I, a guy in his mid-thirties, was going back to school after a decade of teaching tennis. I struggled in school when I was younger and finally caught up to my grade level somewhere in my 11th grade year. College would be just as difficult for me. I had organizational skill problems, and my social life was extremely active, which left little time for doing well in school. My emotions would always be an issue, but schoolwork became consistent and greatly improved from my first two years.
When I finally graduated college, I had no desire to go back. Over the years, the mindlessness of teaching tennis started to bore me and my mind desired greater challenges and stimulation. I put more time into my hobbies and reading, then into my profession, and it was my time off that became more important to me. I was married at 31, and my wife had various jobs until she landed a good job at a local university. This provided me with the opportunity to return to school for free. An opportunity I took a few years later.
I loved school, worked passionately, and got every assignment in early and done to the best of my ability. It started to become clear to me that few other people in the Master of Education program put the same amount of energy and effort into their work. Each teacher taught both information and how to use it in the classroom. It was the 2000’s and classrooms were having a huge surge of new materials and technology for the classroom. When I asked questions, I was told to allow the other students to take part. I started to see a pattern. These drone teachers were test givers and, unlike me, had no desire to do hands on activities. I walked into a profession that hated forward thinkers, but I didn’t realize that for a decade. In my mind, teachers were open minded and life learners but I was very wrong.
I got a job and taught school for the next decade or so. In that time, I became disillusioned with the profession and most schools. To that, I now had my own children, and school became personal. Year after year, I worked to update my school. I was the head of the Science lab program and I taught the afterschool Advanced Math/Science program. All around me, I was met with resistance and hostility. In my children’s school, things were worse. I got in the habit of reteaching important lessons to my kids and found that my students seem to flourish while others failed around them. Was I doing something different or better?
After not being hired back, I had to look for work after working at the same school for almost ten years. Nobody wanted me, and I tried everything! I was forced to go back teaching tennis to make money. That didn’t last too long either, but it forced me to look at schools again. This time I was critical of the tax bills for school and found that my children failed to benefit from the money raised for schools. My kids never had working computers in the classrooms and only a few classrooms had “Smart Boards”: something I had in my classroom at least a decade before. The worst part was that the majority of the teachers were completely computer illiterate. I was an ex-teacher with an axe to grind and thought every one of these teachers were completely overpaid.
My kids did well in school while their intelligent friends failed to get to any level of achievement. I didn’t care too much - I didn’t need the schools to do much, I could fill in the areas that had no been covered. Then Covid-19 hit. The world was given a front row seat to the fact that most teachers have no idea how to use today’s technology in the classroom and fail to use the most basic technology from twenty years ago. My friend who is a music teacher in a good district told me horror stories of teachers causing problem after problem. They could remote teach. They feared for their lives because of poor fitness and health. They pushed back on what needed to be done for all students to learn. Teachers, the ones who should advocate for students’ rights became the biggest obstacle to learning. Some districts made it work with little complaining, but most did a poor job.
Now, a year later, it’s the parents and the students who realize something’s wrong. Tens of thousands of Americans have transferred to online schools - these programs utilize today’s best tech. Teaching online also frees online employers to hire teachers from areas where living expenses are much cheaper, so they can work for less money. It is clear, hybrid education is here and it’s not going away. That doesn’t mean schools won’t eventually reopen to pre-pandemic style learning, but now everyone is demanding a 21st century-style education. We are all going to have to make big choices about the future of schools.
