The Good Ol' Days Are Just That...OLD

Education has changed and anyone who works in schools knows this all too well. Unfortunately, we have not done a good job of informing our public about how it has changed. What we need, now more than ever, is a huge marketing campaign that educates our communities about what we do in schools and why we do it instead of following the status quo and giving people a false sense of how school is done. Now is truly the time to embark on this campaign because the COVID-19 pandemic is giving us a great opportunity to show the world what it is that we actually do in our schools and that it is very much a different story than what people may have experienced in their own formal education.

To most people that received their formal education in the good ol' days (i.e. 20th century) and haven't set foot in a school since then, aside for tours and reunions, there is a stark difference between what we know and what actually is happening. If we all took a deep dive and truly reflected on our practices, we would surely come to realize that schools can and do need to change if we are really in it for the kids like we express on a daily basis. If we will just take a moment to look at school from a different lens, we may just have an opportunity to change the narrative and really educate our public on what we actually do. While we may not change everyone's mind and get them to see how things are different because it doesn't fit their view, it is nonetheless important to share the current reality so they can understand why change is necessary.

CHOICE

I remember when I was a senior in high school and my parents gave me two options when it came to where I could go to college. I could attend the local university and live at home or I could attend their alma mater 3 hours away. The options were given to me as a matter of cost because both would allow my parents to help me with the financing of my education. While these options were presented to me in a fashion that allowed me to choose, I really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Fortunately for me, I liked both schools and my family had the means to help me. Fast forward to today, and I think about the choices that families have in front of them when it comes to public education. Parents get to weigh the options between public, private, charter, and online schools and find the right fit that is best for their child. Education has become a commodity and has forced schools to adopt business practices to market what they have to offer to get students to attend. While some small towns do not have the luxury of choice, it doesn't stop parents from advocating that their local school adapt to fit the needs and interests of their individual child. Gone are the days of schools abiding by the principle of "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" and adopting the Burger King philosophy of "Have it Your Way." Schools have become a business and are driven by customer satisfaction. They must serve their customers or they will go out of business in the form of decreasing enrollment. Because student enrollment determines school funding, schools need to market what they do best and attract students and families to join them because they are the best option.

IT'S NOT ABOUT X's AND O's, IT'S ABOUT JIMMY'S AND JOE'S

The long time, legendary Texas Longhorn football coach Darrell Royal is attributed for coining the phrase, "It's not about X's and O's, it's about the Jimmy's and Joe's." He was referencing how important the recruiting process in college football is paramount to the success of a major college football program. The phrase is applicable to education as well. When it comes to education, teachers are the Jimmy's and Joe's and it is critical to have the best. Unfortunately, there is a national teacher shortage and people are not going into the field of education because of the low pay and working conditions that schools face across the country. In the good ol' days, teachers were revered and honored for shepherding students into adulthood and giving them the tools to find success regardless of the personal circumstances they face. While this is one of the good ol' days phenomenon that I wish we would adopt as a society again, as educators, we need to change the narrative in order to make this a reality. We need to promote the field of education to our best and brightest students and encourage them to enter the teaching profession. We need to instill a mindset that while they may earn more money in other fields, they cannot place a monetary value on impacting children and helping them discover their potential. Instead of steering students away from the job of teacher, we need to help them understand that they will gain more personal satisfaction and growth by helping others. We need to help our students of color and diversify our teaching staffs so they reflect the racial/ethnic make-up of our schools. Out students need to see people that look like them in the teaching profession so they, in turn, can visualize themselves in the role of a teacher. The Jimmy's and Joe's are out there, but we need to start winning the recruiting battle and get them in the classroom. Is it going to be tough? You bet. Is it going to modernize education? Absolutely.

GET REAL AND SEE THE ISSUES

“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” It’s a common phrase in American political discourse, particularly present in rhetoric about self-reliance. The concept is simple: To pull yourself up by your bootstraps means to succeed or elevate yourself without any outside help. This is a great theory, but reality makes it difficult to accomplish if we won't recognize that some people were born on third base thinking that they hit a triple and others have never made it out of the dugout. Parents send us their best each and every day. Unfortunately, we have a growing number of students come through our doors with a significant trauma, learning disabilities, and mental health issues that inhibit their growth. These issues need to be addressed first before we can even broach the topic of closing the achievement gap. These students can't "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" because they don't have the pre-requisite skills to do so. In the good ol' days, people would say that this is the responsibility of the parents and this should be done at home, but what many people fail to understand is that the definition of family has changed dramatically and not every kid has this support from home. That is why it is so important for schools to fill this void. We need to acknowledge and come to grips with the fact that the concept of school has changed since we experienced the good ol' days of our own education.

SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM DISCIPLINE TO RESTORATION

Let's get real. We have a discipline crisis in our education system. National studies consistently show that schools suspend students of color, particularly African-American males, at a disproportionate rate compared to other students. Schools have an implicit bias issue that needs to be addressed in a thoughtful and intentional way. They need to look at their past practices and change them them so that equity is at the forefront. Students of color ARE NOT more of a discipline issue than their white counterparts, so why do they disproportionately receive more consequences? Each school is going to have to take a deep dive into this question and uncover the structural reasons for why this exists because each school is different. Each school will, however, have to acknowledge that this issue does exist and bias is present. For highly diverse schools, it is more apparent than schools who are predominantly white, but the issue is there and it needs to be named. One way to address this crisis is to implement restorative practices and focus on the underlying issues that lead to specific behaviors. Simply suspending a student for a behavior and expecting them to come back after the suspension fixed doesn't work. Restorative practices relies heavily on figuring out what led to the behavior and then developing a plan to make sure it doesn't happen again. Does it take more time? It absolutely does, but as my parents told me a long time ago, "If it's worth doing, then take the time to do it right." Restorative practices requires schools to help the student repair relationships that were harmed by their behavior and then build a system of supports around them so they don't do it again. For those that long for the good ol' days, this may seem like a waste of time because students need clear consequences for their behavior. Rest assured, consequences are still part of the equation, but we must add in the variables of structure and support so the behavior can change. If we don't add in these variables, all we are doing is pouring gasoline on the fire.

While I have probably alienated a few people by naming these issues, it still doesn't change the fact that they are there. As humans, we see what we want to see and this is the lens that I am looking through. It is my hope that we can all come together and realize that what we view as the good ol' days are long gone. We can live in a world where we revere and cherish these ideologies or we can actually do the hard work that it is going to take to redefine how we look at schools. Not everything in schools is broken, but we have some significant issues that we need to address if we really want to live up to our core principals of providing an equitable education to ALL students.