Pedagogues.
Gotta love 'em.
I remember the first time I heard the word. My younger brother, who works as a teacher in a high-risk, special needs school, was offering up his opinions on the difference between educational theory (or those who prattle on endlessly about educational theory) and the reality of life in the classroom. My brother is a black and white, "either/or" kind of guy; all right angles, no shades of gray. If he likes you, you'll know. If not, leave the room very quickly.
Anyway, many of his exact words on this particular occasion were largely unprintable, but I perked up when he used the word "pedagogue." I knew the word "pedagogy," but this one was new. Pedagogue. But every time he said it, it rolled off his tongue the same way someone would use the word excrement.
I remember laughing and asking my baby bro why he was being so harsh. Wrong question. He let loose with a expletive laced tirade about pedagogues that would make our mother seriously rethink our private school education.
On occasion, I will volunteer my time in my son's kindergarten class. Six words come to mind every time I do this: "Oh...my...dear...God" and "controlled chaos." It's insane. I have no earthly idea how the teacher, God bless her, does this everyday. There are too many kids in the classroom, classroom management is an ongoing battle, there are kids with wildly different learning abilities and styles and if you drop your gaze for a moment to focus on a single child, classroom chaos will soon ensue as the other children, now bored, begin to (literally) take their education into their own oh-so-curious little hands.
After each one of these visits, I better understand my brother's frustrations with pedagogues. They talk. And talk. And talk. They write white papers. They give lectures. They theorize.
They have PhDs.
They know....
And you know what?
Most of them don't know a damn thing.
It seems there are reform hawks on one side and teacher unions on the other. I sit squarely in the middle. I am a reform hawk that vigorously defends and supports our teachers because I think that meaningful eduction reform must begin with engaging and motivating teachers. I also really appreciate the work they do. The pay is crappy, the hours are terrible, the work is often thankless and the working conditions are often antiquated and hopelessly out-of-date. But when something goes wrong....bad test scores, lousy graduation rates, truculent, underachieving kids, who do we blame? Teachers. It's a lousy deal. An unfair deal.
And I don't like unfair.
So here's my deal. My thought for the day. There's a lot of talk about education reform these days, especially with all this new stimulus money swirling about. But if you've never been a teacher, spent time in a classroom, managed thirty kids that are not your own; if you've never been in the trenches; if you've never been a teacher, then all you are to me is a citation. Go write a white paper or give a lecture at Harvard.
Because I have no use for pedagogues.
I'd rather spend my time talking to teachers.
I rather spend my time taking to someone who actually knows something.
Gotta love 'em.
I remember the first time I heard the word. My younger brother, who works as a teacher in a high-risk, special needs school, was offering up his opinions on the difference between educational theory (or those who prattle on endlessly about educational theory) and the reality of life in the classroom. My brother is a black and white, "either/or" kind of guy; all right angles, no shades of gray. If he likes you, you'll know. If not, leave the room very quickly.
Anyway, many of his exact words on this particular occasion were largely unprintable, but I perked up when he used the word "pedagogue." I knew the word "pedagogy," but this one was new. Pedagogue. But every time he said it, it rolled off his tongue the same way someone would use the word excrement.
I remember laughing and asking my baby bro why he was being so harsh. Wrong question. He let loose with a expletive laced tirade about pedagogues that would make our mother seriously rethink our private school education.
****************
On occasion, I will volunteer my time in my son's kindergarten class. Six words come to mind every time I do this: "Oh...my...dear...God" and "controlled chaos." It's insane. I have no earthly idea how the teacher, God bless her, does this everyday. There are too many kids in the classroom, classroom management is an ongoing battle, there are kids with wildly different learning abilities and styles and if you drop your gaze for a moment to focus on a single child, classroom chaos will soon ensue as the other children, now bored, begin to (literally) take their education into their own oh-so-curious little hands.
After each one of these visits, I better understand my brother's frustrations with pedagogues. They talk. And talk. And talk. They write white papers. They give lectures. They theorize.
They have PhDs.
They know....
And you know what?
Most of them don't know a damn thing.
****************
It seems there are reform hawks on one side and teacher unions on the other. I sit squarely in the middle. I am a reform hawk that vigorously defends and supports our teachers because I think that meaningful eduction reform must begin with engaging and motivating teachers. I also really appreciate the work they do. The pay is crappy, the hours are terrible, the work is often thankless and the working conditions are often antiquated and hopelessly out-of-date. But when something goes wrong....bad test scores, lousy graduation rates, truculent, underachieving kids, who do we blame? Teachers. It's a lousy deal. An unfair deal.
And I don't like unfair.
So here's my deal. My thought for the day. There's a lot of talk about education reform these days, especially with all this new stimulus money swirling about. But if you've never been a teacher, spent time in a classroom, managed thirty kids that are not your own; if you've never been in the trenches; if you've never been a teacher, then all you are to me is a citation. Go write a white paper or give a lecture at Harvard.
Because I have no use for pedagogues.
I'd rather spend my time talking to teachers.
I rather spend my time taking to someone who actually knows something.
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