Hating the system, but loving the job

A couple weeks ago, I had dinner with my high school art teacher and his wife. The last time we spoke to any great degree, I was still in high school. And while my memory of him remained fairly accurate, many of his words carried a different meaning for me now and we were able to speak much more candidly about a number of things. Much of this involved school policy and the profession of teaching, an area in which my interest has increased substantially in the last ten years. Amazingly, he is still teaching, although he has moved to a different school with a much different demographic.

He told me that, ten years ago, he would discuss the state of public school with my AP U.S. History teacher, who would always say the same thing: “Modern education is dying.” My history teacher had always been fighting the reforms that veered from the traditional and into new territory, such as “teaching to the test.” While he had not vocalized this in class, he wrote several opinion pieces for our local paper in which he spoke his mind. My history teacher felt that schools were ceasing to provide the education students truly needed, and that the system was going to fail a large group of students. My art teacher told me that he never believed that sentiment then, but now, teaching in the location he’s found himself, he believes it wholeheartedly. His current school struggles with funding, maintaining student attention, and failing to provide students with a quality education at a pace that is suitable to them.

Interestingly enough, this outlook hasn’t affected his attitude for teaching in quite the way one would expect. When asked if he enjoyed teaching, he was quiet for a moment, considering his answer. He responded with a "yes." He said that ten years ago he didn’t think he liked teaching at all (not a surprise, considering the hell some of my classmates made his life in the art room), but his perspective had changed in the past several years as he became aware of how ingrained it was in him and the degree to which he relished the experience. It seems that, over time, my teacher had sort of accepted his fate as an educator to the effect that, although he spoke hopefully of being able to retire in a year, this sentiment seemed outweighed by his desire to be in the classroom.

The lesson I took away from all of this is that it’s a fortunate thing to have passionate educators in schools, particularly in less privileged locations. Facing a seemingly uphill battle with school reform, or lack thereof, would make it easy for many teachers to “go through the motions,” apathetically accepting their situation and droning on to students every day, devoid of any real enthusiasm for the subject. The determined teachers, who believe in the good they can do and value the opportunity teaching provides them, are the ones who will still find ways to instruct and inspire.