I’m angry

I recently heard a woman rant, loudly and publicly (to a large audience as a part of a public speech on some other topic) about her child’s school.

It really, really pissed me off.

I know nothing about her situation, of course. I don’t know anything about the public school she spoke of. I don’t know her son. I don’t know the teacher or the constraints she is under.

But somehow it didn’t matter to me.

What I know is that most teachers want to serve their students the best they can. Most are under incredibly burdensome and restrictive guidelines as to what they can and can’t do in their classrooms. Most know this isn’t right but feel powerless to change things.

And despite all this, the stories that are most often being told – as was the case with this woman, in the media, and elsewhere – are of teachers who aren’t serving students well.

How do we reverse this incredibly destructive tide?