Teachers, Even Superhero Teachers Can’t Do It All!

We all believe in the power of teachers, both positive and negative, on their students. I do think that teachers make a difference – but I cannot put all of my faith in these “superstar teachers” to reform the education system the way that is truly needed, or be the sole reason for my child’s performance this new school year and here’s why:

1.    Limited superhero teachers for the growing number of kids and schools.
The schools that desperately need some sort of superstar superheroes are often unable to pay them and cannot attract the skills into the areas they are needed most to make the change. If with some stroke of luck they do find this superhuman, they do not last and school cannot retain quality, teachers.

2.    Superhero Teachers can fix most problems, but poverty is not one. Location! Location!! Location!!!.

Schools located in poverty and less access to basic amenities, have higher percentages of students living in poverty and have fewer resources available for teaching. They often have a persistent achievement gap and cannot afford superhero teachers to help bridge this cycle, cache 22 situation.

3.    Teachers are normally only temporary fixtures at a school.
All good things must come to an end and superhero teachers are no exception. Teachers good or bad come and go, moving from school to school or on to different careers. As with all things in life they will be at various stages of their teaching career (early years of teaching or nearing retirement) and that do have an influence either directly or indirectly on student’s performance.

4.    First teachers; should not be last teachers; parents need to become more involved.

 Parents are key to supporting, if not inspiring, life-long learning. When parents get involved with their children’s education, they tend to succeed academically and perform better on exams. Conversely, children, whose families are not as involved in their school experiences, are often unable to compete academically with peers.

Superhero teacher or not, I think it is unfair to blame teachers solely for the performance of their students. I agree they play a critical role in shaping the young minds in their classrooms and should they be held accountable for that  O yes! But so as long as some children are routinely assigned the least-prepared teachers, attend schools in disrepair, make do with outdated technology and instructional materials, and have limited access to a broad and rich curriculum, our nation is still at risk.

However, it seems to me that the root of issues in classrooms that tend to cause the most problems for students failure (like poverty and ill-equipped or uninvolved parents) should be the target of any true reform.
Teachers cannot do this alone, there is a lot all parties involved (Government, Parents, School educators/ owner, teachers) can do to help eradicate the profound inequities among schools and students and to fulfill our great country deep need for reform. Are you working at this for this new school year?

Leaving you with this question? I TEACH SO WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?

Have a Happy new school year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!