September 1, 2023
Michael Sauers
I retired from teaching second grade in 2014. It was a forced retirement due to a catastrophic life event. At 64 years of age, I was at the top of my game. A truly knowledgeable and discerning teacher. Aside from mastery of subject matter and classroom management skills, I had mastered the art of creativity as an essential element of teaching. When combined with the patience I learned from my Mom and the acquired skill of tamping down anxiety, I was able to create a classroom environment where children relaxed, smiled, opened their minds and learned. The goals were to master basic math skills and build strong decoding skills. Eureka!
Throughout my teaching career there was a never ending encroachment of/by authority on classroom protocol, teacher autonomy and teacher creativity. It started with principals who were pressured by school district administrations. School district administrations were influenced by nepotistic school boards and the PA Department of Education. The States were coerced by the Federal government who took their orders from business/industry/manufacturing/military interests. Money was the intoxicating lure. The goal was to control/direct education and the economy.
The post World War II world allowed ordinary men and women to move up and out of traditional roles. The GI Bill was awesome. People wanted an education. They flocked to the cities. More and more people started calling for changes in everything from wages to schools to government to job opportunities and more. This was great for the lower and middle classes but worrisome for the wealthy/privileged/connected. Obviously, they wanted to retain there position. They needed workers, consumers, taxpayers and, most importantly, compliance. They did not need a highly educated populace eager to question, question, question. This may be a slight exaggeration but I believe I’m in the ballpark.
This began a new effort to funnel and control education. Teacher salaries were purposely kept low, almost poverty. Class sizes were kept high, almost nose bleed territory. Teacher unions were frowned upon but they could not be stopped, only controlled. Federal money flowed but always with strings attached.
In my time there was No Child Left Behind, Every Child Succeeds, Race to the Top and, finally, Common Core. Although thinly veiled, the objective was control. These programs slowly but steadily painted teachers into a corner. Controlled curriculums, devoid of creativity, replaced teacher originated and instituted curriculums. Dry as a bone practices, demanding schedules, developmentally inappropriate instruction and TESTING, TESTING, and more TESTING became the norm. Disgusting!
I’m not bragging but I’m giving myself a pat on the back as well as the other creative teachers I worked with. My day began with reading and saying the Pledge of Allegiance, reading, kazooing and singing a song or two, reading and ordering our lunches, listening and following a student read poem, listening to a student led, daily school news and weather report and, finally, going over the days schedule. WOW! All of this was teacher created and involved literacy/math skills approved by my reading and math supervisors. Delightful!
Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it is good for our children or not, the information age with AI, robotics, computers and efficiencies is pushing through us like a category 5 hurricane. Education is more valuable and necessary than ever. Quite frankly, the old priorities must change. Educational funding must be our highest priority, NOT MILITARY SPENDING, NOT A WMD JOBS PROGRAM, NOT CORPORATE WELFARE, ETC. If we and the rest of the world are going to survive the encroaching technological tsunami, we will need a highly educated populace capable of critical thinking and decision making. Not just a few of us but all of us.
Teacher creativity will be tantamount to this effort. Learning, at all levels, must be interesting, compelling and, yes, intoxicating. Dry, dull and boring is a loser especially at the elementary level. This is where a love for learning begins. The money is there. We need to change our priorities! Much better salaries for qualified teachers, much smaller class sizes and much more teacher initiated curriculums are what we need.
This is a bit intimidating but necessary. We owe it to ourselves and our children. As always, research this. Make it an issue.