By Erin Teksten

I’m pretty new to the teaching profession – I taught English abroad for a bit, and then completed a teacher licensure program only about three years ago. I entered the public school teaching profession full of typical wide-eyed optimism, convinced my enthusiasm for foreign languages and my simple philosophy of respect in the classroom would be enough to get me through my new career. (Feel free to enjoy a good chuckle here if you need to.)

I found my first job in an idealistic, student-centered, teacher-cooperative charter school, again convinced I had found my true calling in this school that challenged most school norms. There were minimal rules, and infinite exceptions. Students were encouraged to take ownership of their community, and to challenge what they were taught. I was not just a teacher, but also a facilitator for students who were designing their own curriculum to create authentic, meaningful projects that completed graduation standards. We had no principal or administration, and instead all of these tasks were distributed among all the school staff. No one to tell us what to do, to make guidelines we disagreed with. I welcomed the opportunity to take personal ownership in the school community.

Isn’t this supposed to be the ideal? Aren’t we as teachers always trying to inspire students to see the meaning and relevance of their education in the “real world”? To help them see the patterns in History, and learn the analytical skills to regurgitate thoughts into the five-paragraph essay? Isn’t that the whole point of education? Well that’s what I thought it was, because that’s what I wrote all my papers about in my Master’s of Education program.  I quoted the esteemed, educated authors who work in quiet, calm, and thoughtful buildings on beautifully landscaped campuses far, far away. The buildings whose hallways most teenagers never pass through until they’ve completed their twelfth year in school. The buildings whose floors have probably never been subject to discarded French fries, apples, or ketchup, which any sane teacher knows you must constantly look out for when venturing out into the wild (i.e. out of the staff office).

Needless to say, I did not last past my first year at this charter school. Along with the indescribable daily drama I encountered (including one hormonal teenager who regularly hid under her desk to sob deeply for some unknown pain), I realized I in fact did NOT want to have a say in the administrative happenings of education. I yearned for someone to just tell me what to do already! And I dreaded having to vote for each new decision or policy whose vote was needed immediately yesterday. I could not sit through one more meeting to vote on the careful wording of our school mission, to vote for adjectives or adverbs which would supposedly assure our future student enrollment and financial security. No, no, no, I do not care! I do not wish to have any input! I will pay you $20 and do your lunch duty this week if you just figure it out for me! 

After that year I literally made my escape – to Mexico. I taught English classes at a university there and relished my newfound mental freedom. My job duties were essentially to plan class, teach class, and do some manner of evaluation. No one ever asked me what my opinion was on the running of the school, and I tried to ignore my frustrations about some of the ridiculous bureaucratic rules and regulations that I encountered.

Yes, having a voice is important, but so is one’s sanity, and after my previous year I enjoyed the simplicity of my duties that allowed me to focus just on teaching.

Now that I’m back in the U.S. and working in the public schools, I have a newfound appreciation for school administrators that I could only have gained from that year I spent in the trenches at the charter school. It becomes so easy to grumble about the current state of our system, and rightfully so, since all the hard work we put into our jobs can sometimes make us feel disregarded. But I do believe that those “decision-makers” are doing the best they can within the framework they’re given, and that they truly do have the students’ best interests at heart, as difficult as it may seem at times. 

So the next time a new decision or rule is handed down to you, try to imagine that endless hours and discussions have gone into this decision, and this must be the best possible scenario under the circumstances. After all, administrators are people too. Have you hugged your administrator lately?

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Posted April 30, 2008