By Rebecca T. Dickinson
Yesterday turned into today. A lot in education reaches inside me and disturbs my gut whether it is good or bad, so I decided it’s time to write about it:
I stand between
two lives.
Not the kind
of which
people gossip,
or the life and
death cliché.
I cannot decide
which way to
roll the dice
for the teacher
or the writer.
For two years,
I kept my hands
in both jars
hoping to dig
out the answer.
Retired teachers
reach the finish
thankful
they ran their race.
No longer the
sweet-eyed
first year who plans
to change a life.
They do their best
to make a difference.
The tests come.
Creativity,
kicked out.
Teach them the test,
and forget the rest.
“Write to the test,
Understand history
to a test, and
the math of a test.”
Ask next, “How do we
build a car engine?”
or “What is AP style
versus creative content?”
Punched in the stomach
when a kid said, “We’ll
go to the same
high school,
except for those who fail.”
The boy looks down.
He knows
more than
some will fail.
Make all As.
Fail the test.
The teacher’s fault.
Sue the school.
District, dust over
the tracks
of those
who think
you did wrong.
What happens next?
Give kindergarten kids
math assessments.
Take up their pencils
for the following
twelve years to
erase how to think.
Students’ voices,
teachers’ fears;
always someone blaming
while the other
warns teachers
not to talk.
“Be careful
of your opinions.”
A student could shove you.
You end up fired.
The tests do not look good.
Your salary is cut.
The teacher feeds children, too.
More and more,
they lose their time
and pay is cut again.
So I think I’ll stay closer
to the writer’s side
where someone still
shouts for,
not at,
the teacher.
Tagged: challenges in education, poem about education, teaching to a test, testing problems, writer and educator
Keep writing dear. You are talented and passionate — they can’t teach that. Follow your heart
Thank you very much! I will continue to work in education as I do now. I love kids, but I hate the politics of it.
That’s lovely honey
I love the bit about keeping hands in both jars, writer and teacher. Made me think that that’s what most writers do isn’t it
Xx
I love children. I respect teachers in a time when they are being attacked through the successors of No Child Left Behind, which is a part of what governs the testing standards. In my second year of high school, I failed the math portion of the state test. I proceeded to the next grade level, but because I failed the math portion of the test I was not accepted into the Governors School of the Arts for Writing. I know what these kids from K to college and beyond are going through. I know this is a long response. I’ll probably write about education from time to time. I am just as passionate about it.
You’re right. Writers, most of the time, are more than one thing. It needs to be that way other wise what would we have to write about? We can’t all become Jane Austen.