I’ll miss the students, not the system
I quit my teaching job last month. It is bittersweet. I already miss the kids but I will never miss the working conditions. I learned quite a bit in the past two years about Shelby County Schools and what kids are like today.
To my disappointment, I learned that this generation, in general, doesn’t read. Even among my smarter students, readers were few. Many of them can do algebra but can’t do basic math.
Today’s students are much less racist and sexist than they were only a few years ago. Gay and Trans kids are accepted, as is interracial dating. Almost no one smokes tobacco, but there is casual widespread use of marijuana.
Their music remains forgettable. They are connected electronically. They are curious. They have a strong sense of justice. They may be the best generation of teenagers since the 1960s.
Unfortunately, they are not well served by the present school system. White Station High attracts intelligent, caring educators – teachers and administrators. It’s not the staff that is lacking. It’s the basic structure that is ridiculous. Much of it is wildly nonsensical.
One example remains the start time. What genius thought it was a good idea to start high school at 7:15 a.m.? Imagine yourself teaching economic theory at 7:15 a.m. I felt like the teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “Anyone? Anyone?“
My students liked me, but if I had suddenly burst into flames they would have said, “We liked Mr. Stegall but he was talking about economics before 8 a.m., so he probably deserved this.”
I sent a comprehensive study about start times to our school superintendent. The study was by an educational neurologist who demonstrably proved why early start times were bad policy.
After repeated attempts to get a response (I started to get snarky), and after mentioning that I was thinking about quitting, one of the superintendent’s secretaries finally sent me the website link where I could resign.
She did not respond to the study in any way. She did not thank me for my concern. Instead, she made it easier for me to quit. After thinking about it, I decided to take her advice. There are multiple reasons. I spent the last three weeks of the semester proctoring state tests that again have turned out to be an utter waste of time due to technical difficulties. For the fourth year in a row, problems with the tests make it impossible to use them.
My godson has spent months of his high school journey being tested instead of being taught. None of his tests have counted for anything. It would have been better for the kids to have gone outside and sat in the grass. Florida simply uses the ACT. The kids hate testing for good reasons.
I think my final straw (other then the sleep deprivation from early start times) was the use of discipline. I don’t know whom to blame for this. When a student doesn’t show up for class, the punishment is suspension.
I had kids who needed to be in my classroom to understand a concept who were being punished for skipping by being removed from my classroom. If I understand policy correctly, this is the only discipline they are allowed to offer. Has no one read “Catch-22“?
It all became too much for me. My love goes out to my students. I note that most teachers don’t last very long. There are very good reasons for this. Teaching in public school is like licking honey from a sharp bitter thorn.
Bill Stegall taught social studies in Memphis and Knoxville for 10 years.