Burdens on "The Effective Teacher" (aka cost-externalization in public education)

Here is my latest letter to the President-elect and taxpayers in Hawaii and in the U.S.

Dear Mr. Obama and Dear Fellow Taxpayers,

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but its time for a reality check about how difficult we've made it to be a teacher in public schools in America. I'm not the first to chime in on this topic and I won't be the last, but let me share my story to shed some well-needed light on the state of the profession.

I came to teaching after working as an attorney for about four years. While I tried several different positions in the legal field, I still hadn't found the job or the kind of satisfaction I'd sought when I entered law school. I did some serious soul-searching, braced for a 20K-per-year pay-cut and decided to become a teacher. I earned my Master's in Education while still working full time as an attorney. After becoming licensed in the state of Hawaii, I landed my first teaching position in 2007. I have been working in the same school for about two years now.

After almost two years in the profession, I've come to this important realization about teaching: "excellent teachers" aren't excellent because they possess some magical skills or knowledge about teaching. (NOTE: OK, there are some whose natural charisma and empathy toward young people make them especially well-suited for the classroom, but in general there is no magic behind the equation.) "Excellent" teachers are excellent because they are willing to sacrifice almost limitless amounts of time, energy, and sometimes money for their students. Many "mediocre" teachers are simply "mediocre" because they have chosen to take a stand and NOT give up time with their families, endless mental energy, and their own dollars to "subsidize" their classrooms and public education.

My question: is it really "mediocre" to stand up to the endless demands placed on teachers?

I'm not saying whether or not I'm an excellent teacher, but let me describe the demands of this job. I've worked every single weekend since the beginning of this school year, including every single 3- and 4-day weekend and our week-long fall break. I've worked three or four nights each week for the entire year. I am already planning what work-related activities I intend to do during my winter vacation. I am given one 50-minute class period daily to complete what amounts to roughly 3-4 hours of grading, planning, and other tasks. As a result, if I want to meet the most basic demands of my job, if I want to walk into my over sized classes with all my students' papers graded and lessons planned for the day, I MUST bring work home with me. LOTS of work. Now I recognize that part of this is because I am new teacher, but in a profession that is challenged to meet its recruiting/retention needs, isn't this a serious issue in itself? I'll also admit that when I do something, I want to do it right. I'm not a person to settle for a half-a$$ed job. But honestly, don't we WANT our teachers to be able to their best? Don't we want teachers to have higher than half-a$$ed standards? If a teacher can't give students useful feedback, provide meaningful classes, why even bother send young people to school? The point is that students learn, right? RIGHT??

Schools across Hawaii, including mine, face the real possibility of staff layoffs in the coming school year. If I'm lucky enough NOT to lose my job, I'll be left with my coworkers to manage a unchanged student population with even FEWER resources. Personally, I am at a tipping point. Actually, I am already beyond it. I can't maintain this pace forever.

So - what can be done? No one likes this answer, but its very simple: money. If we want our children to get a quality education, we've got to pay for it. Hawaii simply cannot afford to let its public education slip any further. We need MORE teachers. And more teachers cost MORE money. We can't expect existing teachers to bear increasing responsibility and increasing class sizes with diminishing supports and resources without breaking at some point. OK - some research (albeit HIGHLY questionable, in my opinion) shows that smaller class size doesn't always make for payoffs in student achievement. However, you simply cannot argue that grading the work of 4 classes with 20 students is the equivalent task of grading the work of 4 classes with 30 students. 4x20=80 4x30=120 Who must spend the hours to grade these extra 40 papers? The teacher! Its all about time. And time is money.

Many so-called "mediocre" teachers simply refuse to go to the extremes needed to fulfill the real needs of the students. And at a lower pay than any other profession requiring an equivalent education, can you blame them? Are they supposed to just volunteer their time out of the goodness of their hearts? Many do. But it is absolutely unacceptable that we demand that of them.

The real problem is that we simply don't care enough about our children, our future, to put our money where our mouth is and scream bloody murder for more funding for education. Simply, it is TIME to bite the bullet and pay more for our schools, even now in times of economic hardship.

One last thing, I'm NOT pleading for a pay raise here. While I do believe I deserve one, its about being realistic. As much as I'd love a pay raise, what I really want is a few more colleagues to share the workload here. I think I'm a decent teacher, but I can't stand this stress forever.

Your devoted teacher,


Lisa Rodvien