Letter to the President

Dear Mr. President, First Lady Obama, and other Administrators of Public Education in America,

I recently sent an e-mail message to the White House, but I found it hard to say everything I wanted to say in 2500 characters, so I am also writing a letter. My husband is an educator in the public school system in America. I am an aspiring educator, and we are both facing some of the most difficult and trying times in American Education. I have wanted to write this letter for a long time, and I have finally gotten the courage to do so. I am scared for the education of this country. I do not see the long term benefits of so many educational cuts. Especially since it means more of the Nation’s educators and students are going to be the ones suffering.

Budget cuts from the Federal and State Government levels come in the form of shortened school years, shortened school days, teacher cuts, teacher salary cuts, administrative support staff cuts, larger classroom sizes, academic program cuts, and others. I hear all the time from people who have NEVER taught in a classroom that teachers make too much money as it is. That they have summers off so, they shouldn’t complain about a smaller salary. That they are basically glorified babysitters and don’t do their jobs of educating our children.

Education in America has changed, and is facing more changes in the future. The knowledge that teachers are required and obligated to impart to students has changed and grown in scope and capacity. It is no longer the reading, writing, and arithmetic era. Now teachers are expected to teach empathy and good citizenship as well as subjects like math, writing, reading, science, social studies, politics, and history. Many teachers also face the challenge alone, without the support of the parents or community, and sometimes with little support from an administration; all the while dealing with accusations of inadequacy. Is it any surprise that teachers are disheartened after only a few years of teaching and give up what, to them, may seem an impossible task?

How can teachers teach without being allowed all the tools necessary? Standardized testing should be one measure of how a student is doing, but it shouldn’t be the only one. What happened to observing a student’s progressive growth as a way of measuring if they are learning? What happened to allowing teachers to teach in this country? Standardizing curricula across the country so that students of the same grade level are learning the same things is a good idea. Standardizing curricula to the point where you are telling every teacher what to teach at what time and how they should be teaching it is making the teachers into slot machines of verbal knowledge. There is very little wiggle room for differentiated instruction in this method, but it is expected of the teachers. There is little wiggle room for teachers to bring in art, music, or any other ‘out of the box’ methods that help to engage their students, but engagement is expected. Again, how can teachers teach without being allowed to use the tools and methods necessary to reach this new population of students?


Some people have suggested running schools like businesses. Maybe you’ve heard of this idea too. Have you heard of the Blueberry concept? The idea is this, if a business makes blueberry muffins they are going to try to find the best blueberries they can to use in their muffins. Students are like the blueberries, except that educators have to teach every one of them, whether they are perfect or not, and at the end of the day the product is not something we can sell for profit. Educators product are the students that graduate, and hopefully are educated, well-rounded, citizens. This (shortened) story I just mentioned is not my own; it was told to me by my mother in law, who received a blueberry muffin one day with the story on a note.

Obesity is a growing problem in the United States, and so I can understand why there might be many arguments against what I am about to propose. Extra-curricular athletic programs cost a lot of money, and a good way for school districts and states to save money to be better able to educate the students would be to cut the athletic programs. Most other countries in the world do not offer sports as part of the public education package. Colorado’s budget has projected a cut of 300 million dollars. District athletic programs usually run about 200-300 million dollars; for each district. If every district across the nation either cut money from the athletic budget or cut the athletic programs altogether there would be some money left to save teachers jobs. There would be money left over for building maintenance and for improving technology in schools. There would be money to help keep some of the academic programs. After all, education is why students are in school; not athletics. It would be a very unpopular idea. In the words of my professor, “those are fighting words,” I don’t care. I will say it. I would rather have my children have a great education and pay for them to be in athletic programs of their choice.

I did not go into the field of education to make a lot of money. No teacher does. Some go to teach for a few years so that they will qualify to be a school administrator, who does make more money, but most teachers go into education because they feel they need to. I wanted to go into education to reach out to a new generation and show them the wonderful world that education can open up to them. I especially wanted this for my own children. Now I am afraid that by the time I finish school there will not be a job for me, or if there is I will be teaching an elementary classroom with 50-60 kids crammed into a room meant to hold no more than 30. I am worried that my husband, who teaches high school Theatre and English, will not have a job in the near future because of proposed cuts. I worry that I will not be able to provide for my daughter the education that both my husband and I were able to enjoy.

I hope that this letter is read, but I do not expect it will be. I wanted a chance for my voice to be heard, and the only way to do that is to write and hope that someone will read it and understand where I am coming from; even if they don’t agree. I would love a response, but again I do not expect that I will get one. I suspect this letter will get lost in the millions of letters that reach the White House every day, and read by someone opening mail to check for security threats. Still, on the slim chance that it will be read I will send the letter; it will make me feel better to have at least spoken out.

Thank you for listening to my concerns and opinions. I hope, if nothing else that this will allow a glimpse into the life of struggling educators.

Sincerely,
Me

April

My darling daughter,

You have been such an angel today. You've been sweet, haven't shrieked too much, and been very good about giving hugs. I know you don't understand why mommy and daddy are sad today, and you are too young to understand. This is a very hard time economically, especially for teachers, and today your daddy found out he doesn't have a job next year. I know it's really hard on him feeling like he cannot provide for you and me. I'm sad because I don't know that there is anything I can do to make him feel better. So please remember to give daddy lots of hugs this week and I'm going to hope that karma will feel somewhat generous here pretty soon.

Love always,
Your mother


Dear Universe,

I really need a break from the one step forward two steps backward. Thank you.

Me