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Amen, Mark. Very well said.

Mark, I think you’re overextending here.

I think what Liza’s saying is that alternatively certified teachers, whether due to the naivety of youth or remnants of corporate cut throatness, are unaware of the history and struggles fought to get the rights we currently have now. This makes them susceptible to incorrect suggestions that they’re unnecessary and that the system will do what is ethically right.

Thanks for the comment Mark.

I actually wasn’t trying to argue that knowing this history makes one a “more effective” teacher per se. I do think there is something important about having teachers who have studied the history of education and educations reform that is important to the future of education in this city. Perhaps a doctor who only knows the current most officially approved method for treating a certain disease may do so as well as the next. But it is the doctor who knows the history of the treatment of that disease, and who knows the politics and economics involved in what medicines are currently being pushed for it, etc, who is the doctor I would want treating me. And not only that, certainly if doctors are to have a say in where the research on the future of treatment of that disease goes, I would want them all to know the history.

Analogies can only take us so far, but an informed, knowledgeable workforce is a workforce that is activated to make decisions about the future of their field. If we want a pliable teaching staff that administrators and the DOE can bend to their will and who will never put up any resistance to reforms, even when they are terribly bad ones, then we don’t have to worry about having our teachers educated in history. But I think the voices of teachers should be in the mix (much more so then they have been) when major decisions are made about the future of education. In fact, some argue that the creation of the “revolving door teaching force” may be an intentional choice by the Bloomberg administration to create a body of teachers who are less invested in the teaching profession and are, on average, less informed about their rights and about how the issues we currently face in this city came to be. Based on conversations I have had, newer teachers are much less likely to support basic teacher rights like tenure and due process. They are less likely to understand that the ATR pool is not made up of a bunch of “bad teachers” but teachers whose schools closed and who cannot get hired precisely because they are highly paid and teaching fellows are very cheap. They are more likely to support charters and it has not even occurred to many that charters are a privatizing force that is undermining the ability for teachers to have a say in their schools. But these teachers are also very often open to listening and learning, and want to hear the history so they can have more informed perspectives. I for one want the individuals that I call my colleagues across the city to know what’s going on out there and to understand its history.

Now I suppose my somewhat dramatic mention of “impressionable minds” in the first paragraph is a reference to how this impacts the classroom. I was thinking specifically about a few things: progressive pedagogy versus “traditional” instruction which has a vivid history that I studied at length in college; the “teaching to the test” phenomenon that is so disturbingly common and that newer teachers are particularly vulnerable to; and the whole history and body of work dedicated to anti-racist pedagogy that might not be reflected in “effectiveness” measures but that I think all teachers in New York City should be using to inform their practice. I’m sure we could come up with more.

As is usual I am writing too much so I will end there. Thanks again for your comment!

I appreciate your comments, but I also wanted to clarify a point about “teachers who have studied the history of education and education reforms..” I have been teaching English since 1973, but since my two Master’s degrees are in English Literature and Journalism, I have never formally studied educational history; however I have lived through much of it. Anything I do know, I have gleaned from former colleagues, and from my own independent reading: several books by Diane Ravitch, and also an excellent book called The Big Test which tells about the impact (positive and negative) that the SAT exam had on American education. However, even without formal study of educational history, senior teachers have a treasure trove of experiences and perspectives to share with our newer colleagues. Thank you for recognizing that.

The schools also are sometimes encouraged to hire fellows over teachers like me who took the long way through college and have been fighting to get into to the system for three years but cannot do to a hiring freeze, while fellows some how get hired anyway.

Wow, awesome post. Thanks for it. The comments sort of meander through several topics, so I’m just going to quote this part of the post…

“… More teachers are walking into classrooms with very little knowledge of the history of struggles within the New York City public school system and with little understanding of the importance of having a strong union to protect students and educators…”

… and suggest two books (I’ve found through the readers of this site) that helped me in understanding the importance of the Union throughout the decades.

‘Tough Liberal’ is is Richard D. Kahlenberg’s biography of Albert Shanker
‘The Strike that Changed New York’ by Jerald e. Podair

Actually, my guess is that you’ve read them, but I thought I’d just throw out the titles on this post for others to see.

Awesome! Actually when I was writing this piece a friend (the one whose blog i linked to when i wrote “more experience colleagues”) suggested including a book list. I didn’t think it made sense to include within the piece but I’m excited to have one- and probably will even be selling some books- for the summer speaker series. I will definitely include these two. Thanks!