“I don’t love teaching because my job is no longer teaching.”
North Carolina teacher Kris Nielsen wrote a provocative and lengthy essay for his blog Middle Grades Mastery.
It begins: “I love teaching. Or, I did love teaching. I loved teaching when my job was to teach. Now, I don’t love teaching, because my job is no longer teaching.”
Nielsen began teaching in 2006. He taught sixth grade earth science, writing, “I created my own curriculum, based loosely on the New Mexico state standards. My kids loved it! I kept them busy with hands-on, student centered learning that built vocabulary and concepts along the way.”
Nielsen moved to Oregon and a job he enjoyed, but was let go after two years when his district slashed 350 jobs to cut costs.
Nielsen chronicles a frustrating job search that led him and his family to move cross country to the vaunted Charlotte-Mecklenburg system. He shares his growing disillusionment with the profession.
Here is an excerpt of his blog. Please try to read the full essay before commenting:
What they didn’t tell me in orientation was that I would not have time to teach anything meaningful. I was hired to teach science and the exact same math I had taught in Oregon, but this was different. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is a district that is drowning in its own mandates, risk-taking, and testing culture. I think CMS is a microcosm of what’s to come in American education. It’s depressing. I didn’t like it, so I did some research. An adjacent district was hiring some math and science people and I was attracted to two main things: it was closer to home and they had rolled out a one-to-one laptop initiative recently. Every student was carrying a laptop in class every day. I had to get into one of those classrooms!
To make that story short, I did. It’s no different. Despite the lofty ideals and motivating speeches from administration, everything is the same. I’m not an educator, by the definition I had comes to terms with; I’m an employee of a system that has an agenda. My job is to frontload a small encyclopedia of knowledge to a group of students so that they can pass a test at the end of the year. There are now more shallow and meaningless tests, and my job now depends on the scores. That’s not teaching. That’s not what I do.
I’ve heard this several times already: “If you’re teaching students to learn and letting them discover the knowledge, then shouldn’t they be able to pass those tests easily?” At first, I thought, “Yeah! Totally!” But after trying it, I don’t think it makes sense. Standardized tests are rigidly specific in the knowledge kids should have. They are bent way over into the realm of vocabulary and multiple-choice answers and they don’t even come close to teaching 21st century skills. If I teach my kids how to think and how to learn, then they will not be prepared to pass state tests, because that’s not what those tests are measuring. The tests measure two things: memory and application. The second one is important, but not in a multiple-choice or short-answer sphere.
I’ve gotten to the point where I feel good about how a lesson played out, only to check my email afterwards to find no fewer than five menial tasks that I must dedicate my time to. This is time when I should be planning more lessons, conferencing with parents, and learning.
My students are falling apart. They have little hope. I don’t blame them. They are reminded every year of their failure to pass meaningless tests and they watch the news that tells them they are dumber than the rest of the world. That piece of information is not true, by any means, but you can tell it affects them. And no one stands up to tell them they are doing fine.
I wanted to be part of the fix. I wanted to save the world. But every day I see powers greater than me stomp us down and tell us to get back into the classroom and be glad we even have jobs. If this is the way that public education treats professionals, then it’s time for me to find a new field.
I give up. They win. I have joined the ranks of parents who have come to realize that we are only empowered to do one thing: take care of our own. I hope that things change, but I don’t have the energy, the money, or the time to continue beating my head into a wall. And if the choices have run out for my toddler when he’s ready for school, I will do it myself. Maybe I’ll do it for others, as well. Who knows.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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135 comments Add your comment
Really amazed
October 31st, 2012
10:43 am
Then how can parents of public school students still question why other parents spend their hard earned money to send their children to private school in the USA?? At least in private schools these students are being taught how to take notes etc. not just memorize to pass a test. Memorizing to pass test is all that public school is about nowadays!! More interested in my children truly learning. Stop telling parents that dare spend hard earned money they are the silly ones! I think many have that one backwards! Just about every public school teacher I talk to feels the same way as the teacher in this article!!
Claudia Stucke
October 31st, 2012
10:47 am
@HAM-H, I agree with you at least in part; but all the bells and whistles, technology, and infrastructure of a brand-new school become less effective (if not ineffective) without informed leadership at the district level. At the school where I previously taught, our sparkling new classrooms were built to accommodate twenty-eight students (plus four technology workstations). Despite teacher and administration input, the people in charge of design and implementation insisted, “Twenty-eight is the class size limit” in Georgia. ?????? Who are these people, and where do they get their information? At the time these classrooms were being designed and constructed, I already had 35 students in my classes; and in my lovely new classroom, I didn’t have room for the 40 who occupied the classroom for the entire semester. Did I mention that ten of these were special-needs students with individual education plans, which went unfulfilled because there was no room to accommodate students’ needs (such as small-group instruction and break-out groups)? I didn’t even have room for 40 desks; several students took turns sitting in (borrowed) chairs with notebooks on their laps. As I said, all the facilities were first-class; but those in charge of making decisions with regard to student needs were sadly misinformed and refused to listen to reason.
Really amazed
October 31st, 2012
10:49 am
@Solutions, couldn’t agree more!
William Casey
October 31st, 2012
10:53 am
@WOODY: “Please Understand Me” is a wonderful book. It sure helped me be a better teacher.
Jarod Apperson
October 31st, 2012
11:02 am
@APS Parent #2. I think your (a) and (b) get at half the discussion. Unfortunately, for many of our students the outcome is (c): learn neither a nor b.
Testing isn’t about the students in groups a or b. It’s about group c. Here’s some casual evidence:
In Big Brothers Big Sisters, my little brother goes to a school in East Point. On CRCT tests, the school ranks in the 9th percentile statewide. He is in fourth grade. He struggles with reading and writing. Last year, he failed all parts of the CRCT. His mom asked for him to be held back because she didn’t think he had mastered 3rd grade, but the school told her he was ready to move on.
Some level of accountability is needed. I understand that testing is frustrating for teachers and parents in the upper class who want to focus on higher level learning, but it’s not about them. It’s about shedding light on the fact that for many of our society’s kids, we’re not accomplishing the most basic learning. If kids can barely read, how can they make arguments or cite evidence to support those arguments?
Michele
October 31st, 2012
11:09 am
I totally agree with the statement that education is no longer teaching. What every parent should understand is that the new “education” is becoming “one size fits all.” The trend in all education is to create cookie-cutter lessons and procedures to address only what is going to be tested. Everyone from the most gifted students to the lowest of the students is placed in the same classroom hoping that test scores would rise if everyone is working together to raise up the entire school’s test scores. This is killing student achievement on both ends and on the middle. Gifted students perform the best when they are isolated in classrooms that provide the essential drive they receive from one another. The same is true for those in the middle and the bottom of the intelligence spectrum. The education system is doing nothing but try to homogenize education, which kills education. Parents of the gifted programs must understand that their children are not being challenged. This only destroys the ability of teachers to meet the needs of groups all across the system. Parents are the only group with the ability to drive the educators towards treating every group fairly. Homogenized classrooms kill education.
Truth in Moderation
October 31st, 2012
11:28 am
@Bootney
You’re catching on! Mao’s regime oversaw the torture/murder of 65 million+ of their own people (dissenters). This is well documented in the scholarly tome,
THE BLACK BOOK OF COMMUNISM. The China/communist connection with our public schools is well documented in THE DELIBERATE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA. http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
I like your ideas for school reform. Please develop them and pitch them to a candidate as a party plank. Better yet, why don’t you run?
Newtisnuts
October 31st, 2012
11:29 am
Maureen, this is the first time I have read all the comments following one of your articles and I am impressed with the thoughtful and informative opinions that were posted. I’m used to the name-calling and nasty putdowns that seem to follow anything that Jay Bookman or Jim Galloway posts. The folks who read what you write — while they may have different perspectives — all seem genuinely concerned about the current status of public education. No one seemed to have all the answers but each appeared to really want to find a solution. You are to be commended for triggering such a thoughtful response, and I suspect this happens all the time. In the future, I will read you — as usual — but now I will also read the comments of our readers.
Twenty-four years ago I ran for state representative and I do not recall any voter asking anything about education, or where I stood on state funding, etc. Perhaps the fact that we are now discussing education more openly is a sign that — as a society — we may begin to take steps to alter the situation. At leat we can hope.
Again, congratulations for stirring up such an interesting pot of thinking.
Hannah
October 31st, 2012
11:33 am
Mortimer, you’re missing the point. Most teachers would agree that they don’t mind the administrative aspect of the job, but they signed on to teach and that is not what they are doing. Teaching to the test is not teaching, and it doesn’t help the kids learn anything, but what else can we do if the county has stated that the kids passing the test is all that matters?
Maureen Downey
October 31st, 2012
11:36 am
@Newt, I agree that most of the commenters are thoughtful. And several ought to be writing books on ed reform, as they clearly know the issues and have great ideas.
I also have to acknowledge that I have taken a stronger hand in moderating and blocking comments to cut down on the nonsense. Some folks don’t like it, but I grew tired of the incivility and personal attacks so my moderation list is long.
Glad to have you join us.
Maureen
Tonya C.
October 31st, 2012
11:39 am
Hannah,
Not just the county. It is a state and national directive as well. So many good points made on this one.
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
11:54 am
Aww…Im gonna cry….boo hoo.
“ADDITIONAL DUTIES AS ASSIGNED”
OR
Find another job.
Mortimer what you don’t get is that the teachers ARE finding another job. But the CHILDREN can’t do that, can they Mortimer?
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
12:02 pm
How were Confucius, Socrates and Jesus able to teach ANYTHING without the expert guidance of the Broad Foundation and/or SACS?
And speaking of SACS, which historical figure would Mark Elgart MOST (to put it in standardized testing form) remind you of?
A) Socrates
B) Jesus
C) Confucius
D) Pontius Pilate
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
12:07 pm
Maureen, this is the first time I have read all the comments following one of your articles and I am impressed with the thoughtful and informative opinions that were posted
@Newt, I agree that most of the commenters are thoughtful. And several ought to be writing books on ed reform, as they clearly know the issues and have great ideas
Good thing I posted AFTER Newt had a chance to read the comments; I’d hate to be the one who left a bad first impression!
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
12:16 pm
I’ll never understand why teachers, who get summers off and every holiday off, complain about their jobs so much. Cops get shot, firefighters burn and military personel get blown up in combat but you never hear the amount of complaining of that of a teacher.
Bottom line: Teachers choose to teach. If they don’t like it, find something else to do.
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
12:17 pm
If only cops, firefighters and military personel got paid as much as teachers in the northern states.
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
12:30 pm
Bottom line: Teachers choose to teach. If they don’t like it, find something else to do.
Again, another person who just…doesn’t…get…it.
The teachers can and ARE leaving the dysfunctional monolith; but the students CAN’T. As Dr. Trotter says, “You can’t have good LEARNING conditions, until you have good TEACHING conditions.”
Plus teachers do NOT get Arbor Day off! So much for the “every holiday off” theory LOL
Maude
October 31st, 2012
12:30 pm
What I would give to teach the way I did when I started my dream job. We were given the expectations of what the child should know to move to the next grade. We were allowed to teach these expectations in the way we wanted to based on our training and the way the stucents in our class learn best. I never taught the same way one year from the next, but the students learned and we HAD FUN. Now we have to teach exactly like the teacher next door using a method that someone from the state or county made up. The methods we are forced to use are not based on how most students learn. This year with Common Core using the methods we are forced to use my class is the lowest class I have ever had at this point in the school year. I am unable to teach the way to best fit the needs of my students. Maybe if all students entered my class on grade level, with an above average IQ, two parents at home that worked with their child daily, had the vocabulary and back ground knowledge needed and the attitude that learning is important——well I can dream! I am trying hard to teach the way I am told I must and it is killing me daily to know I am not doing what is best for my students.
Newtisnuts
October 31st, 2012
12:42 pm
Maureen, in response to your kind posting at 11:36 am, I have to ask whether all the AJC bloggers have the capacity to block nasty comments? I have several times urged Jim Galloway to do the same. The sports guys, like Mark Bradley, seem to encourge bellicose writing, but in areas like yours which are much more important, I’m glad to see you have control. I’m going to send an e-mail to Jim, urging him to read your blog.
Sk8ing Momma
October 31st, 2012
12:42 pm
Three cheers for homeschooling! This blog entry has strengthened my resolve to continue homeschooling my two children (6th and 8th grades) for the long haul.
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
12:44 pm
Also note teachers do not get “National Bash Teachers Day” off. The reason being of course if they got THAT day off, teachers would be off 365 days a year.
irisheyes
October 31st, 2012
12:52 pm
We definitely don’t get every holiday off! Otherwise, Halloween (and the day after) would be at the top of the list!
William
October 31st, 2012
12:54 pm
As a teacher for over 15 years in the Metro area, I totally agree with the teacher. We teach to a test and are harrassed by administrators to just pass kids so they don’t hurt the schools AYP score. Sad but true.
Maureen Downey
October 31st, 2012
1:00 pm
@Newt, We are all urged to moderate, but we all have different thresholds of what we deem unacceptable. On the few occasions where this blog has had a topic that touched on sports, I have been stunned by the rancor and the garbage that folks post. It has made me leery of any sports-related school stuff. I only post sports-related topics if I am able to stay with the blog all day to moderate and remove comments.
Maureen
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
1:10 pm
@Maureen is there any truth to the rumor you were awarded a Broad Foundation grant to turn the blog into a multiple choice format?
Newtisnuts
October 31st, 2012
1:12 pm
Good for you, Maureen. I’ve sent an e-mail to Jim, and I copied Kevin Riley, urging him to follow your example.
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
1:26 pm
“The teachers can and ARE leaving the dysfunctional monolith; but the students CAN’T.”
Blame the parents or lack of. Most of the problem stems from one demographic and every time someone mentions that fact they get called a racist.
Really amazed
October 31st, 2012
1:27 pm
I think this article should make the news in every state!!!! Parents have the right to see and hear what is ACTUALLY taking place in public education. Stop with the smoke and mirrors already!
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
1:30 pm
“I have to ask whether all the AJC bloggers have the capacity to block nasty comments? ”
Who is writing nasty comments? I have yet to read any.
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
1:32 pm
” I have been stunned by the rancor and the garbage that folks post.
You’d have a heart attack if you saw what is posted on Bookman’s blog. People over there threaten each other, name call etc. I left that blog a long time ago.
Phil from Athens
October 31st, 2012
1:33 pm
Newtisnuts
Jim does ban folks from his blog and I’ve seen it happen recently. Two or three folks were name jacking and writing all sorts of nasty stuff. Jim banned them and they haven’t been back since. Just because he doesn’t tell you personally doesn’t mean he isn’t moderating.
Truth in Moderation
October 31st, 2012
1:38 pm
Earth Science teachers:
Here’s two links for the ultimate E.S. field trip, Haleakala Volcano, Maui, Hawaii. Yet another home school family made the trip and wrote a great account of the drive to the summit. The other is a nice 360 degree panorama of the caldera:
http://movingmama.blogspot.com/2011/03/haleakala.html
http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/hawaii/maui/haleakala/virtual-tour
jarvis
October 31st, 2012
1:44 pm
What if you wrote a story in a publication nobody read? Would it even be writing at all?
bubba
October 31st, 2012
1:52 pm
Concur with Phil,
I’ve never seen a profession where the lower performers whine anywhere near that of teachers.
You don’t like it, leave.
I see no teacher shortage.
I see teachers who leave are immediately replaced without being missed.
I see how class sizes have increased a good bit, education budgets have been dramatically slashed, and yet:
Scores continue to climb
5 years ago if teachers were asked what would happen if budgets were dramatically reduced and class sizes were increased they would uniformly say – Scores will fall dramatically and it will be chaos
Hasn’t happened
The recession has helped to show that we have been overspending in public education
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
2:17 pm
“Scores continue to climb”
As does that eraser company stock!
Doesn’t matter if they can’t spell CRCT just as long as they can pass it!
“Scores will fall dramatically and it will be chaos…Hasn’t happened”
True enough; why just the other day I was strolling through a prototypical high school in ClayCo and saying to myself, “Jeez, this sounds as well mannered and orderly as a Tibetan monastery during silent reflection. No problems here”
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
2:25 pm
Earth Science teachers:
Here’s two links for the ultimate E.S. field trip, Haleakala Volcano, Maui,
Saw a great quote from the Earth Science teachers at Sarah Palin’s Onward Christian Soldiers Science and Technology Academy:
“Imagine how great the view was for the cavemen riding pterodactyls over the volcano when it was first formed 6,000 years ago!”
You betcha!
bubba
October 31st, 2012
2:25 pm
Bev,
re: “As does that eraser company stock!”
– which one?
re: “high school in ClayCo” – same question
-which one
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
2:40 pm
re: “high school in ClayCo” – same question
-which one
ALL of them! Like Edmund Heatley says, it’s a WORLD CLASS system!
“I’ve never seen a profession where the lower performers whine anywhere near that of teachers.”
Guess you never saw the Allen Iverson “Practice…we’re talking about practice” video
Just A Teacher
October 31st, 2012
2:43 pm
Standardized testing is a terrible way to measure student progress, but most Americans think it is an accurate way to tell how well a student is doing in any subject. I held a number of different jobs prior to becoming a teacher, and I never had a single boss ask me to fill in a scantron sheet as part of my job duties. If Georgia, or the rest of the country, honestly wants to attract well paying employers, the idea that teaching kids to bubble in scantron forms is equivalent to giving them an education must stop. Who would you rather have designing the airplane you are taking somebody who can fill in a circle with a pencil or somebody who understands how to apply aerodynamic principles to jet propulsion technology? In other words, somebody who can think!
bubba
October 31st, 2012
2:49 pm
Beverly Fraud seems to be an excellent example of how Maureen’s “moderating” skills tilt.
bubba
October 31st, 2012
2:52 pm
just a teacher:
re: teaching kids to bubble in scantron forms
You do realize that there are specific questions and answers associated with the “bubbles” that must be aligned in order for the question to be correct – and that there is knowledge associated with correctly choosing the answer.
Not sure why you are afraid of bubbles.
Ole Guy
October 31st, 2012
2:58 pm
OK people…break out the violins and make sure we all have ample supplies of hankies to wipe away the tears of anguish while the entire teacher corps, in perfect and well-rehearsed unison, entones THANKYOU SIR, MAY I HAVE (YET) ANOTHER.
I certainly don’t mean to seem totally indifferent to the plight of teachers, however, when the best, and only response boils down to these sophomoric essays entitled WOE IS ME…(given my high level of education and professional devotion) WHAT DO I DO NOW BESIDES SNIVEL, SOB AND WRITE ESSAYS. You’ve all heard this before…teachers, get some balls and take command of your profession. After years of reading the same ole same ole from the poor mis-understood; mis-treated teachers whose only quest in life is…what’s best for the children (ad nauseum)…only to see the time-honored practice of hiding within the safety of anonimity while issuing meaningless heart-rending essays, I am thoroughly convinced that the teacher corps is entirely composed of…well, seeing as how this is a family-read blog, literary decorum shall prevail…SCARDY CATS.
When you, the teacher corps, can dreage up a few leaders within your ranks, visionaries who can truly see the big picture behind your (collective)…dillema…well, maybe your essays will be understood for their true value. Until then, any further replys to these…essays…will be simply another entertainment venue serving absolutely no meaningful purpose whatsoever.
Sleep well, teachers, and don’t forget your daily recital of your mantra:
THANKYOU, SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER…
Maureen Downey
October 31st, 2012
3:04 pm
@bubba, If you search on Beverly, you will find he/she is one of my most ardent and longstanding critics, but he/she focuses on the issues so the comments pass muster. And he/she doesn’t fill half a page with the criticisms.
Maureen
bootney farnsworth
October 31st, 2012
3:13 pm
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/pay-raises-for-atlanta-officials-recommended-but-u/nSsXx/
off topic, but sorta fits. some fool actually tried to give the Atl BOE a raise.
bootney farnsworth
October 31st, 2012
3:18 pm
@ bubba,
I’m curious. when is the last time you spent 8 hours in a classroom and were in charge of 20-40 hormonally charged, parentally entitled, emotional wrecks?
since you seem to know what we do and how we do it so well, I’d love to know where you got
your first hand experience
Just A Teacher
October 31st, 2012
3:24 pm
@ bubba . . . Yes, I understand the concept of multiple choice tests quite well. However, i also believe there is much more to teaching than that. Are YOU aware that a person who can’t even read the question has a 25% chance of filling in the correct bubble on any given standardized test question? My point is that employers want people who can think for themselves and come up with creative solutions to problems. This type of teaching is why my students give me a blank stare when i ask them for their opinions and tell them to support their views in an essay. They don’t know how to think for themselves because nobody ever taught them how.
bootney farnsworth
October 31st, 2012
3:29 pm
in a strange and disturbing way I sorta agree -sorta- with old guy. excuse me, I gotta go wash…
we have lost control of our own profession. somewhere along the way we got tired and cowardly and let the idiots and prostitutes run education.
while my experience is higher ed, I can draw from a couple specific examples
-Tricoli could have been restrained if enough of us had made enough noise. but most people were unwilling to stick their necks out, and more than a few cozied up to his table hoping for scraps.
-the few who stood did so often at the urging of the masses, who evaporated when any attempt of action was taken. standing alone you become an easy target. and you WILL get shot
William Casey
October 31st, 2012
3:30 pm
@OLEGUY: I was too deep in to save myself but you’ll be pleased to know that I made d*mn sure that my 21-year old son, who is about to graduate with dual degrees in mathematics and philosophy, knows the score as to how teachers are treated. He’ll be able to decide whether to pursue teaching as a career. I won’t be holding my breath. The system wants semi-educated, robotic dispensers of pablum. That’s what they will get.
bootney farnsworth
October 31st, 2012
3:33 pm
@ moderation
I get a feeling you’re missing my point.
the most aggressive participants in the Cultural Revolution were Joe Average citizen, saying education and teachers were useless, unnecessary, and counter revolutionary.
pretty much what Fran and Co. (IMO) are saying now.
Beverly Fraud
October 31st, 2012
3:34 pm
@bubba, If you search on Beverly, you will find he/she is one of my most ardent and longstanding critics, but he/she focuses on the issues so the comments pass muster.
Though I do strive to give credit where credit is due…at least in moderate amounts.
@bubba, I would posit to you that moderating in moderation helps the blog strike an appropriate balance.
And just what exactly IS muster?