Education Rise

By Karey Jo W. Thomson

Oklahoma is more than just Ok.  Oklahoman’s are amazing, kind and self-sacrificing yet our educational system is abysmal. The frequent twisters that rip through the plains have taught us life lessons it takes others longer to learn. A twister does care if you are poor, middle class, black, white, or polka dot it will destroy all in its path. The same can be said about underfunded, understaffed schools are destroying future Sooners regardless of race or class.

I’m not a newbie to the world of education. I’m certified to teach 1st through 8^th grade, Middle School Social Studies, and Blind/Visually impaired. I’ve taught in mostly Hispanic schools located in neighborhoods marked by violence, drugs and poverty. I had a friend’s husband tell me he wouldn’t even permit his wife to visit the area much less work there.

Based on the increasing violence and the fact that the area is already in the top five nationally for gang violence and drug related homicides he may not be over reacting. Gang Violence in OKC Despite this, I rarely felt unsafe. I struggled against the heart-wrenching cases of child neglect and abuse.  I had to be a buffer between the world of educational demands/reprimands and reality for 6 year olds often trying to learn a language and learn to read at the same time.

 I loved my school and students but after moving with my new husband to northwest Oklahoma City I found a position closer to home. After four years in the inner city I was ready to take the easy street. I imagined plethora of supplies, parent volunteers, maybe even a class sets of ipads. I dreamed of special education department who actually had time for the students in need of attention. As inner city teachers I suppose we create myths about the suburbs and the ease of their situations. My vivid fantasy was shattered when I laid eyes on my classroom and class list. The classroom was completely empty other than desks and bookshelves. The class list never seemed to end.  I left behind a classroom with classes under 25 students, a bilingual fulltime assistant, common core curriculums for science, social studies and math, 6 computers, a closet full of books, games, manipulatives(items to help students visualize mathematical concepts) and supplies an order form away.  Now, I have 2 classes with 28 students, no assistant, less technology, and $40 office depot gift certificate for my “supply budget”.  Where’s the swanky suburban education I’d always heard of?

That was my wake up call. This is yours...Things aren’t just broken and underfunded in inner city schools. Schools are crumbling in rural, suburban and urban areas. Rural areas don’t get much spotlight but are battling many problems traditionally linked with big cities.  Large class sizes, out of date curriculum, little supplies and low parental support are the norm.  Suburban schools generally have better kept buildings but as I found lack needed supplies, up to date curriculum, and suffer from overly stuffed classrooms. All schools are lagging in technology advancement. The new common core standards have aggravated these problems. All areas are now trying to teach an entirely different set of standards with little if any relevant curriculum. To make big changes possible our state must make big investments.

Unfunded schools have caused the stress levels among children to skyrocket. According to psychologist Robert Leahy quoted in this Slate article  "The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s." Stress over being held ‘accountable’ for not meeting these new standards as a student is nerve racking. Realize that children develop at different rates and we can’t control that. We definitely shouldn’t punish children for it or set critical deadlines. If you don’t read by third grade you’re destined for a prison cell. It’s ridiculous! It’s never too late to master a skill.  We need confident people who are accustomed to success in academic settings.

Recently, mad social scientists have created classrooms teeming with over stressed children.  While our population has grown education has been cut time and time again.  The common good is not served by ignoring youngest among us.  Our state has rebounded from the recession even depositing 3 million dollars this year alone in the rainy day fund. Rainy Day Funds It’s time for education funding to catch up.

We’ve got to start respecting our teachers. That respect includes decent pay, raises and benefits as non-optional expenses.  Working daily in a system crippled by budget cuts is bad. Trying to support a family as the “lowest paid college graduates in America” is worse.  (Finance Article) To then expect this person to buy supplies for a classroom adds insult to injury.

Buildings aren’t the only cost of a school. Staff, books, furniture, sports equipment, utilities, and technology are costly and needed to create learning experiences for our short Sooners. The new common core standards have brought about an entirely new way of educating our youth. It’s amazing and completely different from the so-called “Drill and Kill” learning experiences from only a few years ago. To teach common core I’ve had to educate myself in astronomy, ancient cultures, and advanced math I wasn’t aware of until college. Children’s minds are naturally curious about these things. Children are lighting up with curiosity and wonder as we implement these new standards. Our students will master these new skills. Common core is here to stay.  We can revitalize Oklahoman education. First, we must fund it.

  Teachers need the supplies, class sizes and support to rise up and meet these challenges. We are 48^th in funding countrywide. This embarrassment in funding is hamstringing every student’s progress in the Sooner state. We can join together Oklahoma, rise up and transform our schools into an institution worthy of the next generation of Sooners.

            We already know teachers and students suffer when classes become too large. The last generation of teachers protested and won class size limitations. Now we need to enforce them. Penalties for classes too large are cheaper than hiring an additional teacher. This is tantamount to not having the law.

            We already know that poorly funded schools cannot provide a proper education. Brown vs. Board of Education cemented this as truth. Schools with little funding and supplies restrict a child’s access to education.  If we want a decent education for our children we have to fund schools, all of them. No need to check area or skin color across Oklahoma we score as well as Kazakhstan in Math. (Oklahoma does as well as Kazakhstan) To compare the United States creates a GDP per capita of $49,965 and GDP per capita in Kazakhstan is $11,935.  I’m proud to be an Oklahoman and an American. We all deserve better regardless of any distinguishing features.

            How do we bring about these changes? As I look around my 5^th grade classroom I may think I’ve been drug into some bizarre time traveling adventure.  Like any true time traveler, I have simple advice.  Stand up for yourself. Stand up for your students. Strike. Some may call it an “illegal work stoppage” but what should be illegal is what we’ve done to schools, teachers and students after years of cutting budgets. I know this will work because it’s already worked. It is thanks to activism by hardworking men, women, mothers, fathers and concerned business owners we have the few protections afforded now.

To name a few of the strikes in the last century

Caryle Teacher’s Strike 1949

New York Teacher’s Strike 1968

Florida Teacher’s Strike 1968

Philadelphia Teacher’s Strike 1972

Baltimore Teacher’s Strike 1974

Ontario Teacher’s Strike 1997

Alberta Teacher’s Strike 2002

Hayward Teacher’s Strike 2007

Puerto Rico Teacher’s Strike 2008

Saskatchewan Teacher’s Strike 2011

Chicago Teacher’s Strike 2012

Now let’s add Oklahoma 2014 to that auspicious list.

I’m not an advocate of laziness or shirking responsibilities. I take hard work and responsibility very seriously. As a schoolteacher I get the summers off. To most this sounds like a dream but I always volunteer for summer school, writing curriculum maps, and one particularly ambitious year I took courses on teaching the blind and typing braille.  After 4 years in teaching this was the first summer I actually had a month off. It is important to be clear that I do not typically encourage anyone, even myself, to do less than his or her best.

However, if we want to improve education my entire profession has to take a stand and a sign on a picket line.

We need teachers, principals, therapists, and all the many other professionals to stand up and say they will not be held back by legislatures who think cut-rate education will suffice. Oklahoma is 49^th in educational funding and it shows in the quality of education we are able to provide our citizens.  A school district has hundreds and sometimes thousands of buildings to maintain. Inside each building there are classrooms filled with idealistic teachers looking to shape young minds into digital citizens of this century. Yet, there is little access to modern technology. Each student requires supplies, which are not cheap. I was once lucky. I worked in a school that through Title One funds and school run fundraisers was able to provide anything I needed. My closet was filled with supplies for educational centers, flash cards, dry erase boards, computers running a state of the art early learning system and a full time bi-lingual assistant. Now, I’ve moved to a suburban district lacking Title One funds. So no educational centers, flash cards, dry erase boards, no computers with state of the art early learning systems or assistants of any variety.  Every school needs to be funded so teacher’s pitiful salaries are not spent providing things required to do our jobs successfully.

A call to my fellow educators

If we don’t fight for education, who will? If you aren’t going to be Norma Rae for your students and the future of education, no one will! We are already working ourselves to near exhaustion and anxiety learning new standards and methods of teaching. I feel like the students know more and are more challenged then ever before. Yet the state and districts aren’t providing the curriculum, class sizes or support staff needed for progress. Tony DiStefano a 38 year veteran teacher praised the brave souls left behind in the trenches “they will work very hard to some how make it all work. Those in charge are counting on it.” I’m not saying we can’t do it. We Can! Education is improving but if we don’t demand funding and proper staffing now it’s not likely we’ll get it later.