Free the Mind, Equip the Heart

This is an incredible speech by a young man named Ethan Young from the state of Tennessee.

He nails it.

Addressing the issues with Common Core, teacher evaluation, standardized testing, and overuse of data he speaks for every teacher I know.

Teachers that are tired.  Teachers that are scared. Teacher that are looking to flee because of the incredibly outlandish and unworkable demands being made on them.

And a question that needs to be addressed:  Haven't we gone too far with data?

Everything this man says is true, and what teachers have been saying for years.  Somehow we are always met with the refrain that we somehow don't want to be "accountable" -- a word we've come to abhor because nothing is further from the truth.

Ethan Young gets it, and speaks of the disconnect quite elegantly. Here are other gems from Mr. Young which bear repeating:

As a craft, teaching is an interaction. Thus, how can you expect to gauge a teacher's success with no control of her students' participation or interests?

The task of teaching is never quantifiable.

If everything I learn in high school is a measurable objective, I have not learned anything.

(Are all the people who insist we post an objective, explain the objective, repeat the objective, and quantify if the students learned the objective listening???)

My favorite part is when he does the takedown on school only being useful to prepare for college and career.  He rightfully evokes the Founding Fathers "screaming from their graves"...

We teach to free minds.
We teach to inspire.
We teach to equip.
The careers will come naturally.

Yes, they will.  I believe that because I've seen it and experienced it myself during my many years on this planet. 

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I first saw this video the same day that I read about Microsoft dumping their hated stack rankings -- the same kind of ranking used now with teachers.  In fact, right here in Florida the court has ordered the state to release the unstable VAM scores used for teacher evaluation, known to be unreliable, leaving media outlets open to publishing this data--as if it really said anything valid about teachers.

This happened in Los Angeles last year.  A teacher took his own life over it.

Public shaming is now what you get with a career in education.

With all of this being said, it is easy to believe that the point of all of this is to bring public education to its knees so that private firms can take over.  Legislators have already starved the schools of any meaningful funding, made pay increases nearly impossible for teachers, and are now implementing unproven standards at a pace that no reasonable human being can keep up with.  I am only in my tenth year, but the changes in funding have produced noticeable negative effects, and more so every year.  All of that while the pressure increases on everyone involved -- especially the children.

It's insanity.  It's misdirection.  It's confusing to the public. It's confusing to those of us in education who can't figure out how anyone thinks any of this is a good idea.

Is there any other profession that has outsiders dictating everything?

I've known some teachers who have bailed for other opportunities, and I defend their right to do so.  Everyone has to follow their own heart. And let's face it, sometimes the decision comes from the financial stress of teaching without raises and spending so much of our own money on classroom supplies and fundraisers.

But I won't be walking away.

When others talk of leaving, I know I'll stay.

Why?

Because I teach to free minds.  I teach to inspire.  I teach to equip -- with communication and critical thinking and writing skills.  I know I am not a data point, a VAM score, a tick mark on an iPad.  I know what I do is not quantifiable -- yet, I can see the results.  I like that the greatest minds come together in a Language Arts classroom -- and not just all those famous guys, but the great minds of our young people who truly do have something to say if you give them a chance. 

I teach because this is who I am -- and life is simply too short to be someone else. I teach to free the mind and equip the heart -- mine and my students.

I came a long way to make my teaching career happen.  It was forged out of years of doing every other kind of job imaginable. When I found this mission for the second half of my life, I knew it was the right and perfect thing for me.  I have said for years that God has not brought me this far to see me fall on my face.  I believe there are still many lessons for me to learn and perhaps an influence I can have.  I just cannot get sidetracked from what I know.

This is my mission.  As hard as it is and may still become, I'm sticking to it.