Should Schools be Profitable?

The "School reform" which politicians promise everywhere is in full swing in NYC. Schools are being closed other schools are being open. Some teachers are laid off, then hired again. More principals got more jobs: that's for sure, to rule higher number of smaller schools. Some say it works, others say it fails. How do you know? Who can understand what's going on? Why one school is chosen over another?

You can't find the answers in the Medea. I tried. The information is twisted, one-sided, and always blames the teaches for all the problems in education. Teachers are bad. Fire them all. Teachers are too lazy. Teachers have it easy. Teachers have a shorter day. Teachers have longer vacations. Remove tenure from teachers. Retest the teachers. Take their licenses away. They are doing nothing when nobody's watching.

The last one is my favorite :):):):) We have 34 times 5 pairs of eyes watching us everyday for 6 hours and 40 minutes. When they are not around we have meetings, workshops, or professional assignments. We can't use the bathroom when we need it. We can't drink coffee, or have our phone on. Every minute of our school day is measured, scheduled, and accounted for. This is why we have to grade the students' papers at home, plan out lessons at home, go to the bathroom at home.

I am not winning, it's my life, it's normal, just do not tell me that I have it easy. I am an experienced teacher who loves the job. I do need my 2 months in the summer to rejuvenate and bring my energy back. We start in September, in October I have my first nervous break down, feeling that they learn too slowly. By December I am back because they did learn something and show some progress. In January we have State Tests which usually change some students' standing on their way to the high school diploma. By February I develop a second breath and start new term very enthusiastically. March and April are always filled with a lot of learning and growing, but by May I can't remember what I am saying and have to start every sentence at least twice. Thank god we have State Tests in June or I would go crazy. In July I can only lay in my bed without any thoughts or plans because in September I have to start all over.

Now back to the reform: as I usually suggest, let's start with definitions. What is a good school? According to our current politicians in the city and in the country: a good school is a school that has the highest number of students who passed the State Tests and received the high school diploma. That's it. Simple and easy to check. Good teachers are those whose students pass the state exams, and bad teachers are those whose students do not. Again easy to define and easy to check. Maybe they are right, those current politicians?

I am working at a very prestigious school at this time after working for 20 years with the poorest population. This is a very pity place for kids: Teachers talk in quiet classrooms, write notes on the boards. Students memorize everything and pass all the exams with flying colors. They are all obedient kids, most of them are introverts, they got to this school by passing 3 hour written test and an interview. Are they real? Can we make all of them like that?

I wrote the above 3 years ago, but it was stored on Google as a draft. My life changed, I am not working at this school any longer, but I still feel the same about that place. So I'll finish this blog and publish it now.

The reform I was talking about converts public schools that use the taxes into charter schools that also use taxes. The difference is that public schools use all the money they received, but charter schools work for profit so they must have some of our taxes left for their own profits. And the other difference is that we take care of all and any children that come to us, but charter schools can refuse some "difficult" children their services.

I started this blog by describing my working conditions as one year cycle. The same happens in the charter schools. The teachers are as busy and as exhausted as we are. I know teachers from charter schools, they are great people and I know teachers from public schools they are absolutely great and I am proud to be one of them. Should the business model be applied to schools or not is for your, the public, to decide. Do you think that it is a good idea to make profits out of our tax money spent on our kids? I know I put this question in an unfair way, my opinion is too obvious :)