No More Empty Desks

(Photo by Jerry Jackson, The Baltimore Sun))

I just caught this story about the College Board's "Don't Forget Ed" initiative to keep education at the forefront of our national political conversation.

Education should definitely be at the forefront of our national political conversation. I think we can all agree that there is or are problems with our current education system. However, I worry that education as a political conversation has reached a stalemate. I certainly do understand the benefits of increased funding and pragmatic spending but I do not believe that the solution to the education problem is one of finance. In the same way, I understand the value and importance of state and/or federal standards at each grade level and the need to assess those standards across the grade levels; but, I do not believe that students' education, knowledge, or performance increases or decreases by continuously re-adjusting a standard's level of difficulty.

What is particularly striking about the display at the Washington Monument is not the 857 desks, but what's missing - students.

The question we must answer then, the question at the heart of the education problem is - how do we keep students in their desks?

More to the point, how do we whet a student's appetite for their own education?

Politics cannot keep a student in a desk no matter which view you prefer to take on the issue. Politics can never and will never understand the true grit-and-grind of the classroom day-in-day out where a teacher is pitted against twenty to thirty competing wills and interests and the advent of the smartphone. Politics can never cultivate a classroom environment where the seeds of inspiration and empowerment can grow. Politics cannot build the bridge between learning and genuine human interaction. Politics cannot look into the lens through which you can catch a glimpse of the first glimmering rays of a brighter future.

Maybe before we ask 'how', we should ask 'who'. If not politics, WHO will keep students in their desks? WHO will whet a student's appetite for their own education?

Teachers.

You cannot have an engaged and empowered student without an engaged and empowered teacher. We all know the power of an engaged and empowered teacher. The teacher whose class you couldn't wait to get into. The teacher whose passion was palpable and whose lessons tore down the walls of the classroom to reveal a whole new world beyond. The teacher who loved what they did and, because they loved it, they taught to perfection.

We became better students because we had better teachers.

Our teachers, the engaged and empowered teachers, are the only people WHO know HOW to keep students in their desks - WHO know HOW to whet a student's appetite for their own education.

The engaged and empowered teachers cultivate a classroom environment where the seeds of inspiration and empowerment can grow. The engaged and empowered teachers build the bridge between learning and genuine human interaction. The engaged and empowered teachers look into the lens through which you can catch a glimpse of the first glimmering rays of a brighter future every single day.

It's time to mobilize, engage, and empower our teachers! Let's solve this problem and start the education revolution!

Let's guarantee that there'll be no more empty desks!


Cheers!
Josh
FourTeachers Project