Before I opened the Journal this morning, I made a prediction. Bob Kerr’s column would be a sympathetic feature story on the teachers of Central Falls, perhaps focusing on a single teacher whose heart is in the right place.
I was right. Of course, those familiar with the predictability of Kerr know my prediction wasn’t a difficult one.
George McLaughlin seems like a good guy, a veteran with lots of experience working with kids. And I’m sure his wife, who is also a teacher, is a fine person as well.
The union, with its back to the wall, needs to put its teachers in a sympathetic position. So the media blitz has begun. A new, professionally designed website has been created, with plenty of photos of kind-looking teachers. A rally, on behalf of teachers, is planned Tuesday. And someone got on the phone to Kerr, whom the unions undoubtedly knew would be an ally at the Journal. Kerr’s column even features the website URL and provides publicity for the Tuesday rally.
As the unions regularly do, they’ve made the issue about teachers. They know it should be about students, so they call the rally for teachers a “Save our Students” event. And the website outlining the teachers’ union’s position is called “Central Falls Students Deserve Better”. Despite the word “students”, the union’s goal is to save the teachers’ jobs.
I am not anti-teacher, as some would claim. I am a teacher. But I am intolerant of those teachers, and the union leaders, who make excuses for why so many kids in Central Falls aren’t learning. Teachers must have the flexibility to deal with the difficulties that hinder the communities in which they teach. Teaching kids in high poverty areas is particularly challenging. This is also true in schools with large numbers of immigrants, or students whose first language isn’t English. Urban schools have their own challenges as well. Wrap all this into a single school like Central Falls High, and the mountain peak may simply seem well out of reach.
Those who believe the challenge is too great shouldn’t be teaching at Central Falls High.
Our schools do not exist to provide jobs for adults. Schools have the uniquely important responsibility of educating our future. We, as teachers, must do whatever it takes to ensure success. Those unwilling should receive a smile, a handshake, and a polite thank you as they exit the building.
I’m sorry Mr. McLaughlin, it is not about “meanness” or pointing fingers (although it doesn’t help that your union will agree to the changes if more money is offered). It’s about fixing what is broken. It’s about doing what it takes to provide the very best education to kids that need it the most, those in the community you love.
If less than half of CF students are graduating, is it possible to say this is happening?
