Educational Rant- Education

I was recently at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, the state capital.  I was there to speak to the education committee about education.  I was there with about two to three hundred other educators.  I stood there listening to my colleagues from across the state talk about education.  Some were anecdotal, some provided data, others spoke with feeling.  One thing in common was many talked of their credentials as well as frustrations.  It was compelling to hear so many educators talk about our profession and to be given the opportunity to have a voice.  I was inspired, I felt empowered, I started to think…” maybe they will hear us, maybe.”

Then I am in my classroom the next day.  I am there standing in front of my 1st period.  I like this class.  They are a great group of kids.   And I am looking at them.  They are waiting for me to begin the class and it dawns on me, this is education.  Education is sitting right here,  in front of me-this is education.  It is the people I work with every day.  It is the faces and personalities that I sit with, teach, and talk to.  It is these young people that come to my classroom.  They come to me from a variety of backgrounds.  They come in tired or energized.  They come in lazy or hard-working.  They come into my classroom apathetic or eager.  I am not sure what they have just left behind when they enter the room.  Maybe a parent lovingly said good-bye and have a nice day. Perhaps they were yelled at or ignored. Perhaps they ate breakfast, maybe they haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.  I have no idea.  All I know is that I have to teach them…and this is education.

Standing in the legislative chambers in front of the education committee, senators and representatives.  Standing in that roundish room listening to educators speak out about issues that impact our profession.  Seeing the eyes of these politicians, watching them listen to us, not knowing what will happen.  Will they side with us?  Will they really understand our plight?  Will they make policy that will support that classroom I go to every day?  I realize…they have no idea what education really is.  They do not see these faces.  They do not hear their stories.  They do not know what it feels like to want so desperately to make a difference and impact the student sitting in the room.  They can’t know.  They are not there.  Yet, they will be making policy and decisions that will impact these people I work with.

This is how it has always been.  People making decisions that will impact the lives of people they do not know.  And I wonder about this.  Shouldn’t we invite these legislators into our classrooms?  Shouldn’t they get a feel for what we really do?  Some of them most likely have not been in a classroom in ages,  who knows?

I want them to see. I want them to see what education really is.  They may be able to imagine, but until you are in the room, looking into their eyes, listening to their stories, trying to find ways to connect to them and them to connect with learning, you do not know what education is.

Standing inside the capital, the Roundhouse, I was so far removed from what education is.  In the legislative chambers, I was a professional trying to convince other professionals to see my point of view and make policy that will support that.  But, standing in front of my students, I realized at that moment…that they are education and they are the reason we are here.  We need to understand, education is not a formula, it is not something we can do in a box.  It is people, and they come to us in a variety of shapes, sizes, feelings, desires, abilities…they are people.  Education is people.  And they are the people that are the future.  Education is in a room filled with kids…and it is much more than I can describe here.