Looking Good

Ray is a middle-aged history teacher at a new pilot school. Ray believes that kids need to enjoy themselves to learn. At the same time, he is a firm believer in holding students accountable: he expects them to be on time, to complete their work, and to not settle for a mediocre grade. As an individual teacher, holding students accountable is a real challenge. The school is a pilot school, and so it “might not be around in two or three years.” In order to help the school “succeed” and make it “look good,” many teachers at Ray’s school teach “down” to students and also inflate grades so that it appears that the students are thriving academically. Although Ray is part of a tight-knit community at the school, he often feels isolated when confronted with the issue of grading.

Ray, who is in his forties, has worked for most of his career in education, most recently with young prisoners in alternative schools. He currently teaches history to tenth and eleventh graders at a new pilot school. For some, teaching students who at times need encouragement to engage deeply with the material can be discouraging, but for Ray, working at this pilot school seems easier than his previous job: the pilot school has state-of-the-art technology, enthusiastic teachers, preferential treatment in the district, and is expecting to secure a new building soon.

Ray approaches his teaching in a practical manner. He is not interested in becoming involved in students’ personal lives, but is more invested in creating lifelong learners. He believes that if he can impart enthusiasm for history, students will gain practice in writing, thinking critically, being reflective, making predictions, and finding trends and patterns. Each of these skills will help his students to become successful and prepare them for the future, a future he hopes will include higher education. 

On a daily basis, Ray tries to have fun in class, because he believes that kids need to enjoy themselves to learn. He also believes that as a teacher, you get better results when you’re likable, affable, and accessible. At the same time, Ray firmly believes in accountability—holding students responsible for being on time for class, completing their work in a timely manner, and not settling for a “C” simply because it is better than failure. He remarks: “We’re not babysitters, we’re not parents, we’re not even camp counselors: we’re teachers. We’re trying to impart knowledge of a particular subject matter. I’m not here to be a surrogate parent for these children, even though that’s basically what ends up happening a lot of times.” 

Ray often struggles with how to teach the content of his course: he knows that many students at the new school are not ready for the content that is appropriate and expected of their respective grade levels; nonetheless, he does not want to expect less of his students and teach less than what they should be learning. He also does not want to perpetuate a cycle in which students are continually promoted when they are academically unprepared for the following year. 

As an individual teacher, upholding accountability is a real challenge. In the community, most parents provide minimal academic support and do not have high expectations—or standards—for their children. As a result, Ray believes, students have learned that just coming to school is a sign of success and some seem to forget that they actually have to work while there. As a teacher, Ray faces conflicting responsibilities to his students, himself, to the teachers’ union, and to his school: 

“I want my students to be the best. I want them to look good when they go out into the world. I want someone to say, ‘Now there’s a kid who’s really got his act together.’ And then secondly [a responsibility to myself], ‘Now there’s a guy who looks like he enjoys what he does for a living.’ Third would be [a responsibility to the union]: ‘Now there’s a group of people who feel very passionately about the work that they do and they want to protect their workers, but also provide the best quality experience for the kids in this city.’ And my fourth one is the school, because … this is a pilot school; it might not be around in two or three years. It’s called a pilot school for a reason, and I can’t sacrifice myself or my students for the sake of something that’s still an experiment. Now, I’m not trying to be cynical. I’m just saying that’s a reality … And I’m going to try to help it succeed, but I have to meet other needs first.”

In order to help the school succeed and make it “look good,” many teachers at Ray’s school “teach down” to the students and at the same time, inflate grades, so that it appears that students are thriving academically. Ray admits that in addition to pressures from the school’s administration, he also feels pressure from the district’s central office. Ray explains: 

“Administrators feel a lot of pressure to make the numbers look good. Attendance numbers. And this is not particular to [this school]. This is particular to the city. Attendance numbers get cooked; test scores get cooked. Teachers are spoken to when the average grades are too low … A lot of administrators just look at the numbers and they’d be like, ‘Wow, seventy-five percent of your kids have failed. You must not be teaching them right.’ Well, they don’t look at the other situation and say, ‘Well, they didn’t pass in a single homework assignment. They didn’t pass in a single paper, and they were absent forty-seven times this year.’ There’s a lot of pressure on the teacher to make the students look better than they really are.”

Though Ray is part of a tight-knit community at the school and is very involved in the union, he often feels isolated and alone when confronted with the issue of grading. As much as he wants students to learn history and work to understand it, he also is aware of his students and their difficult circumstances at home, and knows that retaining their attendance is key to their personal development and future learning. Ray explains: 

“One of the most amazing things about this place is that the kids actually enjoy being in this building … [at this school]. We can’t even get the kids to leave. We go to school two hours extra every day. They love hanging around here. And I can totally understand it and I can totally appreciate it, having been around different types of school environments. It’s tough.”

Ray balances many goals in his work: he works hard to keep his students engaged, be true to his high personal standards in teaching, take into account the complicated home lives of many of his students, and be an active, thoughtful member of the union. Nonetheless, he finds that his goals are not always aligned with those of his colleagues.

What are Ray’s short term and long term goals? How would you describe the conflict Ray faces in his work? What are some ways he might begin to bridge the gap between his goals and the priorities of others in his community?