Teachers, We Need To Talk...

Education has stopped being about the students

If this insults you

and you think we should apologize for our rudeness

Then we are glad we have grasped your attention

because there are some things we’d like to mention

A few issues and areas we have found lacking

and we know we are not alone with the opinion

that the system is slacking

 

Your efforts we are not downplaying

There are just some things that need saying

Competition has spiraled out of control

emphasis on outdoing others has taken a toll

on the meaning of school

a place we thought was meant for teaching and learning

is now an institution under tyrannical rule

of evaluations and reputations

and tests, standardized and otherwise

Sadly, we have seen too many simply conforming

to this new rule

all the while losing everything wonderful about school

 

So we say to you,

Teachers, we need to talk

We’re not proposing we break up

and we know there are some changes

students should seriously consider

and follow up that consideration

with sincere implementation

but all relationships are give and take

 

Teachers possess many gifts

We believe those gifts can be used to

make education about the students

even as new pressures, requirements, and restrictions

steer the focus toward ratings and rankings

 

Bestow upon us your passion

for teaching, for learning, for helping,

for new ideas, for your specialty

 

a specialty you eat, sleep, breathe, live

yet somehow it seems you have

no inspiration, motivation, advice to give

 

gift us with an educational experience

that will spark our intellect and create

a perpetual flame hungry for

knowledge and understanding

 

present to us a view of the world

not weighed down and clouded by

bias and bitterness

but a view of possibilities

a view that does not put

limitations inside of restrictions nailed to

constraints around our minds

avidly attempting to convince us

that it is all for the best

a view that still allows our

minds to

wander

forget what we think we know

toss out logic

see beauty

expand

 

Now we are not requesting

rose-tinted glasses

we have a hope that

cultivating gloom and doom

will not longer pervade classrooms

 

Students are our future everything

We have the opportunity to

cultivate our future

not control it, but at least

guide it

without proper attention and investment

we are either

possessing an attitude of negligence

or

trying to obtain a hold so tight

that all of those efforts

will cause our allegedly good intentions

to slowly crumble to nothing

Comments

dajah_vu2123

Good poem but alot of spelling and grammar errors.

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