Please Don’t Say I’m an Educator
I don’t know what you were doing last Sunday evening around 7 pm but I was watching 60 Minutes. Specifically, I was watching the interview with U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. If you haven’t seen the interview or any interview, for that matter, which features the Nation’s Chief Educator, I strongly encourage you to watch it. Whenever Secretary DeVos is being interviewed it’s highly entertaining, can’t miss TV.
The Nation’s Chief Educator
It would be an understatement to call Mrs. DeVos anything less than a controversial figure. For some, she is a lightning rod. For others, she is a galvanizing force. Regardless of political leanings, there’s one incontrovertible truth about Secretary DeVos, she is this Nation’s Chief Educator.
Thus, whenever I’ve been afforded the opportunity to watch or hear Mrs. DeVos, I’ve done so intently without a political agenda. Because when it comes to understanding the educational and career preparation of today’s children few things are more important than absorbing without distraction the goals of the Nation’s Chief Educator.
Thus far, what I’ve heard and seen of Mrs. DeVos, in large part, explains why America’s K-12 educational system is a mess. Secretary DeVos didn’t create the chaotic US Educational System but she does personify the mold from which many of today’s educators are sculpted.
Some of My Best Friends Are Educators
I know, I know… Anytime someone starts a sentence with the phrase “some of my best friends are”, your prejudice antenna goes up. So, does mine! That’s because the expression is ordinarily nothing more than a hypocritical attempt to convey the appearance of diversity, inclusivity, or equity. But in this case, it’s true. I can absolutely prove to you that some of my best friends are educators.
Many of the most influential people from my childhood were educators (Grant and Charlene Turner, Faye Kimbrough, and Gloria Smith just to name a few. Professors Paul Hanson and Laura Gaston Dooley served critical roles in my undergraduate, graduate, and law school degree completion. Several of the people I respect the most, including the educator whom I’ve known for 25 years, my spouse, Dr. LaTonya M. Turner make up the trusted village that helped raise my son.
So, before any among you, who are educators, are married to an educator, are the parent of an educator, the child of an educator, love an educator, etc. get all sensitive and get your book bag in a twist, I wanted you to know that it’s true — some of my best friends are educators. As such when I compare many, not all educators, to Secretary DeVos, you should know that I do so without malice aforethought and personal indictments.
I draw the similarities to your attention because our children deserve a better chance at a full life and they won’t get a real opportunity unless some educators, not all educators, stop being miniature versions of U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. I highlight the educational problems in hope that we will scrutinize all educators just like we do Betsy.
Just Like Betsy
Rather than diagnose and overprescribe ADD or ADHD medication like we do for children who appear to be hard of hearing, for those educators among you who like your students find reading challenging and critical thinking unnecessary, especially when anyone questions your profession, please read carefully the next two sentences. The comparison to Secretary DeVos is not an absolute. Without question, there are great educators in this country. Unfortunately, there are not enough great educators.
Do I even need to mention school districts such as Atlanta, the District of Columbia, Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago? Is it necessary to remind you that America’s educational system does not rank among the world’s best? American students rank around the middle of the pack, and behind many other advanced industrial nations because America’s educational system and many of her educators are just like Betsy: 1) intentionally naïve, 2) imprudently arrogant, and 3) misleadingly incompetent.
Intentionally Naïve — Consider this exchange between Lesley Stahl and Secretary DeVos during the 60 Minutes interview.
Lesley Stahl: “Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they’re doing?”
Secretary DeVos: “I have not — I have not — I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.”
I didn’t make that exchange up. Those intentionally naïve words came right out of Secretary DeVos mouth, “I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.”
Identical to the Nation’s Chief Educator, many educators make claims about education without ever having knowingly visited schools that are authentically exceeding national standards. Similarly, many educators have deliberately chosen to have little more than a primitive understanding about the educational requirements of a globalized and technological society or how political, social, and economic structures are interconnected to our Nation’s educational and democratic systems.
Imprudently Arrogant — In 2017, Secretary DeVos calculatingly accepted a Cabinet appointment from President Trump despite knowing a large segment of the public believed she was unqualified. Compounding the problematic acceptance was her imprudently arrogant assumption that because she held a title, she would be accepted, embraced, and trusted as the Nation’s Chief Educator. Again, the similarities to many educators are unmistakable.
Far too many educators behave like the Great and Powerful OZ. Educators of varying tenure, Secretary DeVos included, incorrectly believe the title of educator bestows them authority, power, and dominion over students, parents, and communities. Curiously, the imprudently arrogant educators seem to forget what happened to the Great and Powerful OZ. The curtain was pulled back: he was exposed for his professional ineptitude and subject matter incompetence.
Borrowing from OZ’s bumbling response to Dorothy, when most educators are pressed about the way to get students home, to the land where K-12 education and global socioeconomic standards are interconnected, they should refrain from giving their great and powerful response, “I’m an educator…” Instead, the best thing that educators like Secretary DeVos can do when flustered by an inquiry is to repeat The Great and Powerful OZ’s utterance after the curtain was pulled back, “Pay no attention to the man (or in Secretary DeVos’ case the woman) behind the curtain!”
Misleadingly Incompetent — Secretary DeVos detractors routinely point to her educational and professional background as the top flaws in a long list of reasons she should not be the Nation’s Chief Educator. Those critics say she should have been disqualified from consideration because her background was different — she did not attend public schools nor was she an educator. On the surface, this background criticism appears strong but underneath the different background, critique is perhaps the weakest condemnation of Secretary DeVos.
One need only research the greatest historical contributors to this Nation and the planet to learn that there are trailblazers in abundance whose background was considered “different” and who were not members of the “professional status quo”. Consequently, being from a different background or not being part of the status quo is inconsequential.
Rather, Secretary DeVos biggest problem, like those educators who are made in her image, is that she is deceptively inept. In other words, despite being in her job for a year, Secretary DeVos continues to lack subject matter expertise. Take for example another exchange between Lesley Stahl and Secretary DeVos.
Lesley Stahl: “Have the public schools in Michigan gotten better?”
Secretary DeVos: “I don’t know. Overall, I — I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better.”
Not knowing which states have improved is bad but The Nation’s Chief Educator not knowing the status of her home state’s educational standing is an example of extraordinary ineptitude. Mrs. DeVos had an entire year to become a subject matter expert of her profession but instead choose to do what many educators do — accept a position, declare a title, and never seek to become a subject matter expert.
The misleading incompetence of educators isn’t fake news either. Only 30 percent of U.S. eighth graders are taught math by teachers with an undergraduate degree in mathematics, and only 48 percent of U.S. eighth graders have science teachers who majored in science. To put it another way, seven out of ten students are being taught math by a teacher who does not hold a math degree and five out of ten students are being taught by a science teacher who did not earn a science degree. The numbers show that educators in mass numbers have accepted positions as a math and science teachers, declared their professional title as a math or science teacher but hold no subject matter expertise in math or science.
Education “The Great Equalizer”
As a child, many children like me were taught that education was the great equalizer. We were told that if we paid attention to our lessons and worked hard in school, we would have a chance to have a life better than our parents. Today, that encouraging message of my youth appears mostly outdated. What remains has more in common with the Wizard of Oz than anything else — a historically great make-believe story with a moral for parents — pull back the educational curtain to make sure your children’s educators are true educators.
One last thing about the Wizard of Oz, I believe it’s time parents adopt the phrase coined by the connecting state to Dorothy’s home state of Kansas, “I’m from Missouri, the show-me state”. From this point forward, how about we dissect all educators the following way:
- Investigate the background of the educators in our children’s school with the same vigor employed to scrutinize Secretary DeVos, i.e. look at the degrees earned, major and overall GPA, continuing education courses, and professional certifications.
- Examine the historical educational outcomes for the students taught by the educators in our children’s school, i.e. annual and overall number of scholarships received, the percentage of students who attend the top universities, percentage of graduates who earn bachelor’s degrees in four years, average amount of student debt, and the percentage of students who had to take remedial courses in college.
- Survey graduates about degrees earned and employment status, i.e. the annual number of STEM degrees earned, the percentage of graduates pursuing degrees in the highest compensated majors, and the percentage of graduates earning or pursuing graduate and professional degrees.
Secretary DeVos has been given an enormous responsibility to the children of this nation but so too have all the educators in our children’s school. Let’s do more than complain about Secretary DeVos or accept the words “I’m an educator” as if they are the first three words of the 11th Commandment. Starting today, let us make sure all educators are worthy of the title educator and well qualified to lead our children.
Have you examined your children’s teachers academic background? What college did your children’s teachers attend and what was their GPA? Have you investigated the academic outcomes of students who attended your child’s school?
