The sound of silence

  

      Dead silence. No music or talking. That’s what I yearn for at the end of my teaching day. I use my thirty-minute commute, mostly on a long stretch of an uneventful highway to decompress and to reflect on my day. I find this end of day ritual necessary for my brain to rest after being in a busy environment where I try to remain focused on many things and people simultaneously. I leave my car somewhat refreshed and ready to take on the other parts of my life.

         Maybe my desire for quiet is generational. I have a history with silence.  It was expected during many aspects of my childhood and schooling. I played with toys that made no sound except those that I initiated. I used to shop in stores without music blasting. I can even remember being put on hold without music or announcements when phoning a business.

         While teaching, I try to bring moments of silence to the attention of my students.  Their young lives seem so filled with busy sounds and noise. They will be faced with more distractions and stimulus than I was. I wish for them to have some quiet time to think and reflect, and to appreciate the sound of silence.

Still Waiting For Superman

 Waiting For Superman, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim left me a bit disappointed. Guggenheim presents many appalling statistics highlighting the inadequacies in American public schools, particularly those in the inner cities. What makes these schools so horrible? I surmised from the film: poverty, bad teachers, and teachers’ unions.

The film is most compelling when it lets us hear from a few young students and their families as they speak of their hopes for a better education.  To achieve this, the families must rely on the randomness of lotteries. The lucky winners get to attend charter schools where teachers are good not bad. I could feel their desperation and held my breath as we witnessed the choosing.  Of course, not all the featured students were lucky; their fates remain intertwined with failing schools and bad teachers.

I don’t doubt Guggenheim’s statistics or his assertion that there are many inadequate teachers employed in our country’s public schools.  I take issue with his narrow and simplistic solutions.  I don’t believe that charter schools will solve the complex problems facing our public schools.  Yes, some work well and there are heroes like Geoffrey Canada. But many charter schools don’t work.

What else should be explored in fixing public schools?  Geoffrey Canada’s schools seem to succeed by embracing and guiding the family from the time of birth. Guggenheim presents teachers as good or bad.  Canada says seeing a great teacher is like watching a great athlete. But, what makes a teacher good? Guggenheim left much to be examined.