New Year Resolution

Be it Chinese Lunar New Year, Persian No Ruz, Thai Songkran, Jewish Rosh Hashana, South African Inzalo, January 1^st or any other of the world’s New Year celebrations, they all share one thing in common— a look back at what has passed and a look forward to what still might be, usually with some kind of resolution to do better. 

 

For most of my life, the real New Year is the first day of school. So why not treat that the same way? If you believe, as I do, that passing on the lore of the culture to children and helping them discover their intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise is a sacred trust, then it deserves the same kind of renewal of vows and resolution to improve that all traditions suggest.

 

In light of that, it has been so disappointing to hear of many fellow teachers describe their first day back with the staff, sitting watching Powerpoints about the next nonsense to come down the pike that is so dispiriting to a genuine teacher’s passion. And the reports get worst. 

 

Yesterday, someone posted this on the Orff Website: 

 

Talk to me about PowerSchool. My school is moving to it and from what’s been previewed, it looks great so far. 

 

How do you like it as a music teacher? We are a data heavy school and have a minimum of 3 or more assessments per quarter that are linked to standards.

 

Mainly, does PowerSchool populate state/ national standards? I had to keep a spreadsheet with our last platform and it was a horrible experience.

 

Sigh. I guess this is just another complicated way to enter grades for kids. Remember just writing on a paper report card with a pen? 

 

But more discouraging is all the time spent figuring out the program, the money spent on the program, the energy devoted to spreadsheets and data as if we’re accountants rather than teachers. So here was my response. 

 

Where are the children in this discussion? They care nothing about data and standards. They want teachers who see them and come to know them and play with them and praise them and all of this other crap is a distraction from the real deal. The real Power of School is to give children the power the express the full range of their intelligence, joy and sorrow with the time-honored traditions of reading great books, playing great music, creating their own art, investigating the world lit by their curiosity, all within a joyful, playful, exploratory community without Big Brother’s judgmental eye weighing down on their tender souls. Please change the conversation.

 

For all teachers, I ask: Is teaching children indeed a sacred trust that asks us to commit our highest intelligence, deepest caring, most fervent dedication and most expansive imagination? Or is it simply a bean-counting, data-driven, spreadsheet-accounting, standards motivated business? As you turn to the new school year, ask yourself whether you’d rather be crunching numbers on IT platforms or dancing joyfully with the kids trying not to spill your cup of water? Your choice.