Let’s talk about prejudice in education. I am not talking about race, religion, or sexual preference prejudice. I am going to discuss a prejudice that I believe is prevalent throughout our educational system. Of course it will be denied by most educators, but that is a tell-tale symptom of prejudice. Most people will not admit to it. They may recognize it in others, but they will never admit their own engagement in this biased philosophy. I have no idea where this prejudice starts, or how it is driven, but its existence is undeniable. No, not every educator is prejudiced in this regard, but many, too many, are.
The prejudice to which I refer is that of grade level. Many educators look to other levels of education attributing expectations or disappointments based on nothing more than unfounded misconceptions and believing it to be truth. Let’s at least state the myths, and misconceptions to get them out in the open. Elementary teachers tell students that what they are doing now is nothing compared to what middle school teachers will demand. Middle school teachers say the same thing to their students, implying that high school will be more demanding. Of course high school teachers defer to the difficult paces that college professors will put students through when they get a hold on them in college. These are all points that teachers often tend to focus on with their students especially toward the end of the year.
Now let us examine the blame game based on this prejudice. The big myth is little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems. This implies that secondary is much more difficult than elementary. Many secondary teachers have little appreciation for the job of elementary teachers. They have little understanding of the consecutive hours spent in the classroom focusing on the needs of kids, emotional, as well as educational. Secondary teachers tend to think in 42 minute periods, five classes a day, with little understanding for a one-class, all-day-long environment. Of course, the view from the high school is that Middle School teachers have a much easier job than the elite High school positions. High school positions are of course the crown jewel of jobs in education.
Of course many secondary educators tell students, “wait until you deal with professors in college”. Most educators hold Higher Education as the holy grail of education. They also hold Higher Ed accountable for not turning out super teachers to lead us out of the forest. What many educators fail to understand is that Higher Ed teachers are really content experts. They are experts of their subjects, but not experts on education. The greatest problem with new teachers is their tendency to teach, as they recently learned from college teachers, relying on the lecture model. Elementary and Secondary teachers need to do more than lecture.
High school teachers have a difficult job, because of what the middle school teachers failed to do. The Middle school teachers have a difficult job, because of what the elementary teachers failed to do. The elementary teachers have to deal with whatever the parents give them to deal with. This may be a cynical attitude, but it is not far from the truth from the attitudes of many educators. It is something which needs to be addressed. Educators need to view themselves as a part of a complete education of a child in partnership with parents. Too often teachers teach “Their subject” and not kids. It is this fiefdom mentality that is one of the things that gets in the way of learning. Some teachers play the blame game to deflect responsibility for not adequately addressing the learning needs of students. This post of course was not directed to you. It was for all those other educators out there.
I recognize the fact that many teachers have to deal with impressions previous teachers have made on students. At the beginning of every school year I would give a writing assignment. With that one assignment I could identify who the previous English teacher was. If the topic or introductory sentence started out a certain way I could identify the teacher. “In this paragraph I will describe…” was an indication as to who taught writing to that student. It took a number of conferences with the teacher involved, but eventually the problem was resolved. The teacher retired, but that is not the point. I reached out to discuss the implications of what was being taught in a previous grade affecting what came next. That was not a prejudiced judgment. It was a real teaching impediment that I attempted to deal with.
We need to discuss more about what we expect and what we need from teachers of other grade levels. It would also be great if we could all spend a day in the shoes of an educator on another grade level. We need to understand where our students came from in order to take them forward. We cannot be drawn into this teacher against teacher battle that is being stoked by politicians. Sharing and collaborating amongst educators is much more positive than the alternatives. Those who close themselves off and engage in empire building hurt all educators. We need to consider the whole picture in education for our students. We need to be educators first and not grade level labeled. We need to enter kid’s lives as a team, not have kids meet us as separate entities. I know this is the ideal, but shooting for higher goals beats where we many view us today. Again, this post was not directed at you but all those other educators who fall into this description.
I await your comments.
My Island View 
Boy, it has taken a long, long, time for educators to come around to systems theory.
What a great post and it is something that I have been both guilty of (my apologies to all) and also been trying to figure out how to deal with it in a constructive manner. It’s not easy because their are few chances built into the system for any sort of cross-level discussion (even less than what is available for cross-curricular and that’s saying something!). It’s is really too bad that the one attempt (and only one attempt) I have heard of was by a group of high school teachers who went and essentially lectured some junior high school teachers on their failings. That was obviously a failure and didn’t get anywhere at smoothing out the communication. This is a great topic and you’re absolutely right, it is one not spoken of very clearly at all. Well done.
And so, here is another way to ‘blame’ teachers for the illwill of what is happening with the students of today… I don’t blame teachers before for what students don’t remember and I hope (big hope here) that the future students don’t blame me for what my students don’t remember.
A big idea here is teaching the child. So, when the politicians provide a stress-free environment away from state mandated testing, I will be happy to ‘teach’ again. I find it very challenging to do so much more when students must pass the state test in order for me to be considered competent at what I do- teach.
Yes, you’re right in thinking that it is wrong to think about the required testing. But, until the legislators pass into law appropriate assessments to document growth, the stress and pressure will always be there.
I have taught at many levels and share with my students this. They need to be held accountable for all their learning. If they forget something, they just expect me to tell them. And, yes they get mad when I make them look it up.
The education system in America has never been spectacular- look it up in the research. Teachers work extremely hard, with human beings that become more lazy every year.
There may be some bad apples in the teacher pool, but it should not be the blame for bad parenting!
This is so very true! For many years I have struggled with the concept of the “silo” approach to school. My greatest struggle now is convincing staff and parents that changes are needed to the way we structure our school!
I love your assertion that we need to first teach kids and then our subject. That mindset is exactly what we need as we strive to make our teaching and learning far more effective and our schools far more relevant.
Thank-you for posting this – we all need to read it and be encouraged to pursue this ideal with renewed enthusiasm.
That’s the word I was thinking of too! Silos – each part of schooling is so seperate from the next part that it doesn’t encourage interaction between levels or subjects.
I noticed it in my own school when I was fortunate enough to have the same maths teacher for 5 years running. All our other subjects were discjointed between years, but the maths lessons built on exactly what had happened the year before and how we all learned.
Teachers are already expected to do a huge amount of outside class work. Without a huge culture change I’m not sure what is acheivable.
Parents are also guilty of the “this year is going to be much harder for you son”. As a family member, I try to disuade this, but it seems to be ingrained in our culture to believe that each year is progressively more difficult. Yet I believe we learn less every year we are at school.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing this out into the open.
I’ve taught elementary and now I teach middle level students and both jobs are very hard. Elementary offers the opportunity of more easily creating multi-disciplinary lessons that do a better job of modeling that knowledge is not really split into little fiefdoms of math, English, science, social studies and that art is everywhere, not only in that room with all the paints and stuff (do art rooms still exist? My building hasn’t had one in years). The middle and high school models (and don’t even get me started on college) foster student disconnection from school and teacher disconnection from students.
Students aren’t lazy, Amy. Just look at the enthusiasm and energy they bring to the things they’re passionate about. I was one of those “lazy” students in school, but I spent hours every week working on things that grabbed my attention and excited me. What you see as laziness is an inarticulate way of communicating that they don’t value what you are trying to teach, that they don’t see a connection to their needs or wants.
Great post. The “scare” up surprised me, but I have seen the “blame” down absolutely divide schools.
Based on your lead-in, I thought it would be be about the prejudice around income, appearance and education level of parents when it comes to accessing, interacting with, and “working” the system.
I shared this post with my PYP coordinator, since our IB school is currently working on vertical articulation from Nursery to Grade 12. I think he has been at the centre of this attitude lately. He wrote back, “Agree. Agree. Agree.”
At my school, teachers continue to say things like “moving UP to secondary” if they change grade levels. I’ve taught Kindergarten to College level, and I know we all need to be skilled professionals no matter what grade level we teach.
Thanks for airing this dirty laundry!
A great post as we have all heard the ‘blame game’. We are the sum of our experiences. I went to university for seven years, was a college teacher for six years, volunteered in Kindergarten classes for eight years, became a full time tutor for all levels of math and science for twenty years, and have been a college teacher again for 5 years now.
If we don’t respect each other, no one else will. I like your idea of ‘spending a day in another educators shoes’.
The one common ground we all have is that we have the privilege of teaching and learning with some of the brightest minds we will ever know. Let’s share our good fortune.
Great post. Thanks for addressing one more elephant in the corner. I can’t agree more that teacher tend to teach “their subject” and not kids. I have been really looking at a very different model, putting more resources on the front end to help build learners so that we can focus more on content specifics in the middle grades. Students would then have more flexible choice as they move into the HS levels. If we meet their basic skills and create skilled thinkers able to analyze, reason and solve complex problems by the end of 8th grade(not social promotion 8th grade) thik about what we could do with students at the HS level. No more (or a lot less) blame built into that model. But with status quo and ingrained patterns I’m sure some will find a way to still play the blame game.
The problem you share is why curriculum mapping focuses on the Empty Chair, the students’ journey PK-12. Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ latest work, Curriculum 21 includes the message that there should not even be “grades” as we currently recognize them. Rather, proficencies that key into abilities, not age or grade.
If we are teaching kids the right way, every year is as challenging as the next.
Great and much needed post.
I always felt there should be more communication between the different levels. We all should work together to improve the learning.
I tell folks that I’ve been promoted from being a college teacher(TA) to a middle school teacher, then to a 5th and 6th grade, then to a 3rd and 4th grade teacher. I’ve reached the pinnacle of my career because I can’t sing worth a lick and would be lousy in 1st and 2nd grade.
My training for the above was spending 20 years managing IT professionals in companies with letters in their names like AT&T.
3rd and 4th graders are both the most rewarding age group to work with and, at times, the most difficult. Corporate IT sales is cake compared to elementary teaching even without considering I had a bigger weekly entertaining budget than I spend all year in the classroom. But, you couldn’t drag me back into a suit and brogues. My sandals are way too comfortable.
Tom, I couldn’t agree with you more. This has been one of my biggest frustrations…see more http://darcymullin.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/blame-game/. I think the lack of understanding between levels is one of the biggest reasons that we do not have a seemless k-12 model anywhere in North America. Thanks for giving voice to this “dirty little secret”.
In my district we have been actively working to build bridges between elementary and secondary teachers. A few times each year the grade 7 (elementary) and grade 8 (secondary) get together at the high school to discuss issues, assessment, long-range goals, etc. With these issues in mind it allows us grade 7 teachers to return to the elementary schools with a knowledge of what is happening with our kids once they leave and plan with our colleagues in the younger grades; and the conversations that the grade 8 teachers have with their colleagues allows them to share what really happens for us as teachers in elementary.
Many of the secondary teachers have shared how little they knew about the complexities of teaching a whole class for a whole day, day-in, day-out. For us in the elementary school, we have a much better understanding of the continuity between our school and the secondary school.
Bang on illumination of our ‘dirty little secret’! I especially like your comment, “We need to enter kid’s lives as a team, not have kids meet us as separate entities.”. Yes, IDEALLY we should shoot for this, but is it really that hard to view ourselves as part of a helpful team, rather than as individuals in individual classrooms with individual agendas?
I think this is exactly why educators need to switch it up and change jobs, subject areas and/or levels every so often to gain a better understanding of how a child moves through the education system. Or, at the very least, collaboration between schools, grade levels and/or subject areas might help in dissolving the ‘blame game’.
Thanks your thoughts.
Great post. I often see this as an itinerant teacher visiting different classrooms and grades throughout the day (prek – 12th) everyday. The high school teachers have little understanding of what middle school teachers are teaching and going through, and the ms teachers have no clue what the elementary teachers are doing.
So true. We need more communication, understanding, and open honest discussions about this.
Again, great post!
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http://www.ehwhathuh.com
It’s all a matter of perspective. I’d like to think that we all respect each other as education professionals, but alas, I know this prejudice to be true. I had a friend once who taught elementary music and her husband taught high school music. He once told us all that the difference between his level and hers was that kids came to her with problems about peeing their pants, while his kids came to him with problems about whether or not to get an abortion. At the time, it obviously seemed like high school was the much tougher job, but in reality it’s just a matter of the perspective of the child. To that elementary school child, peeing their pants in a life-altering big deal because of its implications to their peers and themselves. If we’re teaching each child based on where THEY are and not where WE are, we’ll be much better off. What a great post. Thanks!
Thats funny. When I was teaching I told my students that when I was in school I kept waiting for the work to get as hard as the teachers promised me it would. I never recognized it. So I told my students a secret and not to tell anyone but “it was scare tactic, and not to believe it.” All the kids smiled and said they had wondered the same thing.
[…] Education’s Dirty Little Secret « My Island View March 31st, 2011 Alan Stange Leave a comment Go to comments Many educators look to other levels of education attributing expectations or disappointments based on nothing more than unfounded misconceptions and believing it to be truth. Let’s at least state the myths, and misconceptions to get them out in the open. Elementary teachers tell students that what they are doing now is nothing compared to what middle school teachers will demand. Middle school teachers say the same thing to their students, implying that high school will be more demanding. Of course high school teachers defer to the difficult paces that college professors will put students through when they get a hold on them in college. These are all points that teachers often tend to focus on with their students especially toward the end of the year. via tomwhitby.wordpress.com […]
well Tom you have outdone yourself again….I actually have taught pre-K through adult and know what is required from all levels and I taught special ed so I have seen the gammet…I refused to let other teachers engage in the blame game when I taught and was an administrator…it does no good…let’s look at the data or product and fix the problem if we have one…time to stop giving the politicians and media fodder for their circus…
I agree that it is easy to privilege one’s own teaching level community.
One question: Aren’t education professors content and process experts? (See, here I am, exceptionalizing my pack)
Great post.