Tuesday, June 25, 2013

My Top 10 Reasons for Leaving Philadelphia: #9 - We Don't Really Want to Reform Education

I often wonder why everyone thinks it's really rocket science to figure out what great education should look like for low income urban children in the United States. Do people really think it would look different than the best quality education afforded to rich folks? When I look at the best resourced schools - like the one I'm actually heading to - here's what I see:

a) Teachers with a minimum of 5 years of experience who are treated like professionals, provided tremendous amounts of professional development and time to work with colleagues doing teacher inquiry with regularity.
b) A curriculum rich with arts, music, dance, critical literacy, inquiry based learning. A curriculum constructed by teachers who work collaboratively, study recent research, and consider what's best for their particular students.
c) A class size of no more than 20 students.
d) A modern facility - clean, roomy, full of light. Additional space including a large gym, a swimming pool, a wonderful green field, a library with up to date books, periodicals, ebooks, journals and librarians.
e) A full complement of physical and behavioral health support professionals including several full time nurse practitioners, full time school counselors and psychologists - all with the same support for ongoing professional development and growth.
f) Healthy, organic, affordable food options for breakfast, lunch and snacks.
g) Support staff including secretaries, technology folks, teaching assistants, etc.

Well, you get the idea. Who wouldn't want this for their children? It would seem that in one of the richest countries in the world, this shouldn't be too hard to expect for our children. OK, I will give back the swimming pool - you don't really need one, as long as children have access to one in their community recreation centers...What - we don't have functional rec centers either?

So what do we get instead of the list above? We get a constant mantra of "we have to stop throwing money at urban education." We also get "The problem is the teachers. The problem is the curriculum. The problem is not taking enough tests." And so on. All the solutions being proposed by policy wonks who wouldn't put their own children in the urban schools they claim to be saving. People who believe that we can start a program where we take some really bright, well educated, priviliged students and throw them in to classrooms for 2 years and they will provide the education our chidlren need. Shoot, if that's the answer, why aren't all the schools with tons of money just snatching up those young kids right away? I mean, they must be master teachers because we believe they will save the neediest of our chidlren.

Ok, so I'm just tired. And I'm angry. I don't like always feeling angry. I'm sick and tired of watching "education policy people" claim all manner of education reform agendas - none of which address the fact that a good education costs money. And for the children in our urban areas, it means investment in more than just schools. It's investment in health care, in employment, in community centers, in the arts. Because it really does take a village to raise a child. And if we cared about a functioning democracy, and if we gave a damn about "other people's children" we would make that investment as a nation.

But it's a whole lot cheaper to just blame teachers and say that money doesn't matter. So shoot, I'll go somewhere where money really doesn't matter because the school I'm heading for has resources I never even dreamed were possible in the past 31 years of my teaching career. Maybe I should tell my new school that they could save a whole lot of money if they just got rid of their veteran teachers, stuff 33 kids in each class, got rid of all that health and technology support because it really doesn't matter, and tested the kids all day. Oh yeah, and ditched that dang swimming pool for crying out loud....


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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

How Buildings Reflect Who We Are

I used to work in the old School District headquarters at 21st and the Parkway. As I wind down my final days working in the central administration, I cast my mind back fondly to that building. The architect, Irwin Catharine, was the architect for many of the schools built in Philadelphia during the 1920's. A time that the New Deal invested in public works.

In the building in at 21st Street, the detail of the architecture was astounding. Marble and Art Deco tile work were scattered throughout the building. This was echoed in buildings throughout Philadelphia that Irwin Catharine designed. It's why so many Philadelphia schools look so much alike. A quick look on Wikpedia shows an incredible  list of schools he designed (below). And what ties them all together is workmanship, craftsmanship and the sheer volume of investment these buildings represent.

So how fitting that when public education for low income students was abandoned - when students of color began to make up the population in the urban centers  that populated the public schools - the construction of new schools at this incredible pace of investment was abandoned. And then in 2005, when the beautiful Irwin Catharine designed 21st Street headquarters was sold to the highest bidder, privatized and turned into high end apartments rather than space for a public service, we should have been able to see this as a symbol of all the tragedy to come.After all, 21st Street headquarters had fallen in to disrepair. Lack of funds left that monument to public education in poor shape. So badly was the building limping along that a member of the school board decided to personally finance the cleaning of the beautiful brass doors so that they could once again shine...

Now 21st Street is cleaned, renovated and commands pretty hefty rental prices. The brass on those doors shines brightly. And the current School District headquarters are relegated to a sterile former factory building, retro-fitted with cubicles and humming with the corporate efficiency that has taken over the public space. The warmth and artistry of 21st Street have been replaced with cold efficiency. Those other Catharine buildings listed on the National Registry of Historic Places are slowly but surely being sold off to the highest bidder, closed and shuttered, turned into condos, or, ironically, charter schools.

Should we have new buildings for our students? Undoubtedly. But when I scan the list below, I shake my head at the loss of a time when the public good meant governmental investment at a level that we haven't seen at least in my lifetime. .As the schools close over the next year - and beyond - we should be reminded and mourn the loss of the investment in the public good and remember it was not always like this...




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Monday, June 17, 2013

Teacher Memory of the day - June 17, 2013

K. messages me on Facebooik. He says, 

    • K                                                                                                          9:43pm

      You save me from going to jail. I might have got life if you was not there to do what you did. Thank you

    • 10:14pm
    Ahhhh....you remember! Those were some big knives and I was one crazy teacher!!

  • 11:31pm
    K
    You were a great teacher

     A summer night and the kids are having a party and they invite me. There's no alcohol - it's in a church. Nice, clean fun. But a fight breaks out somehow. K runs to his car and comes back with 2 of the biggest dang machetes I have ever seen or care to see in my life. One in each hand. And I jump in front of him and say "K, give me the knives." He says, "Miss Wei, you need to move. I  don't want to hurt you." And I say "Give me the damn knives." This goes on for what seems like hours but was probably less than a minute. He finally gave up and handed me the knives. I remember I was shaking and damn, those were some heavy knives....I am sure he thought I had lost my mind....
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My TOP 10 Reasons for leaving Philadelphia 
#10: Michelle Rhee

Really. I’m not kidding. Never met her. Don’t want to meet her. But after 31 years fighting for educational justice and meeting countless numbers of passionate, mad intelligent and tireless Asian American education advocates, why is she the face that everyone sees? I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I am. See, there’s not too many of us Asian American in education – especially from my generation. We weren't supposed to be teachers – no one who looked like us, at least in Philadelphia, were teachers.

When I joined The School District of Philadelphia 31 years ago, I believe there was a handful of Asian American educators in The District. I mean literally – like 5. It took struggle and savvy to start to change that and to broaden the face of Asian America in to public education here. It took lawsuits. It took demonstrations. It took heart and tears and finally a path was carved.

But honestly, we’re still a pretty invisible bunch. So few of us who came up through the ranks and put in time. Trying to do the right thing.  Trying to understand the complexities of education. Working collectively to find a path. 1st generation Asian American educators in Philadelphia like Herbie Jung and Claire Toy. Some of the legendary Asian American educators I've met in places like New York, San Francisco or Boston  created kick-ass bilingual education programs, filed lawsuits, mentored students, translated for parents AND worked in the community in their "spare time". Those were my inspirational sheroes and heroes.  They probably didn't even realize how much they influenced me. Most have probably retired by now. 

So Michelle is kind of raining on my parade. Big time. The thing about growing up in a Chinese immigrant family is that we go way past guilt in child rearing. We go right to shame. Guilt is when someone else makes you feel badly. Shame is when you yourself think you're bad. Michelle is making me feel shame. No matter how I try to shake it and say "she's not you" - I can't help thinking her face, her race, reflects all of us because so many don't know any other Asian Americans in education. 

Historical context - for as long as I remember, the Model Minority Myth has been following us around. Stalking fans of racist ideology and Asia-phileness line up outside our homes and point fingers at the "good minority." So how appropriate for Michelle to be the face of urban education reform. She stands there and carries the unearned privilege of every stereotype that feeds into her sick view of "self as expert" . 
Of course she knows ed reform after 2 years as a teacher! She's Asian American. They're brilliant! 
Of course she knows what's best in education. She's Asian American, and don't they all do well in school?
Of course she knows that tests make great students! She's a Tiger Mom, right? Don't all Tiger Moms know?
Of course she knows how to slay evil unions. She's a Dragon Lady right?

Saddest part of this? The young Asian Americans coming up who believe that she represents something positive. Who have adopted her as a role model. Finally, a role model! So they drink the blue Kool-Aid and jump on the corporate ed reform band wagon and believe that they too, with an Ivy league Education, can outsmart all of those "lesser educated fools" who actually ASPIRED to be public school educators in for the long haul.

So off I go to India, running away from my worst nightmare. That I, by virtue of these eyes, this hair, this skin tone, am inextricably tied to Michelle. *sigh* At least in Asia, I don't think this will be a problem....




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Sunday, June 16, 2013

In this moment - life in the SRC and after...

There is a sorrow in watching the parents, students, advocates and teachers plea with voices filled with pain about their outrage toward what is happening in Philadelphia and around the country in public education. 54 speakers were on the list. There are people who speak with sorrow. People who speak with anger. People who speak with wisdom. "The transformative work going on in schools cannot be captured by standardized tests." I can always count on Ayesha Imani to speak with clarity and beauty.

Two months later....

I have an image of an action movie shot - perhaps I am Luke Skywalker attacking the Death Star. But in this movie, I(Luke) am not among the attackers. We are just escaping an attack. All around me is death and destruction and colleagues are falling to the chaos and I am in my X-Wing, pulling up, up, up while the world around me implodes. I look out my window as I escape and see the collapse of my world....So that pretty much describes how it feels to me to be leaving the District and heading for India. I closed my eyes, listened to Obi Wan tell me to follow the force and made an impulsive decision to accept a job in New Delhi.

I realize I am not just leaving a District in chaos and ruin. I am leaving a country that has fallen to chaos in so many areas. Public education is just one space. I don't know if it's the prevalence of information - never ceasing - or the amassing of such large forces making it hard to see things clearly, but this feels like something that's been in the making for a while. I cast my mind back to when California was crumbling and the financial crises was defunding schools there and from out here on the East Coast, it was more like "wow, too bad for them." I didn't see it as an omen of things to come. When Hawaii's schools furloughed everyone and moved to a 4 day a week schedule in order to pay the bills, I still thought, "wow, too bad for them." And now, it's too bad for us...and it's everywhere.

Sometimes, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. Sometimes, the forest is burning and you need to move far enough away to see where the spaces are that are safe, where the fire is the fiercest, where the sparks are jumping to. I'm hoping that moving away from the US will give me the ability to see the forest from afar, to make sense of the insensible. But survivor guilt is also setting in. I have had the most terrible sadness and I do now believe it is survivor's guilt. I have a way out. I won't be here in the trenches with my brothers and sisters trying to hold together the fragments that remain when these corporate forces get done this latest experiment in privatization. I feel old, tired and uninspired. I am  quick to anger and always on the edge of tears. I have developed high blood pressure and acid reflux. First world problems. I have internalized my anger, fear and sorrow. Being in Philadelphia is bad for my health.

I decided to write a top ten list of why I'm leaving Philadelphia - why I'm leaving public education here after 31 years. I'll post those musings here in this blog. Blogging is helpful. It is cathartic. It helps clarify thinking and allows me a space to express my sorrow.





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