PUBLIC EDUCATION
This is not intended as a political post, but more as an observation based on my experience. Others will have other experiences, which I respect. This is mine.
I am a product of public education. I attended public K-12 schools in Tallahassee, then the University of Florida both as an undergraduate and for law school. I feel like the quality of my education was good, in some cases very good. Maybe it would have been better if I’d attended elite private schools, but I don’t know, because I didn’t. My children went to private school for grades K-8, and they were ahead of their peers when they transferred to the public high school in 9th grade. I’ve never regretted going to public schools, though, and would not necessarily have changed things if I could. Interestingly, I thought the quality of instruction was best for me in K-12.
In Leon County in those days, a veteran group of excellent teachers populated the schools. Not all were great, but there were some who were exceedingly good, particularly in English and math, and who knew how to teach. In college and law school, I had some good instructors, but there seemed to be a predilection for professors who had made a name for themselves in industry or elsewhere and who had not the foggiest notion of how to instruct anyone in anything. There were grad student instructors in college as well, and massive classes of 200+ students. Also some tenured hangers-on, particularly in law school. By then, I suppose, more of the learning process is on the student. Still, it was a bit of a mixed bag for me at the higher levels.
Based on my childhood, and perhaps the way I was raised, we gave much deference to teachers. I realize now what a difficult job that really is: imagine yourself as a high school (or worse, middle school!) teacher, trying to incite in your students some germ of learning while grading papers, wrangling with discipline issues, addressing the myriad restrictions placed from above and dealing with parents. (My daughter, who taught fourth grade for several years at a private school in Tallahassee, said the kids were a breeze compared to dealing with their parents). This is a difficult assignment, and no one is doing it for the pay. Add on to that the political wars now over education, and who wants to be a teacher? I suppose the same could be said for being a police officer or a roofer. Criticizing from afar is so easy. Part of a writer’s thinking is to try to put himself, or herself, in others’ shoes.