That quote silenced the conversations at my apartment for 15 minutes this past Sunday; my mother had come down for the weekend to settle in to her spring break and also recover from the hardships of being a high-quality Wisconsin educator. Following a fantastic meal, we were getting ready to watch one of my favorite guilty pleasures, when we heard the above quote from a 60 Minutes story on the TEP Charter School in New York.
A brief summary:
The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School is located in New York City and teaches students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8; their curriculum appears consistent with most middle schools – daily classes in English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Latin (how cool is that??), Music, and Physical Education. The main difference in TEP is the $125,000 starting salary for each educator.
Educators are required to teach their courses in whatever (effective) manor they choose, while also serving as mediators within the school. The school is able to afford these salaries by eliminating several administrative roles (such as Vice Principal) where the teaching staff could step in and aide in these areas. The teachers meet after school to review tape (of their daily lessons), the way a sports team would evaluate plays after a game. The teachers do not appear to receive tenure, but I don’t think they need to fear this the way that we often do. (My biggest fear with tenure is not losing a job as a young teacher, it’s losing the protection of seniority that I worry about. I fear districts could eliminate teachers based on their wages in order to cut corners within their budget. In a school where teachers are all starting at $125,000, I don’t see the administration firing teachers based on salary, rather, they are free to eliminate teachers based on poor performance).
Where I stand:
My fiancée and I were discussing this matter on my drive home last night: would I be willing to take a job that does not offer tenure, and requires 9-10 hour days of work? My reply was a resounding: “Yes!” (Given most teachers already put in these sort of hours even though they may not be required to do so.)
The idea of making $100,000+ for doing what I love has never crossed my mind. I love my job; I live for great rehearsals, performances, changing the way our students look at a piece of paper, and connecting the classroom to their everyday lives, (I could go on and on and on from here…). What I do not love is engineering; therefore I did not become an engineer. I’m fascinated by the mind but I do not love science; therefore I did not go into neurology. I enjoy politics and lawyer but I do not love it; therefore I did not become a lawyer. I love to teach; I love to challenge the way our students see their world; I love see them work with full concentration towards a goal that pushes them further than ever been pushed. Seeing my students think outside of the box; seeing them practice something over and over and over again because it doesn’t meet their standards. The idea of making an income of $125,000 paired with feeling respected by society for the job that I do often seem like a far off dream.
So where do we go from here?:
I am a big fan of TED Talks but maybe it’s time for some more TEP Talks. The weight of American Education could very easily be on the shoulders of these teachers; but from the 60 Minutes report, I am confident in their ability to stand for us. The clips in this report shows us a group of talented, energetic, and passionate teachers of all ages, doing what they love and finally being respected for it.
If we could pair this with state of the art equipment and a focus on well-rounded education, couldn’t we send a knockout punch to the educational systems of India, China, and South Korea?
So let the TEP Talks begin; what are your thoughts?
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