America - land of the free, not so much in schools

Micheal Smith - Sophomore | Opinions

The schedule for the midterm exams came as a shock to one of my teachers, who when presented with the schedule, was confused as to how this could work into the schedule he had already mapped out for this year. He presented this upheaval in his plans to us in a very distraught manner.

Seeing him in this manner, obviously I couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him, hoping there was something to help him in this situation. That’s when he presented his answer to this problem -- he had decided he would let the class vote upon how they wanted to solve the problem.

After seeing this situation unfold, becoming invested in this teacher's problem, I began thinking upon how a situation like this probably happened to other teachers. Similar situations happen all the time; the upper administration unveils a new plan for the school that later becomes a problem for some teachers.

So I thought there must be some solution to this, I went back to thinking back to how my teacher solved his problem and decided that the solution is democracy. A conclusion like this should not be very radical in a country that prides itself on the ideas of freedom and democracy, and we deserve to have those values upheld in our education system.

Teachers often feel as though they have little impact on big decisions made around schools like on the budget, curriculum, or district mandates. Teachers deserve a greater say in the running of schools and should take a larger part in important decision making around the school through democratic processes.

A 2016 Center on Education Policy (CEP) study found that nearly half of teachers felt that their input was not being considered in schoolwide decisions, and this led many teachers to feel frustrated and excluded. This study also linked low levels of teacher voice with low satisfaction with their job, showing that 57% of teachers were considering leaving to another school and 52% were considering leaving the profession altogether.

In “Who Controls Teachers' Work? Power and Accountability in America's Schools,” Ingersoll found that as the control teachers had over decisions like student discipline and teacher professional development policies increased, conflict overall in schools decreased.

In “Collective Responsibility for Learning and Its Effects on Gains in Achievement for Early Secondary School Students,” Valerie Lee and Julia Smith found that when teachers are given collective responsibility for student learning in all subjects, student achievement is higher. This study also shows that with an increased collective responsibility, there was a more balanced increase in student achievement across socioeconomic status.

Teachers are highly qualified in their field; more than half of all teachers have a master’s degree. All go through a minimum of four years of postsecondary education. They must renew their teaching certificates on a regular schedule, going through hundreds of hours of professional development, all in the midst of their work in the classroom.

Teachers are more than prepared to be teachers. So, it’s about time to let them use their skills and their knowledge of their students in making the decisions that impact us all.