Us vs. Them

It is not just admin v. teachers. In reality, there are a myriad of us versus them’s within a school, all misplaced, and maybe that is why our systems are crumbling.

I have always wondered about the divisions within a school system, thinking that administrators versus teachers held the largest conflicts and tensions. In reality, there are a myriad of us versus them’s within a school, all misplaced, and maybe that is why our systems are crumbling. 

Admin vs. Teachers 

 *This is a general statement about administrators obviously. I have worked with some wonderful administrators, but the tension is in every school.* 

Here holds so much of the tension one finds within a school. Administrators who last taught in 1998 using overhead projectors, when cellphones didn’t have a chokehold on the youth, determine a teacher’s end-of-year outcome, summed up numerically. They boil down the profession to numbers and data… not to feeling, passion, or skill. But even with that bitter tone, I know that the responsibility for these scoring systems is placed on districts, not administrators. 

So why the divide? We could chalk it up to power dynamics and the Stanford Prison Experiment giving us the language of superiority, but there has to be something deeper there. It is not enough to say that once power (which is a construct if we are honest) is placed in the hands of an administrator, they then become drunk with it. I think at the heart it is because administrators are too far removed from the trenches of the classroom, but teachers, on the other hand, are too far removed from the bureaucracy and politics that take place behind the scenes. You have two avenues in a school: direct teaching every single day OR indirect to students but direct to those who provide funding (parents, the district, etc). What do they have in common? Neither sees the school holistically. 

When you have that large of a chasm, it becomes impossible to see what happens on the other side. Admin tries to push the numbers and graduation rates so the school gets their funding, but by doing that, it rids the profession of all electricity. Teachers want students to genuinely learn, to laugh, to play, to challenge themselves, and most of the time, that cannot be quantified with a numerical score on a scale, yet the districts are designed to be run by numbers, so admin seems pigeonholed. 

Even with a salty taste in my mouth about administrators, they are vital to the health of a school, and quite frankly, I would never want to be one. The red tape that districts set up for admin to skirt around, the parent calls, the safety mitigation, budget meetings, firing people…there are many facets of that job that teachers should be privy to so we can all empathize with each other. There shouldn’t be division in a place that is trying to excel young minds, yet here we are, year after year, fighting tooth and nail for each voice in the room to be heard, which in turn becomes a cacophony of coffee-breathed sound. 

Teachers/Admin vs. Students 

Of course of course, the tale as old as time. We always understand the tension here. Every single one of us has been a student and has had a teacher who we have butted heads with. This is a natural tension, born to happen when you spend all of your hours together grappling with being human in this world. If this job were just tensions between students and teachers, I don’t think we would be burned out as quickly. We are used to being cussed out or maybe called some names, or just having it UP TO HERE with the volume. But that we can handle as our job is to handle the lives of students. But then you add tensions with admin, parents, and the district…it all becomes too much. 

Parents vs. Teachers 

I am not a parent. I have no idea about the constant cycle of fear and worry that comes with watching my child navigate the world daily, yet this is one of the most painful conflicts because it seems so resolute. 

The most demoralized I have ever felt when I taught was from the mouths of parents. Teachers are doing their best without a whole lot of support (financially, emotionally, physically) to only be reprimanded by another adult whose same team you are on. 

Video Incoming… Abbott Elementary did the reality of this tension well, watch here. 

You could have the best day of your life teaching: everyone is laughing, there are skills learned, brains challenged, and respect tossed back and forth. Yet, a parent can still find a way in which you ruined their child’s life and it is all your fault. Again, empathy comes into play here. We are not emotionless robots impervious to the insults of teenagers (as well as parents) and their whims. We are human, we are trying, we are here. If we show up to be on your team, don’t take over coaching. We are all players of equal value, needing to listen. 

Parents vs. Students 

I remember being 22 and teaching seniors in high school. A mistake? Most certainly. But it was shocking to see how many parents would come to me asking advice for their “unruly gremlin at home.” My answer to them, as a non-parent, and a child myself, was to ask their kid a unique question about their day. To not allow phones during conversations, to attempt family dinners when it can happen, to ask about how their friends make them feel. Their brains are brimming with thoughts and feelings (some valid and some…bereft of logic) and they just crave to be seen like every other human on this planet. They are piles of mush, the lot of them. They are insecure and have no idea how to navigate hormones and relationships--so let’s teach them how to, in the best we know how. I have always felt that how you as a parent treat an educator directly tells your child how they should. The caveat here is…no human can control another. That proves itself true day after day between parent and teenager. Parents, I salute you as that job cannot come without heartache and frustration. We are all wanting what is best for that young mind, so let’s understand that first about each other.

The District vs…Everybody?

This one explains itself. I can’t handle writing about the district today. Check back later. That section is mainly cuss words anyways.   

Thoughts on Moving Forward 

I don’t know the answers to all of this. Who does? But dang…can we all just agree that we do not listen to each other? Like at all? District folks, admin, teachers, parents, and students could all benefit from a lesson in active listening and empathy. If we are all inside of a school to serve young people, why aren’t we listening to them and the world around them to inform our choices? We, as a collective educational unit, are taking it out on each other when let’s be honest, our local governments and the United States Department of Education should be the ones facing the brunt of our ire.  

What if each administrator, in every single school, taught one class? This works more for the middle/high school model, but it could even be a support class or tutoring. Administrators need to be in front of students every week, not just in the hallways. Also, petition for all admin to have taught for at least 10 years in this millennium? Just a thought. 

When it boils down, it is ego. The most important people in a school building are not the ones wearing lanyards writing on whiteboards or the ones walking the halls with walkie-talkies. We have lost focus it seems. How do we get to a spot where opinions are actually conversed about civilly, and effective solutions are formed respectfully?