Bureaucratic Monster

Today seemed to be another day of the haves versus the have-nots, only this time the have-nots were the students (again). It baffles me that those in the upper ranks of the bureaucracy we call “education” never seem to put the students first. I don’t understand why people who do not care about children enter education. This offensive fact never seems to escape my curiosity. Why would someone enter the field of education if they do not care about the students?

As I watch my fellow faculty members, I feel that most of them (at least those I choose to associate with) do what they feel is best for their students. They adjust their lesson plans. They try new strategies and rework them so that it will serve their students best. They toil over the frustrations of the day and then work it out as a plan for success for the following day. They honestly reflect and look at themselves through the lens of their students and ask, “What will I do better tomorrow?” But those that are in the upper echelons of the bureaucratic monster ask, “What can I do to make my life easier, even if this action is at the expense of many students?” This is what happened today.

Students were displaced today at the expense of their education. A quarter of the way into our first semester, that’s almost two months into the school year, a problem that has existed since day one (a problem that people were well aware of) was dealt with. Students were removed from their tenth grade English class and scattered throughout the school so that a group of students enrolled in an elective class would have a permanent teacher. And why? Because the school needed to close an English department line. A line that should never have remained open after the ridiculous amounts of lay-offs this past year and the lack of funding.

And now, there are special education students whose needs are not being met, and whose entire schedules have changed. These students will, most likely, not be appropriately serviced. These students, who most need a stable environment, will need to adapt once again to a new classroom. These students who carry a legal burden on their backs will be walking time bombs. How long before someone “up there” will realize that they are not just dealing with numbers, but with students? With people? With someone’s son or daughter? I know that these people who make these decisions have children, and I know that they would not allow their own children to be treated this way. So why treat other people’s children with such disregard?

I have to keep questioning when we are going to prioritize the education of our students. LAUSD currently has us working in a system where the average high school class has over 35, and teachers are expected to help these students achieve levels of proficiency on high-stakes exams and see students through to graduation. I challenge the district to come up with a plan where this is possible in a room that does not allow the teacher to give each student the level of support, attention and feedback that they need for success. And I challenge those consumed by the bureaucratic monster to imagine that every student is their child. Perhaps, if we all did this, public education would be something that all Americans were proud of.