Teacher Magazine published an article entitled “The Problem with Class-Size Reduction” by Bill Ferriter.¹ While I understand his argument and his conclusion, the implications are desperately and infuriatingly off point. This is not directed at Mr. Ferriter specifically² but at a general culture that I find too often in the world of education, one that is preventing any real change and that I am finding harder and harder to abide: a culture of powerlessness.

Ferriter’s overall argument is that there are other factors that must be addressed before we reduce class size, and if we call for a reduction of class size without first addressing these other problems we will do more damage than good.

… large-scale class-size reductions implemented without significant school reform efforts simply won’t benefit students on a large scale.

The “significant school reform efforts” he mentions include expanded and improved facilities (i.e., lack of space) and a greater number of better prepared teachers to handle the greater number of classes that class size reduction would create:

Will we get the same achievement gains from 23 students working with poorly supported teachers pulled from the bottom of an ever-dwindling supply pool as we do from 30 students working with truly accomplished professionals?

Ferriter follows this with the valid point that the students who will suffer most as a result of poor methods for achieving class-size reduction will be those already suffering the greatest needs, not those “living in wealthy suburbs.”

I don’t disagree with any of these arguments on their own,³ and his suggestions are worthwhile:

Yes, some class-size reductions can make a difference for our kids, but not until we can guarantee an adequate, continuing supply of effective educators. We do that by investing in quality teacher-preparation programs, improving teacher working conditions, elevating the status of the teaching profession, and paying educators a professionally competitive salary.

The problem is the (possibly unintended) implications of all this: that since we don’t have adequate facilities or teachers to deal with smaller class sizes, we should stop asking for them, at least for now.

But if not now, when?!

This imagined utopian future, when teachers will be adequately prepared and rewarded, when facilities will finally be improved, when teachers will finally be respected … when is it going to get here? I imagine it will arrive about the same time I get my flying car.

The problem is we’re never going to have these things until we (the informed, experienced educators) demand them, and with a common voice, and with well-researched justifications for our demands at the ready, and with a volume that can compete with other lobbying groups.⁴ Sound like Romantic hyperbole? Fine. But nothing else is working.

Until teachers–the majority of them, and particularly the experienced ones–quit sitting around in break rooms complaining to one another, or putting up with their inadequate facilities, or sighing heavily as they enact procedures dictated by others who have no genuine understanding of best pedagogical practices, or the million other reactions that spell self-proclaimed defeat, these changes will not occur.⁵ And why should teachers be respected when we respond in this manner? We have volumes of research and years of experience that point the way to “best practices,” and yet we can’t seem to get legislation enacted that even resembles what we know to be effective. Instead, concerns about money, crowd-control, industry interests, standardized testing, and everything except how best to help students learn end up stealing the priority.

Others have called attention to teachers’ eagerness to help, to please, to find solutions in problematic situations in order to support their current group of students. This accommodating nature may very well be part of the “temperament” of teachers. However, we must put on a different face in the professional, political arena. We must learn to say “NO”–clearly, with a united voice, and with strong arguments, evidence, and research at the ready–to damaging practices and policies, to a lack of funding, and to funding poorly spent.

I understand that our initial resistance may very well cause problems for many of our current students. However, by continuing to accommodate deficient pedagogy we are perpetuating the problem and extending it to future students.

The changes occurring worldwide⁶ provide an opportunity to bring genuine change into the school system. What will we say for ourselves if we let this pass by and do nothing to improve education?

I believe in balance, in considered arguments supported with solid research, backed by sound theory, and in practices that show clear and favorable results. Fanaticism never helps anyone. So yes, we must act in a concerted, well-reasoned, professional manner to achieve the changes we know will work. But we must act. We’ve let other groups dictate what should happen in the world of education for a long time now. It’s clearly, demonstrably, nationally not working. Can we not finally turn to educators for the possible solutions? We’ve tried everything else.

If I were allowed a call to action, it would sound like this: Stop waiting for things to improve–they won’t until you do whatever is necessary to make it happen. Stop accommodating bad practices–you’ll only perpetuate the problem. Realize that, if you are a classroom teacher, you are the professional in the field. (If you feel ill-prepared for that designation and have been teaching for more than three years, shame on you–reflect on your practice, find and read the research relevant to your field, and then act on your conclusions.)

If we do not do these things, we should not be surprised when we are ignored … by students, by the public, and by the politicians.

Stop sitting still … in over-crowded classrooms.

Of course, the immediate response, if it’s kind and serious, is: OK, so what definite steps can and should we take that aren’t already being taken? The not-so-kind response is: you’re so smart, what the hell are you doing?

I do have my own answers, and one way I use this blog is to try to articulate them to myself and anyone who might be reading. However, I also know I’m not smarter than the collective professional educational community, and that a single voice doesn’t have as much power as a collective one. We need to build answers collectively. Some places where I do see this happening include the K12Wiki, the School 2.0 wiki, and the conversations that are happening among many of the edubloggers out there. While this is good, it’s also mainly just “preaching to the choir.” We need to find ways to extend our voices beyond the school walls and into the public and political arena.

If you have suggestions, know of resources, or can point to places where this is happening, please leave a comment.

Update: I had the chance to extend/refine these thoughts in a comment on Scott McLeod’s post “Institutionalization of mediocrity?” which hit on similar issues (blogging synchronicity is cool). Here’s the bulk of the comment:

… there’s a contradiction happening in the educational world, it seems. On the one hand, teachers want to be professional, autonomous agents in the classroom, and want the respect, compensation, and freedom that should come with such a position. On the other hand, teachers push all the blame back onto the system, angry and defeated that the system won’t change, and apparently powerless to do any of the changing.

I don’t think we can have it both ways. Either we are professionals, and therefore must look to ourselves as professionals to redress the problems, or we are mere workers, in which case we are truly as powerless, replaceable, and ultimately useless as the worst visions of education seem to think.

My point is not that the system is working, or that the system isn’t to blame, it’s that WE ARE THE SYSTEM. If the majority of teachers who truly believe that the system is inadequate would realize that teachers are the driving force in that system, then they would also realize that change is possible if teachers, collectively, decide to make the changes happen and take the necessary steps to see it through.

This isn’t a factory, or a relief mission, or a bussiness, or a war–it’s education, which means it’s also a process of constant change and difficulty that will never see a single solution. However, we can’t punt the blame elsewhere. As a teacher and professional, I have an obligation to make change: by practicing sound pedagogy in my own classroom (and refusing to practice bad pedagogy); by serving as an agent of change in my local community; and by serving as an agent of change as a citizen.

We are not powerless. If that’s true, then we must also share the blame. If it’s not true, we should all stop this silly complaining, blog-writing, etc., go teach the state-delivered curriculum, and then scurry back home to our TVs at night.

Images:

1. March 18, 2006 - 16:42: “Solidaires” by Hughes Leglise-Bataille (on Flickr)
2. A Crowd of Me by Rick (on Flickr)
3. white pigeons caged by zen Sutherland (on Flickr)

1. Discussion about this article is happening here. [back]
2. I realize I am using Mr. Ferriter’s article as tinder for a larger argument, but it is the spark that ignited my thoughts today. [back]
3. Though I would argue for a class size of 15, particularly where any real writing instruction is supposed to occur. [back]
4. We need volume because few groups are more important than the future generations of this country, which is what this is about, despite whatever Dole and others may think of unions specifically [back]
5. I indict myself in all these charges, as well. My anger is towards “us” in general, and no specific group. I realize many groups are trying to take concerted action and make necessary changes; I just don’t see enough of it. [back]
6. These changes are, at least in part, thanks to the changing role and influence of technology, though of course technology itself is no panacea. I’m hopeful, though, that the attention technology is calling to the need for school reform will help the cause. [back]

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