Waiting for Clark Kent

Public Education Matters
Waiting for Clark Kent

(Disclaimer: I still have not seen the documentary “Waiting for Superman” so I don’t really even know what the analogy of the title specifically refers to. Until I have the opportunity to view it, I am only guessing at the analogy when I write this reaction to the hype that I’m hearing about it.)

When I was very young, my heart and sympathies when watching the Superman TV show were always- not with Superman or the troubled endangered citizenry, but with Clark Kent. Even while I didn’t miss that Superman and Clark Kent were the same “person” I really did view them as two distinct beings in some ways. And I felt sorry for Clark because he never got any credit for anything really. And there he was plugging along in anonymity always for purposes of good, of right, and for the American way. And no one seemed to care. Lois and all the rest just fell all over Superman.

To understand my sympathy for the “underdog” here, you would need to understand my upbringing. I was brought up in a family where hard work, integrity, commitment, steadfastness, humbleness, and modesty were valued above almost all things. I was not brought up to worship flash and glamour and wealth and fame. I also was not of the Gordon Gecko generation with the motto is “Greed is good.”

So I felt sorry for old modest Clark. As I feel sorry now for the teachers in our country. We do not get any credit for anything. We are demonized and vilified and disparaged by practically everyone. Recently, my understanding is that we have been portrayed as almost the epitome of evil in the Documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

I want to go on record here as saying that I don’t think every single person in my field is good at what they do. I don’t think that all of my colleagues are worthy of saving. However that doesn’t mean I believe the institution of PUBLIC education isn’t worth saving. That also doesn’t mean that I believe that teachers unions, collective bargaining, and tenure are not of paramount importance in preserving public education. I think actually that the institution and the unions and the rights they have fought for ARE the Clark Kents of education.

I feel strongly that weak or downright poor administration and nothing else is directly responsible for any “bad” teachers being in my field. I believe that without union protection we would have even lower pay and benefits and that will eventually cause our field to be populated only by those who can afford to do charity work or have agendas. I think that would be a very dangerous road to go down. I think that this would cause the field to be less about the public interest and the education of children and more about the private and moneyed interests. I believe it will fail to attract the best and the brightest for more than a few years of servitudeand that the constant rollover in personnel would seriously be a detriment to the education of children. There would be so little continuity and consistency in programing.

I believe that without our Clark Kents, that our Supermen who come in and save the day will cease to exist as well. And evil will prevail and the American way will not.

I listened in on NBC’s Education Nation today as they discussed all the criticisms of public education leveled at us by the documentary. (I do want to note that I was unable to hear the first part so I’m only responding to the part that I heard.) I was so dismayed to hear some of my younger colleagues (some in charter schools) express the view that they don’t need tenure and that unions only get in the way of reform. In a word, I feel these people are extremely naïve to the world as it is and to the powers that be. They have no idea of the actual evil that is actually out there if there aren’t checks and balances.

These teachers may right now be working in utopian situations with wonderful administrators and unfailing support, however, they are turning a very blind eye to the realities of our nation’s history, the history of our field, and the realities of politics and the realities of our economy. I’m sure they are well meaning, however, I can only hope that they do not learn their lessons on these realities the hard way. In the meantime, I’d personally appreciate it if they were not stepping up to claim the superhero status for themselves. In doing so, they actually become part of the problem and not part of the solution.

I’m really not much changed from that little girl watching the campy TV show on the 10 inch black and white TV so long ago. I still much more appreciate the unsung Clarks of the world over the super-flashy Supermen who come flying in to take the glory for supposedly saving the day. I think if the Clarks had more power and more appreciation in this world that there would be a whole lot less evil to fight off in the first place. But I guess that wouldn’t make for good TV or an award winning documentary.