Much has been said about education in the United States over the last few years. It is a subject that promises to not go away. Some claim it is too expensive, cumbersome and wasteful. Others claim that education is grossly underfunded. Some claim that public education could be saved if parents (and students) were given more choice white opponents to school choice warn that such moves would create great disparity in the quality of education students receive.
I don't claim to have an answer to any of these questions. However, I DO think that my past (and future) provides me with a unique perspective.
PAST
I attended two different public high schools. The first was an all county school in Indiana serving about 700 students while the second was a small consolidated high school in Kansas serving about 200 students.
I attended a private college serving about 1200 students.
I attended a public graduate school serving about 40,000 students.
Over the last 11 years I have taught in two different public schools. One was in Indiana (1700 students) and one in Wisconsin (1900 students). This spring I resigned from my teaching position in Wisconsin and accepted a teaching position at an independent (private, non-religious) school in Pennsylvania.
I would be lying to say that the recent political activities in Wisconsin didn't have something to do with my decision to seek employment elsewhere. Governor Walker has taken a stance (more and more common among Tea Party affiliated GOP leaders) that believes that managing the bottom line is key to good public education policy.
It scares me.
NOW
Over the next year my plan is to document (for my friends working in both private and public schools) my experience as I move from a relatively large public school to a relatively small private school. I have a lot of ideas that I've been mulling about in my head dealing with administration, departmental structure, teacher evaluation, decision making, salaries and benefits, etc... Besides that, I'll be working at a school with a physics first curriculum.
I don't know where I'll come down on each of these issues (that's the point of the blog). My english-teacher friends tell me that it is important to write (and read) every day. I'm going to try to do that. If I write something that I feel is interesting, I'll post it here.
Feel free to comment, ask questions or call me out on stuff you disagree with.
