Knocking Down the Teacher as Hero Paradigm
In response to the post on Eduwonk about the documentary “Whatever It Takes” (whose trailer I posted here), Eduwonkette takes on the Hollywood meme of “find[ing an] inspirational principal/teacher and tell[ing] an uplifting/touching story about how kids from tough backgrounds beat the odds.”
Eduwonkette has two main problems with this way of storytelling: (1) it’s almost always the case that these heroic tales leave out some critical details; and (2) we do teachers and schools a great disservice by clinging to the teachers/principals as heroic, self-effacing figures storyline.
On the first point, she examines the backstory of the school profiled in “Whatever It Takes”. She points out that the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics is not quite the unscreened, representative school one might assume. While this doesn’t take away from either the good work of the teachers or the struggles of the students, it simply reveals that any condensed version of a story can ignore important context.
On the second point she refers the reader to a New York Times op-ed, Classroom Distinctions:
The most dangerous message such films promote is that what schools really need are heroes. This is the Myth of the Great Teacher.
Films like “Freedom Writers” portray teachers more as missionaries than professionals, eager to give up their lives and comfort for the benefit of others, without need of compensation…“Freedom Writers,” like all teacher movies this side of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” is presented as a celebration of teaching, but its message is that poor students need only love, idealism and martyrdom.
(…)It is as if all the previously insurmountable obstacles students face could be erased by a 10-minute pep talk or a fancy dinner. This trivializes not only the difficulties many real students must overcome, but also the hard-earned skill and tireless effort real teachers must use to help those students succeed.
(…)I don’t expect to be thought of as a hero for doing my job. I do expect to be respected, supported, trusted and paid.
(…)Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish.
