I meet teachers all of the time now. They're hiding everywhere in plain sight. This one tells me about his classroom, and states simply that there are some kids who are brilliant who don't need your instruction. They know the material as well as you do. This is intimidating to me, but I immediately doubt the prevalence of native French speakers in the Maryland public schools, and I'm reassured. He continues: there are also the middle-ground kids who you're actually teaching something to, and then there are the kids who won't care no matter what you do. Now my idealistic nature is up in arms.
How come those kids don't care? I really believe every student can succeed. And I'm often of the mindset that if there is a group that isn't learning anything, its mostly the fault of the teachers, not the students.
This is the age-old debate that has marked public education in the United States since public schooling was first introduced. Are public schools "the great equalizer" or the tool society uses to weed out the roughage? Either we teach students so they graduate with the same levels of ability, or we divide the students into ability categories.
At a party, I chat it up with a friend's new boyfriend who's a school teacher at Poly. We are thrilled to find that we both were students of Dr. Neubert, and he cheerfully tells me that anyone who doesn't take Neubert seriously is bound to fail their first year. I loved Neubert. I feel encouraged.
