If I Were a Shoe Store (Ya Ha Deedle Deedle, Bubba Bubba Deedle Deedle Dum)

Over the Winter break I read yet another book on school reform. This one, written by a respected educational historian with a brilliant mind, exceptional education and experience, and strong political connections to both parties, criticized the current trends of accountability and school choice. She based her point of view on the erosion of democratic neighborhood school stability that is the fallout of these efforts and the lack of sustainability that seems to be their long term results.

While I agree with some of her conclusions and lament the lack of her faith in certain progressive capacities of the reform movement, it seems that she too is missing the mark. On my first day of teaching I recognized why schools fail some students completely and all students at least a little bit. The problems are easy, and the solutions easy too. Just imagine that my classroom were a shoe store!

If I were a shoe store, I'd be out of business my second day. But let's start on Day One. As an ambitious entrepreneur, I would have spent weeks preparing for this Grand Opening! I would have stocked a perfect inventory, anticipating the demographic that would walk into my store. I'd have a showroom and a back room, a counter for checkout and the latest technology for managing transactions. I'd have places for customers to sit and attractive window displays. But this shoe store would not have hired any additional help. I'd be working all alone.

Imagine my showroom, filled with interested patrons, waiting to be fitted for shoes. Imagine me running back and forth, arms spilling over with boxes and boxes and boxes, needing to find the perfect pairs for each customer. Now imagine me at the cash register, then again in the back room, then again on the showroom floor. Clients handle the displays, and they don't put them back in the right places. Now I am struggling to fit, sell, transact, record, straighten, replace, fit, sell, transact, record, straighten, replace, fit, sell, transact, record, straighten, replace...all by myself, with a showroom full of people needing service with a smile, one at a time.

How long would my clientele remain happy? How soon would I be deserted for a store with a staff of eager salesmen and a counter clerk ready to ring up their sales?

Teaching children is a lot more difficult than fitting shoes. I have students who are ready for college level reading and high school math. I have students who can't draw a model of 5/4. I have students who can't sit still longer than an average two year old and students who are better disciplined than I am in a classroom setting. I work alone--planning, preparing, designing, implementing, grading, recording, filing, cleaning, communicating--and start the process new each day. I work a hard eight or nine hours at school, pressing through recesses and lunch, minimizing my own bodily needs to squeeze every possible use out of every possible second. And then I take the rest home.

I'm not a martyr. I love what I do. I miss my kids over breaks and my heart wrenches when I fail them. I wish I had another two hours with students in each school day to accomplish more. I check my email every few minutes all evening long in case one of them or a parent needs me.

But it's an impossible job. There is no way I can meet all of the needs.

If I were a shoe store, everyone would be screaming, "Hire some help, for goodness sakes!" But because children have no political voice, and they are not a commodity worth greater investment, the public looks for a magic answer without recognizing the obvious. I could work magic if a classroom were structured more like a retail environment. Imagine three teachers working together with twenty students. One could be preparing, filing, grading and recording. The other two would be teaching--a lead and a support teacher for every lesson. Small group instruction could happen as children fall behind or move ahead. Three trained professionals, working together, just like in a shoe store. Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.