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Friday, February 16, 2024

Administrators and The Big Chill

The Washington Post just covered a Rand Corp. report that provides unsurprising data: 65% of K-12 teachers restricted their instruction on "political and social issues." The paragraph that really jumped out at me was this one:

Teachers’ most common reason for curtailing some forms of education, the report found, was their worry that school or district leaders would not support them if parents expressed concerns — and teachers working in politically conservative areas were more likely to censor themselves.

In fact, the Rand report found that the percentage of teachers self-censoring was double the percentage of teachers working in a state that has actual restrictive laws forbidding woke DEI CRT race gender divisive concepts etc etc etc culture panic teaching.

I don't know if the culture panic crowd figured this out or stumbled across it, but either way, culture panic  has hit on an important tactic-- all you have to do to get a big chill is scare the administrators.

Far too many administrators operate from a simple vision-- a good day is a day on which the phone doesn't ring. And if it does ring, the easiest way to get the problem to go away is to make the teacher stop doing whatever it is that made the phone calling parent sad.

This is not a new problem. Every teacher knows stories of that administrator that folded like a wet paper bag when a parent called. Most teachers have given that advice to a parent: "This is what we need to do next for your kid, and I can try to get the ball rolling here, but things will happen much faster if you call the office."

But culture panic has raised the amount of background noise and added to the list of possible offenses. So in states that don't even have Don't Say Gay laws, administrators are making teachers take down any room decorations that some parent might think are just too gay. Administrators are having staff meetings to deliver the message, "I hear that parents out there somewhere are freaking out over CRT/DEI/LGBTQ stuff, so do us all a favor and just don't come near any of those topics ever." 

And in way too many districts, teachers already know that when push comes to shove, they are working for administrators who will not have their back. They've already adjusted their classroom style accordingly (e.g. adjusting disciplinary requirements because they know that when it comes to problem students, they are on their own), so steering away from the new list of Controversial Stuff is just more of the same. 

It's a great thing to have an administrator who will have your back, who will stand between you and the latest flap (and for administrators, it's a great thing to have a teacher who will take the steps needed to make defending them easier). But it's a luxury that many teachers don't have. The Rand findings are just a reminder of that unpleasant truth. Administrators set the temperature for a building; if those classrooms are extra chilly, the problem lies in the front office.

3 comments:

  1. I understand (though maybe disagree) with the view Greene has previously expressed - that what a school teaches should reflect the whole community represented by a school board. And that this view may supercede the parent. But that's not necessarily what we're talking about here. Why should the views of one teacher take priority over a parent ? I anticipate that the response would say that the teacher is just discussing a topic not expressing a view. Or that a teacher has the same 1st amendment rights as anyone else. But I'm curious. Would Greene be as sanguine if the teacher wanted to "discuss" creationism or Ayn Rand's objectivism ? Somehow I don't think so.

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    1. I've discussed both in my own classes. They exist. Why shouldn't they be discussed? I would object to a teacher trying to convince students that certain ideas or attitudes are the only correct way to view the world, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about parents, lawmakers and administrators who are afraid to even mention certain topics.

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  2. I personally know two of the three teachers in my district on leave for “iffy” social media comments or classroom discussions and yes, it’s a minefield for sure. I believe the three of them are planning to sue the district but there’s so much else going on here what with Bethany Mandel running for school board that I’ve lost track.

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