The Crisis of Central Falls H.S.

Well, all the current trend in edublogs across the net is to rage over the goings on at Central Falls High School - The Rhode Island institution that recently let go all of it's teachers and administrators over the school's poor performance.

There are more than a few media sources that are painting the teachers out to be the bad guys - the money-hungry teachers who refuse to put in any extra time to help rescue a community in crisis unless there is pay involved. It's one of the many issues that make people on the outside distrustful of teacher's unions. From the inside, this is what it looks like:

I know very few teacher's (and from what I understand, the Central Falls faculty are the same) who wouldn't put in an extra half-hour every day to help students who needed it. In fact, that happens all the time. If I added up all the unpaid work time I've put in and demanded back-pay for it - I'd be in a different tax bracket for sure. Hell, I might be able to live in the community in which I teach. But see

Now I understand that there is a school of thought that points out that in the business world, people are often told that they will have to kick in more time, effort, blood, sweat and tears all the time - and that's just the way it is. The company falls on hard times - people have to be let go, and the remaining staff has to pick up the slack. This is not an invalid statement. But the problem with that analogy is this: In that scenario, the issue isn't the product - it's the distribution of resources.

Imagine this scenario:

"Folks, the widgets we sell are horrible! They fall apart after the first use! We need to change how we make our widgets! So starting immediately, all workers will spend an extra 30 minutes on the factory floor."

Of course, this doesn't make any sense. Keeping the staff longer hours to continue to perform the same task that obviously isn't working is practically the definition of stupidity. Thus, keeping a faculty after school to help kids succeed with a curriculum that isn't reaching them to begin with is similarly stupid.

So, is this saying that the problem is that the assembly process is flawed? (ie. bad teaching) No, not necessarily. But most teachers design their lessons with cooperation in mind, not resistance. After all - the widgets don't have a will of their own - they are not fighting the process of being 'made.' Students, especially students from economically challenged areas have a way of doing that.

So what is the answer? The answer is that the entire community has to contribute to the solution. It is NOT just a teacher issue. If the students were showing up every day, trying to do the work and cooperating with the process, THEN it would be a teacher issue. And I'm not saying that every teacher at CFHS is blameless - like all faculty, they probably have their weak links (and I do admit that sometimes the unions go out of their way to protect teachers they shouldn't). But unless the students and parents get behind the effort, there is no way that any staff restructuring could have any effect.

Some people may want to point to the Jaime Escalantes of the world - the teachers who overcome incredible odds and get through' to their students. And while I am just as inspired by his story as everyone else, I can't help but wonder why every teacher is expected to work through as much difficulty and come out victorious.