I have been a public school teacher for over 20 years and I can tell you the k-12 system is not failing students.  Our society has failed to appropriately fund public education while simultaneously widening the wealth gap and eroding the social safety net.  I am an excellent teacher but I cannot overcome the serious gaps that my students come in with.  Every year my students have come in more poor and less prepared to learn than the year previous.  My no honors freshman can read and have basic comprehension but not much else, making it quite the challenge to teach higher level thinking, yet I still try my best every day. Over 500 students (in a school of around 1900) are absent or so tardy they miss their first class which is 85 minutes long.  We have kids who haven’t been to school this year which is illegal.  We have one truancy officer and are told to stop filing the legal documents that compel students to come to school because there’s just too many and the courts can’t keep up. Then we get blamed when they have no skills.  You wouldn’t blame a wartime field hospital for losing patients or compare them to Mass General, but we do.  Please, put the blame for this mess where it belongs with those who refuse to fund public education as a national priority and are happy to let zip code determine success.

I have been a public school teacher for over 20 years and I can tell you the k-12 system is not failing students.  Our society has failed to appropriately fund public education while simultaneously widening the wealth gap and eroding the social safety net.  I am an excellent teacher but I cannot overcome the serious gaps that my students come in with.  Every year my students have come in more poor and less prepared to learn than the year previous.  My no honors freshman can read and have basic comprehension but not much else, making it quite the challenge to teach higher level thinking, yet I still try my best every day. Over 500 students (in a school of around 1900) are absent or so tardy they miss their first class which is 85 minutes long.  We have kids who haven’t been to school this year which is illegal.  We have one truancy officer and are told to stop filing the legal documents that compel students to come to school because there’s just too many and the courts can’t keep up. Then we get blamed when they have no skills.  You wouldn’t blame a wartime field hospital for losing patients or compare them to Mass General, but we do.  Please, put the blame for this mess where it belongs with those who refuse to fund public education as a national priority and are happy to let zip code determine success.

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