It really does take a village

This past week I attended the first two hours of the Muscogee County School Board’s work session. I was there to pitch the new English Language Arts curriculum adoption, but I was present for many other points of business as well.

A school board member presented a great video of the top SAT scorers for each high school in Muscogee County. The students introduced themselves and announced their intended college and hopeful major. Many of our local standout students are headed to the Ivy League or renowned institutions. Their professional goals were impressive: doctors, lawyers, architects, researchers. The list went on and on.

I didn’t hear many of our top students announcing their desires to become teachers. I wonder why.

One comment the board member made struck a chord in this public educator. She repeated the old familiar adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” She was highlighting how deeply rooted these students’ successes are in a community that fosters an importance on education, that promotes the power of knowledge, and that helps build a quality foundation in learning.

I think she is right. It does take a village, and the city of Columbus is a fantastic village.

The unfortunate reality for the majority of us teaching in the public school classroom is that what we do on a daily basis is not undergirded in many individual homes across this great village. The stress we place on the power of education is not reiterated around the dinner table in the kitchen. The anxiety we feel in trying desperately to teach kids not only the curriculum but the necessity of it is not reciprocated in the living room.

So, one rung of the ladder is missing. One brick in the foundation is in decay.

I am a living, breathing example of the disconnect between an educated society’s version of what is important for many of our students and what those students think is important for themselves.

Three years ago, during my first soccer season at Jordan High, I took a crew of my players home every day after practice. I piled about five girls into my SUV and toted them all across Columbus. My first visit to Wilson Apartments was interesting. As I watched one of my players unlock her apartment, I noticed the darkness immediately. I asked the remainder of my players, “It’s almost 6 o’clock. Is no one home?” Mom worked third shift, so a dark apartment greeted my star player every afternoon.

I erupted with questions: No one is there to fix her dinner? She eats alone? What does she eat? No one is there all night? What if something happens? Finally one of my girls ceased my questions with another question. She said, “You don’t have any idea how we live, do you, Coach?”

I sank and humbly answered, “No, I don’t, but I want to learn.” The rest of the soccer season was just that, a lesson.

I learned that Chemistry class is mixing the seasoning packet with the Ramen noodles. I learned that Economics class is choosing which bill to pay this month. I learned that Social Studies class is knowing what neighborhood to avoid at night. I learned that English class is reading an eviction notice and PE class is walking to the Family Dollar.

These kids cannot see the importance of school for their tomorrow if they can’t see past their condition today. I learned that from my soccer team.

The saying is true: It does take a village to grow a child. But oftentimes the chasm between home and school is so huge, teachers are left feeling the weight of the burden to build the bridge. The prestige of an education has fallen short of the enormity of its power within the minds of many of our city-dwellers.

And we teachers feel the blows of disdain in the disconnect when an angry parent does not agree with the power of accountability in academics. We teachers exist under the anxious load of caring deeply about our students’ education when they themselves do not. We teachers receive the brunt of behaviors not reflective of a respect for the sanctity of the classroom. It can become more about managing than teaching, and that is a dangerous, slippery slope ... for the entire village.

The handful of top scorers on the SAT, however, can certainly testify to the importance of a quality education. They are the product of our village.

But so are the ones I teach who aren’t headed to the Ivy League.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 4:35 PM with the headline "It really does take a village."