What to Throw Away in 2011

For me, the main activity of the first few days of 2011 has been the big “P.” 

Purge. Purge. Purge.

Together, with my two children, we tossed “Baby Einstein” videotapes, Elmo board books and clothing for babies and for toddlers, into giant boxes destined for Goodwill.

We filled an entire mini-van. And, I now feel lighter.

A good cleansing can be so refreshing.

Now winter break is over. Teachers are lucky. We get more than one new year—August and January.  

Thus, there are opportunities to craft resolutions and to consider discarding the unnecessary, unproductive or just plain harmful things in our lives.

I could prattle on about all of my personal resolutions as a human, as a teacher. I certainly have some. I could talk about how I hope to be more forgiving of myself, more this, more that.

However, it is really much more intriguing to think back to that “p” word and to dream about the ultimate purge. These are the things that, as a teacher, I would like to stuff into my metaphorical box.

So, here we go.

Oh, African-American Achievement Gap. You have overwhelmed and embarrassed me for 14 years. I want to crush you. You have made me feel stupid, incapable, exhausted and angry. All I want to do is just slap you down and make you vanish. I am weary of hearing everyone develop excuses for you or speak in hushed tones about you, while we watch you triumph, year after year. I am tired of districts announcing goals to conquer you and never sensing any sustained momentum. It will be spring soon, the joyous season of standardized tests, and I, for one, will not miss your sorry face. Even after all these years, I do not understand your strength, but I’m sealing the flaps with extra duct tape. 

And next it’s you, Gender Gap. Down you go. This February, I will witness, yet again, a parade of girls powered to enter Honors English classes at the high school next year. Where are the boys? They remain mere sprinkles. We know that boys, as early as fourth grade, are falling behind in reading and writing. And yet what, systematically, are we doing to meet their needs, to boost them, to show them the power in reading and in writing? Is there any evidence that we are making progress? Into the box you go. Go suffocate along with Mr. Achievement Gap. 

I could go on. I’d toss in parents who bully teachers. Middle school loneliness.  And maybe even grades. I’d have an extra special box for those who blame society’s woes on teachers. But, while all this is energizing to think about—this quick fix, this easy answer—we all know that, darn it, problems are complex and change is slow. For once, wouldn’t it be lovely if there were just some simple solution to something, to anything, related to education?

But for now maybe you, too, want to play along with me in my little new year’s daydream. If you could stuff anything into a box, what, fellow teachers, would you most want to purge?

Baker is a language arts teacher at Wydown Middle School in St. Louis.