Believe it or not, summer vacation is already ending. School
begins next Tuesday for Morgan Hill students; for teachers it has
already started.
Believe it or not, summer vacation is already ending. School begins next Tuesday for Morgan Hill students; for teachers it has already started.
I remember when I was a student and we waited for the prune crop to be harvested – we were well into September when that happened, and summer vacation was a good, solid three months. Those were the days!
I was talking to my neighbor today, the mom of three school-aged children and one infant. She was downright gleeful about the coming of the first day of school. Not that she doesn’t enjoy having her kids home for the summer, mind you … But then she looked at me and said, “I guess it feels different for you.”
Indeed it does. I love my summer vacations, and having time to spend with my own children. And I know all too well that once the school year starts, I will be consumed once again with all that teaching entails. And projects that did not get completed this summer will have to wait until next year for another chance.
Of course I chose this profession, and I am grateful to have a job which is so rewarding.
In fact, these days I am grateful to have a job at all. My family just got back from a trip across the country, and among other things I was struck by the number of communities in which there is overwhelming economic strife. We saw numerous towns, in state after state, in which store after store was boarded up. Some downtowns looked almost like ghost towns.
In some states, skilled workers were earning minimum wage – auto mechanics who worked on our car, for example, even the electrical system experts. Those poor guys need a union!
We did also see federal stimulus dollars being put to good use, as highways and bridges across the country are receiving much-needed repairs. And we did our part for the economy as well, distributing family stimulus dollars everywhere we went!
But the thing that struck me as we made our way back home was that in all of these communities, just as in ours, regardless of the state of the local economy students will be returning to school soon. The buildings are being readied, class rosters are being printed, books and supplies have been ordered, and school staffs are planning their programs. Teachers are thinking about their lessons, and what special projects they’d like to do with their students in the coming year.
It really is an amazing undertaking, this business of public education. The determination to educate every child in society, for the good of the child and for the good of the society. Regardless of the circumstances. In wealthy and poor communities. During times of economic hardship as well as during times of prosperity. During times of war as well as during times of peace. In remote communities as well as densely populated ones. Children whose parents are well educated and those whose parents are unskilled and even illiterate. Children who come from nurturing homes and those who unfortunately do not.
It is a thing of beauty, I think, this notion that all of our children will have an education. And who would want it any other way? To live in a society which did not value the education of all children – which would exclude some because they were somehow not deserving enough – would diminish our national character.
And so, with optimism and enthusiasm we teachers return to school, along with our administrators and classified colleagues, and plan for the coming of the students even as we must let go of the carefree existence that is summer vacation.
We are looking at last year’s test scores, comparing data across grade levels and curriculum areas, reassessing our lessons, sharing strategies and materials, and doing our best to build a program for the coming year that will help all of our students to be successful.
Thanks to all in the community who support our schools.
“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.” James Garfield, 1880.
Jeanie Wallace teaches math and social studies at Ann Sobrato, has two children who attend schools in the district and is writing on behalf of the MH Federation of Teachers.
