My commute to school lately has included a new friend and that short ride allows us to talk and get to know each other better.  She has shared stories of her childhood in Sudan, her travels to the United States as a refugee and her life raising two children in a country not her own.  She has sung happy birthday to me in Arabic and somehow the tune was so much more beautiful in another language.  But of all the stories she has shared, the story of her education has inspired the most reflection.

Her education began with 1st grade when her uncle requested that she attend school with his daughter, her cousin.  These children walked two hours to school and two hours home every day, to the point where the decision was made for them to board for a year.  It was unusual for a girl to go to school and in her family, she was the only one to go.  She shared with me that in her country, teachers were treated as prophets because they gave knowledge to others.  People in her village would come to her, even as a young child for help in reading instructions for medications, reading and writing letters.  Education was a privilege, not a right, and those who taught were respected and those who attended were grateful.

It led to a natural comparison to public education in this country where education is considered a right and not a privilege.  Historically, it hasn’t always been this way.  A white male with money was the typical student and it took years to include women and African Americans, even more years before they would be educated together.  Mainstreaming began our adventure of including students with special needs in our classrooms. And while it is far from perfect, public education is now the expectation for all children in this country.

I wonder, however, if we have begun to take public education for granted?  After all, something that was such a privilege back in the day can now be experienced by the very least of us.  It allows everyone to experience education which in turn gives everyone just enough information about the art of education to be dangerous, much like an armchair quarterback.  It’s easy to find problems and complain about things when you only see it from the outside and unfortunately a lot of those people are suggesting alternatives like charter schools, places that are more about the bottom line than actually educating children.

Maybe the problem is with schools themselves, where we are trying to be all things for all people.  We claim to be able to educate everyone, but the truth is that we don’t always have the resources to do this as well as we should and the will power of a few overworked, passionate teachers can’t always take the place of those resources, as much as they try.  We try to please every parent in terms of how we treat their children, easy on those children whose parents insist on kid gloves and harder on those children whose parents insist on more rigor.  And while teachers have high expectations for their students, sometimes the unrealistic expectations of those in control in terms of curriculum, the speed at which it is taught and tested, create stress for teachers and students alike.  Despite all that teachers are trying to do to keep up, to increase their own education, to keep up with all the documentation for accountability, to learn just enough about the catch word/phrase/trauma du jour, is it all really for looks?  Can we really do what we claim we can do?

I think about students who complain that they have to get out of bed so early to get to school and then I think about my friend who was willing to walk two hours to go.  I think about students who disrespect and throw around inappropriate language towards their teachers and fellow classmates, then I think of how teachers are treated as prophets in other countries.  Have we taken education for granted because it’s for everyone?  Imagine a football game where not everyone can go.  That ticket becomes much more valuable when not everyone can have it.  Unfortunately for public education, everyone has a ticket every day and it’s just not that big a deal anymore.  It’s something we have to legislate in terms of attendance because some people aren’t willing to go to the trouble to get their kids to school and other kids hate it so much they can’t wait to drop out.

The answer?  I don’t know.  Maybe as an education community, if we said we don’t have the resources to do everything and stopped taking all kids, communities and legislators would begin to listen and help provide what we need. Seriously, how much further can teachers be stretched?  I don’t know.  All I know is that I found myself wondering what it would be like to be so respected for what I do for kids.  It won’t happen during my career, but maybe one day, public education won’t be taken for granted anymore.