These are my remarks to teachers and staff of JPII at our first faculty meeting of the year, the week before the first day of school.
Welcome!
I love the first couple of weeks of school! Kids are happy, enthusiastic, glad to be back
with their friends, eager to tackle new challenges, optimistic about their
classes and excited about their futures.
We who are older, often jaded by the years, are part of a
privileged profession in that as teachers we get to experience all this with
our students.
And hopefully, experiencing their joy re-enkindles in us the
beautiful sense of wonder and mystery that marks teenagers’ lives as the world
slowly opens up to them.
Whatever the challenges of last year, whatever the ups and
downs, whatever the frustrations and joys, it’s a new year, a new sunrise, a
chance to commit ourselves again to helping our students become “strong in
mind, body, character and spirit for lives of learning and service, according
to the gospel” (JPII mission statement).
As is appropriate at this time of year, we begin the year
with “first principles.” As teachers in a Catholic school, we are heirs to a
great tradition in this country, started by the sisters, mostly, and now handed
down to us. What are the unshakeable beliefs that mark this tradition?
First, that our students are children of God—worthy of being educated, loved, listened to, cared
for and believed in.
We talk a lot about our optimism in kids at JPII—about
what kids are capable of achieving if they’re immersed in a culture honors high
standards, with supportive teachers and opportunities to get back on their feet
with they stumble. This isn’t polly-annish idealism, but is borne out of a fundamental
belief of God’s presence in our students’ lives and the power of grace to
create them into “new creations,” not “conformed by this world”, but
“transformed by the renewal of their minds” that they may find God’s will for
them, “what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:12)
There is
tremendous cynicism about youth today. Too many people launch too easily into tirades
about “kids these days”. But you know what? If there is any basis for the
cynicism, it’s our generation’s fault, not the teenagers’. It’s not 18 year
olds who are responsible for high rates of marital infidelity, lack of
commitment, corporate greed, political scandal, or sexual deviancy.
IN fact, I believe that kids are naturally
idealistic. But our society tells kids it’s impossible to lead a moral life,
that it’s impossible to abstain from sex for example, and people who try to do
so are either prudes or (worse) naïve, so practice sex safely. Television
stations like MTV aren't created or produced by 18 year olds, but by 40-somethings—and
there is something very sick about corrupting the natural idealism of youth in
order to sell products for profit.
So let this place be a shelter from such
cynicism—in fact, let this place become an antidote to it! When kids enter our classrooms
each day, may they see and FEEL the hope and FAITH we have in them--especially, our most troubled students! They are
likely our most troublesome students because they have been least well cared
for, and as a result, the ones who are least convinced that they are worthy of
being loved or believed in. So much of their acting out is a test of US, to see
if we can confirm in our reactions what he despairs about himself: that he is
not worthy of love, that he feels little hope for his future. We cannot give in
to despair for these kids! We must be, rather, people of the resurrection in
their lives.
I once knew a teacher who by November had it
up to here with a particular sophomore boy. To be blunt, this boy was really
acting like a horses’ rear end, and to make matters worse, I think she taught
him for two classes each day! But I remember her saying, deeply frustrated, almost
in tears, “As much as I want to, I will NOT give in, I will NOT write him off.
I will NOT become cynical about him. He WILL be better behaved eventually, and
we WILL get along, but on my terms.” I remember being very edified by her
toughness and attitude. I asked her, several months later, how things were
going with him, and she said something like “Well, there is the occasional bad
day, but we’re getting along pretty well now. He’s actually becoming a pleasant
person, most of the time”. What made the difference? The teacher did--despite
the boys' actions, she refused not to love him.
There’s a story about two
shoe salesmen who were sent to the tribes of Africa to see if their company
could begin opening up new revenue streams. The first shoe salesman emailed
back: “No opportunity here—natives don’t wear shoes.” The second salesman wrote
“Huge opportunity for us to expand our business—no one here owns any shoes
yet.” Some times it’s a matter of perspective, and we have to tackle our most troublesome kids
as an opportunity to make the most difference.
The real truth that we must never forget as
Catholic educators is: LOVE is redemptive. If we bring Christ’s
love to our students each day, even our most annoying, troubled student,
Christ’s love can redeem them—and redeem us in the process.
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it
entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love
him.” (I Corinthians 2:9)
2. Education is a moral endeavor,
undertaken by a community of adults—
Schools
have a tendency to measure success in terms of test scores, college
scholarships, graduation rates, A.P. test performances. We do that too—97 AP
Scholars, 10 National AP Scholars. Amazing results this year. Those are good
things, and we’re right to be proud of them.
But let these stats not obscure the true measure
of our success—the Ockham’s razor by which our school should be judged a
success or a failure is simply this: do we help children become the people God
wants them to be? Our ultimate aim: cooperate with God’s grace to help them
become these people. In so doing, we know they will be happy.
This isn’t just a responsibility of the theology
department, but of the entire community of adults: teachers, coaches, office
staff, and parents.
As
Aristotle taught, people do not naturally or spontaneously grow up to be
morally excellent or practically wise. They become so, if at all, only as the
result of a lifelong personal and communal effort.
So yes, it takes a village.
3. Parents are the primary educators.
Now we have to be careful: I’ve heard this line
used by teachers in this room as an excuse to get out of work: A kid hasn’t done his homework in 4 days. “Oh
well, the parents are the primary educators…if they’re not going to do their
job, how do they expect me to do mine”…. And then, you see, the teacher
absolves himself from that kids’ failure. “Not my fault”.
In Catholic educational philosophy, parents ARE
the primary educators, and we ASSIST parents in that role. In other words,
we’re a team, and I think that means three very practical things for us:
- First, we trust parents to make the right
decisions for their kids
- Second, we try and foster good communication
with parents—in both directions. On Back to School Night, you should give your
school email address and voice mail number at school to every parent. Maybe
even have a business card, and invite them to call you whenever they have
concerns. You should similarly CALL THEM, not just for concerns, but for
praise. Open lines of communication. Especially in the case of a kid doing
poorly, we should do much more than take the contractual, minimalist position
“Well, I informed you through the report cards and you never contacted me”.
That’s simply unacceptable.
- Third, I think being on a team (and I think
every married person in this room understands this) means forgiving and moving
on. Parents aren’t going to always respond as they should. We have to forgive
them for that, insist on a professional working relationship, not let it affect
us the next time we should communicate with that person. We must
remember that when we’re talking to parents about their child, we are treading
in an area where parents are MOST vulnerable, and often, they don’t respond as
they should. Let us tell the truth with love, forgive if responded to
inappropriately, and always remember to put the needs of the child first.
4. We make no compromises, no excuses.
I think this is one of the great legacies of the
sisters.
They had very little money, but they had grit
and determination. These were well educated women, but they VERY poorly paid,
no “benefits”, and they worked, by today’s standards, in deplorable working
conditions. But as a group, they were most responsible from moving Catholic
families out of the immigrant ghettos in this country and into the middle class
suburbs.
I worked with a nun in my first few years as a
principal in my previous school. She taught Chemistry to juniors and seniors and Introductory
Physical Science to freshman for 42 years before she retired. But before
teaching high school, she began as an elementary school teacher at the age of
19, without her degree, which she had to
complete over 5 consecutive summers. Her first teaching assignment at age 19? 51
students in one classroom-- 25 first graders and 26 second graders—teaching
simultaneously. And people have wondered why the sisters were “mean” ?
But those kids were WELL educated. The sisters
didn’t complain about their working conditions, their salaries, how
under-appreciated they were. No compromises, no excuses!
This is our legacy. The mission of this school
comes before all else—before any of our needs, before any convenience—more
important than winning games, test scores, college acceptance rates. We will
try everything for a student to be successful, and we will NOT give in to the
temptation to quickly write kids off because they’re not doing well.
All students in our classroom will learn. And if
they aren’t learning, we will intervene, first as teachers, then as the school itself.
The mission of the school is first.
Sometimes teachers might wonder why we hang onto
kids so long before asking them to withdraw. This is the reason. We are not
rightful heirs to the legacy of the sisters unless we embrace this challenge
directly.
In summary then, as Catholic school teachers, we
believe that:
All students are children of God;
Education is a moral endeavor undertaken by
the whole community;
We are team-mates with parents;
The mission comes first, no excuses, no
compromises.
Have a great year!
