Why I am a Public Educator

A former colleague and friend of mine once made a comment I'll never forget: "Some people just don't understand public education."

As I continue adding years to my profession, I become further and further convinced I made the unquestionable right choice for my career. It's hardly been an easy road and I doubt it will ever be anything less than tremendously demanding and taxing. In my almost 24 years as an educator, I've endured many sleepless nights and I've never quite mastered the ability to focus more on the celebrations and less on the insults.

In a given day, an educator can experience hundreds if not thousands of smiles that come their way. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a student take interest, engage in learning and succeed, but it's the opposite that's appropriately paramount; the child who doesn't engage, the child who doesn't care, the child who would give anything to be somewhere else.

These are the experiences that stay in the educator's mind and notoriously overshadow the celebrations. Compound these disheartening examples with what often appears to be a heavy anti-public school sentiment growing in our nation and within our communities.

As our world continues to change, so do the challenges and expectations for educators. Public educators are highly scrutinized and it's rare for a day to pass without the critics reminding us of their dissatisfaction in our vocation. Regardless, I remain a passionate public educator and an advocate for public education. Why? Amidst the dissatisfaction, hidden within the discourse, the obstacles and the disdain, sits the absolute beauty of public education.

Apart from the critics, the expectations, mandates like No Child Left Behind, funding, or lack thereof and regardless of so many other things, the kids will still come. They may arrive in buses or cars or they may walk to school, but they will come and the educators will be there to accept, nurture and educate each child to the best of their ability with the resources provided.

Public education doesn't select its students, it accepts every child. They come regardless of who they are and regardless of their personal situation. It doesn't matter if they're rich, poor, black, white, homeless or from a broken home. It doesn't matter if they bring emotional baggage nor does it matter if they have struggled developmentally or academically from the day they were born.

Henry Cabot Lodge, the American Senator and historian said, "The American idea is a free church in a free state, and a free and unsectarian public school in every ward and every village with its door wide open to children of all races and every creed."

My comments are not at all meant to take away from the importance of choices provided by private and homeschooled educations. Both are important and very appropriate for a democracy and both typically provide wonderful learning opportunities for children. But public education is different because it must exist unless we are ready to disregard its absolute and necessary connection to society.

Public education assures every child the right to learn, earn a diploma and rise in the world regardless of most circumstances. This is the way it has to be; that's what public education is all about.

A society has no hope of thriving or even surviving without the public educators who stand ready to teach each child, every child, and all children. I don't care to imagine what would happen to so many kids if it weren't for the default option of the public education system. To me, the whole concept is absolutely beautiful and I am proud of every second I have dedicated to this profession.

As a public educator, I will always strive to be, as Teddy Roosevelt said, "the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who does actually strive to do the deeds; who spends himself in a worthy cause."

Public education is a beautiful thing. I consider it a worthy cause and this is why I am a public educator.