I have been thinking a great deal about the recent shootings at Oxford High School in Michigan that saw four students killed and seven injured, including one teacher. Despite very troubling behaviour, which included an in-class online search for ammunition via his phone, and some very disturbing drawings, 15-year-old Nathan Crumbley was allegedly able to go on a spree of death and mayhem with no difficulty.
What went wrong?
Based on my own years in the classroom, I have a theory. The first thing we have to understand is that there is a chasm between what institutions of education claim to be and what they really are. Cut through all the proclamations of progressivity and inclusiveness, and you will find for the most part they are conservative bastions. And why they are that way has little to do with the teachers, who, for the most part, teach with real heart and the best of intentions. Their nemesis resides within the school and within the board/division: administrators.
The thing to understand about them is that, because so many of them aspire to even greater supervisory heights, they are risk-averse. Anything that might reflect badly on them, like upset, complaining parents, can impede their upward trajectory. I will draw upon but one of many personal experiences to illustrate this before I get back to the Michigan shooting.
Many years ago, I had a student enter my Grade 11 English class three weeks into the semester. The story was that she had been bullied in one of her other classes, and so her entire schedule was revamped. When I asked one of the vice-principals why this girl was being further victimized rather than sanctioning the bullies, she told me that they didn't know who the bullies were.
My spider-sense tingling, I went to see the head of guidance to ask her to look into this. About a day later, she confirmed what I had suspected: the identities of the bullies were in fact known. Why, then, was the victim further punished? The most logical conclusion I could draw was that punishing the bullies would have raised the ire of their parents. Serving a relatively affluent community, our school's parents were not loathe to lodge complaints to superintendents, and even the director, if things didn't go their way. Hence, the path of least resistance was followed by upending the victim's schedule. (The victim and her mother had recently moved to the area from France, and were likely not yet enculturated into the prevailing ethos).
There are additional illustrations I could give here, but in the interest of conciseness, I have provided just the one. Which brings us back to Nathan Crumbley and his parents. Despite the above-described disturbing behaviour, when they were all called into the office, his backpack was not searched and the parents refused the school's desire to send him home, i.e., suspend him. Now, unless things are radically different in American schools, there is no way someone can refuse to be suspended.
Clearly, the school administration didn't press the issue, and again, as in my personal example, I suspect they chose the path of least resistance in the face of defiant parents who are now, thankfully, facing four charges each of involuntary manslaughter.
This should never have happened, but that it did neither shocks nor surprises me. When administrators fail to do their jobs, when they put their career advancement above the safety and well-being of the students and parents they are supposed to serve, something is indeed rotten in the state of education.
How does anyone fix this, Lorne? Back in the 60s I wound up spending two years at a "troubled" highschool. The ministry put it in something of a conservatorship and sent a new principal to clean it up - Wolfgang E. Franke, formerly a WWII U-boat Kapitan. He turned things around nicely before he was dispatched to the next troubled school.
ReplyDeleteMein Gott! I just found Herr Franke's obituary. The family doesn't go into the U-boat stuff but he ended the war in the eastern Med setting up radar stations where he was captured and sent to a Soviet prison camp.
https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/wolfgang-franke-obituary?pid=189845825
I just read the obituary whose link you included, Mound. Quite an accomplished man! In answer to your question, people of real commitment and integrity seem to be a dying breed in institutions of education. At one time, one was promoted after years of proven practice in the classroom. Now days, it seems, the path to advancement lies in getting out of the classroom as quickly as possible by sitting on the right committees, networking with the right people, and proving that you are a "team player." Talent seems to be but an afterthought, something that is amply demonstrated once they 'ascend' to administrative duties and forget about classroom realities to focus on political ones.
DeleteThis is not to say that all administrators are weak resume-polishers. In my 30 years, I had a few for whom I had much respect. Otherwise, sadly, to paraphrase Yeats, "the worst were filled with passionate intensity."
Pessimistically, I do not foresee things getting better.
Can you imagine if Herr Franke had been the principal of Oxford High? When your principal is a devotee of Nietzsche this might have been handled differently, very much including the parents.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Mound. The discipline practised would be be unambiguous and definitive.
DeleteI went back to my old primary school one fine spring day to confront a ‘teacher’ who bullied me verbally along with his fave male students. I was about 4’ 3” in his Grade 6 class. I was about 6’ 3” that fresh spring day about 3:30 PM and entered his classroom with no students of course. I was told he was up to his old tricks by a little bird. He had no idea who I was, but when I rattled off every name of his bully pack.. he got an inkling. I mentioned I was also an altar boy at his wedding which narrowed it down to about 6 of us - serving a High Mass. I brought my lefty baseball glove, bat n ball & a righty glove for him & suggested we talk out on the school diamond
ReplyDeleteAnd so we did..
I never heard another breath of a word re his ongoing damaging habit continuing .. my spies are impeccable.. and they’re anywhere.. Keep in mind, this tale was the era of grievous corporal ‘punishment’ - better known as ‘the strap’ head slaps, punches, clubs, ear pulls, swift kicks & report cards saying (fill in the blank name) is truculent, inattentive, poor attention span, with poor penmanship, work habits & in danger of failing Grade 6 for a 2nd time
It seems there are still very old school practitioners who ‘just don’t get it’.. I’m old school too, though.. not an educator per se, not in the Union, in fact I am smoke.. I know & can work the backtrail of bullies.. and they would never know who was behind a devastating series of shocking guerrilla character revelations & attacks (after fair warning)
I’m a staunch defender of educators & their precious students. I also caution being very very certain of the facts re failing young students.. and always remember scum like Alex Jones and his toxic defenders are out there.. Dead, dying and horribly injured students & educators being ‘crisis actors’ ??
I hear you, Sal. I went to Catholic elementary and high school, and the abuse you detail, both physical and psychological, was my experience as well. It wasn't until I was well into adulthood and my career that I was finally able to surmount the anger and hatred I felt for the teachers who had treated us so abysmally. Such behaviour should never have been countenanced, and I suspect that the ones who practised it likely were themselves earlier victims of such outrages.
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