Mental Health: the Missing Piece of the Puzzle?

 

I used to think my students were being dramatic when they listed as one of their goals “to make it to the next year alive.” The senseless killing of a Cardozo senior (the second murder touching the school community this year) has made me focus on the world many of our students live in—a world that is ignored, misunderstood, and certainly not addressed by the educational leaders and talking heads.

Test scores. Sure.

What's as sad as the death of a young person is the reaction of his or her peers. (I'm not talking about friends, simply peers in the same school or environment.) So many teens take it in stride that it is truly shocking. Trying to discuss such an incident is depressing. Many of the young people feel that there is nothing that can be done, it's just the way things are. Instead of developing the ability to empathize and mourn, many build walls and harden their feelings. It's a coping mechanism that only leads to an incredibly unhealthy environment.

Which leads to the topic of mental health. I am not one to think that schools need to solve all of society's social ills but let's be real, if we ignore the mental health of our students, can the academics really prosper?

What do we do to promote mental health in our schools? Not much from what I see. The Special Ed system is notoriously broken. We have no program for peer mediation. (It has never received the support it needed, it was always just given lip service.) Perhaps the worst thing we do is let kids behave badly in the school with no consequences. (We have an astounding lack of alternative schools and a policy from downtown to handle things at the school level---while not funding or setting up an In School Suspension program!) They learn that they can get away with just about anything. If you think that doesn't follow them outside of the school you are deluded.

Please note that I am not saying that the people who kill teens in DC are necessarily DCPS students, but on the other hand, the vast majority were at one time.

I heard the term “wrap around services” thrown about during the Fenty administration. I never saw a change at my school as far as social services go. If the Gray administration is serious about education and the youth of this city, we will see something different. But I won't be holding my breath. It's so much easier to ignore these realities, blame teachers (as our last leader liked to do), and offer “professional development.” In the end, as usual, the students don't get what they really need.

The impact of Impact

Recently, I had a chat with some colleagues who I don't run into that often. The subject of Impact came up. Essentially it was stated that the impact of Impact has been to create a great deal more stress for teachers, crush morale, and in general, to make you feel like you are not a good teacher. (And that it has not necessarily led to better teaching.) Ouch.

I hesitate to even open this Pandora's box but it can't be ignored. Before Impact, teachers could be stressed and frustrated by not seeing enough of our students succeed and the myriad other problems that accompany our job. That was bad enough. Now we have someone coming in to tell us that the problem is our teaching.

Let me also say, as so many others have, I'm all in favor of identifying poor teachers and ousting them if they are beyond help. And our old method of evaluation left much to be desired. However, detecting the effective teacher from the ineffective is not all that difficult. If you are paying attention and talking to students, it will be revealed. If you, as an administrator are moving around the building as part of your day, and even popping in some classrooms just for fun, it will be pretty clear who needs help or might need to find another career. I'm not saying that that is a foolproof method but it's a pretty good one. And I'm not saying Impact is without merit and should be written off completely.

What I am saying is that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. In my experience in DCPS, we went from a lack of oversight in the classroom to the current model which is extremely subjective and wholly unrealistic. Now, anything less than perfection (as defined by someone with little or limited experience with our student population) pretty much paints you as mediocre. The phrase “out to get you” comes up repeatedly when describing Impact, and it's not healthy.

[I may develop a posting of “master educator suggestions” that I've heard, and would be quite humorous if they weren't true, and if these suggestions weren't accompanied by denigrating Impact scores. But I digress.]

Anyway, the oppressive threat of Impact that has led to teachers feeling more constricted, less creative and playful, and less satisfied with their jobs leads me to ask the question: If I were a student, what kind of teacher would I want? One who feels like the current downtrodden DCPS teacher or one with the time and energy to still explore life, feels confident, and feels supported by their administration and school system? The second scenario may seem far fetched, but so what? We can dream can't we?