Playing The Hand You're Dealt (or, why I could never be a classroom teacher forever)

It's no secret to anyone who's talked to me in the past few months that this has been one of the most challenging school years of my career.

A friend recently told me that his girlfriend had told him that it's a waste of time to try to figure out what made the kids the way they are and that instead you just need to do your best with the hand you were dealt.

I can't do that. I wish I could, but I can't.

I understand the wisdom of it, but it just goes against everything in my nature. I've decided that people can be broken into two camps: those who do the best with what they have, and those who aren't willing to accept what they have and think it could be better. Said another way, there are those who do their best within the system, and those who want to fix the system. I'm solidly in the second camp.

I keep being reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Game of Thrones: “The common people pray for rain, healthy children and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” I think it's really true. Most people make do and do their best with what they have. They keep their heads down and for the most part do what they have to do. 

I work with a bunch of great (probably better than me in a lot of cases) teachers who do just that. They do their best with the kids they've been dealt each and every year. They don't look around their classroom and see the problems they're dealing with as the end result of a broken system that has fucked everyone in it over.

I do.

Yes, some of the problems were created by me. Others are the end result of school-wide policies that sounded good on paper and are turning out disastrous in practice. Others are the end result of NCLB or IDEA or any other of the myriad edicts from on high. 

This is why I'm fascinated by politics. Far too many people ignore the political scene because they have too much else to deal with. They have a job to do, kids to raise, dinner to get on the table, and see little connection between the squabbles between politicians and the realities of their lives. They're focused on doing the best they can within the small sphere they live in.

Politicians are a different breed. Underneath all the gridlock, all the animosity, all the inaction are a group of people who looked at their world and said "I can do better." Whether they actually manage to is a different story, but I firmly believe that no one has ever run for office because they looked around and thought "Yep, the world is exactly how I like it, nothing should change."

I like the big picture. What's going on in the little picture can usually be directly connected to the big picture. It's all well and good to pray for rain and healthy children, but the games the high lords play affect us all.

At some point, I know I'm going to leave the little picture of my classroom. I don't know where I'll go from there, but I know I'm going. Maybe I'll stay home for a little bit, but someday I want to play the big game. Administration? Maybe. Policy PhD? Maybe.

I can do better.