For DC Teachers: It is A Time To Build Up, A Time To Gather Stones, A Time To Speak... A Time Of War

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I always loved this passage from Ecclesiastes in the bible. I used it in raising my son, JBL and supporting some of the unpopular decisions that I as a parent had to make as well as teaching life's hardest lessons. Often when I had to impose an unpopular parental decision I started with "for everything there's a season. There's a time to fall in love, there's a time to learn how to drive, there's a time to stay out late. It's not your season yet, my son." As hard as it was for me when the time did come for my son to embrace the dreaded developmental milestones of dating, hanging out later with friends and growing up-I would remark for everything there 's a season. It's your season, go for it with all of my blessings of course. Here's the verse in its entirety.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 From The Holy Bible Attributed to King Solomon
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war; and a time of peace."

What I have learned from this passage is that it is no longer the season to remain silent and sit back. In war, it's a time to gather stones, a time to speak out and a time to fight- to go against the grain if you will. Nationally, teachers and teachers unions are speaking out in defense of DC teachers. Just recently the Detroit Teachers Union passed a resolution in support of Washington, DC teachers and have encouraged all of teacher unions across the United States to follow suit. I attribute this to the media blame game campaign that Rhee has waged in her all out war against DC teachers. Negative anecdotes of teacher horror stories are regularly proffered almost daily it seems by Rhee and supported by the mainstream press of reporters in Washington, DC and mostly offer one sided viewpoints like the article featured by WaPo reporter Jay Mathews last week titled , "New DC Principal Hand Picked Team Makes Early Gains."

Much to my surprise another editorial appeared this week from a suburban teacher colleague in challenging Mathew's article. Here's what she said in "The Wisdom of Older Teachers" which appeared on Monday, December 8th on page A18:

"While it was heartening to learn from Jay Mathews's column that students at Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson are improving their performance on tests (Metro, Dec. 1), I was dismayed at principal Brian Betts's blatant ageism in the hiring of teachers. It is unfair to equate youth with enthusiasm and ambition and to dismiss out of hand the richness of experience and wisdom gained by teaching over many years. Certainly there are older teachers who are just putting in their time until they reach retirement age, but that is a small minority, at least in my experience as a teacher. I've known and learned from many "seasoned" teachers who are dynamic, embrace new technology and challenge themselves to create more interesting lesson plans; I've also met a few younger teachers who chose not to put much effort into their instructional methods.

It is interesting that Mr. Betts requires "daily teacher training." Could this be because there are so few experienced teachers on his staff? Teachers with a few years under their belts offer knowledge to their students gained from hands-on experiences in the classroom. As in other professions, teachers with experience should be valued. I wonder if, in five years when Mr. Betts is 46, he will find that his experience and accomplishments as an administrator are discounted when he interviews with a younger version of himself, who assumes that older folks are "jaded."
Virginia R. Pass, Silver Spring, The writer teaches French at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville.

For DC Teachers...It's a time to build up, a time to gather stones, a time to speak... a time of war. Last night we gathered together our troops alongside AFT preparing our battle plan of action. Stay tuned for more. (Posted by The Washington Teacher). (This story inspired by JB ).