Saying Good-bye

I never have that many students coming for tutoring or for college essay help. The largest number I ever had in one year was five. I don't advertise, I don't charge money, I don't allow parental interference.

But regardless of those restrictions, and the obvious other restriction of students resenting me, I usually end up with some. This year I have two young ladies who are trying to ace their AP essays and one who is trying to get accepted to college. Both contingents came to me with questions but the one that stood out was one I didn't expect.

I told all my teachers that I was moving back at the beginning of this school year but like everyone else they treated that as a fiction or improbable event. So the question that stymied me was about the change in the assigned books for AP English Literature.

For the first time ever, all the teachers pushed their reading faster but added another book to the end of the year--at least the end of the year up to the AP exam. For the first time the students will read Brave New World.

Last week one of my faithful students asked, "Are we going to write an essay for Brave New World?

 I told her that I would certainly expect that, when she asked, "Well who is going to score it?"

I don't know. I don't know how the school district can find someone like me who not only knows the rules but knows the books. I don't know how the school district offers that person limited hours at a limited wage and expects to get applicants.

When I started this job, there were readers for every three teachers. Most of those readers were the parents of the teachers or young teachers who had recently left to start families. Now I am the only reader in my district and I have to defend my pay every year. Although Utah has the lowest per pupil expenditure in the nation, the state legislature always tries to limit any increases to school expenses. When the legislature adds money to schools, most of the money goes to supporting departments or programs at the university that can be patented or monetized in some way.

Utah is the far end of the attitude toward education in this country, but it is a symptom of the great malaise that affects us and our children and our future. I am younger than Linda Brown who died this week but that decision affected the view of public schools in this country. That decision turned a majority of white parents against public education, and then against education at all. Currently nearly 50% of Republican voters think that public education and college education are a danger to their culture.

I don't know what the school and teachers will do when I leave. The entire US school system and the parents of the students who go to those schools need to stand up and demand more. Don't get me wrong--the people who currently serve the school unions are not fighting the right battles.