Two Teachers

   Public education in America, which is world- known as mediocre, has faced the reality of students who have finished high school without having enough knowledge of basic subjects like math. That’s happening because teachers, who cannot express their opinions or take any risk teaching in classrooms, are afraid to lose their jobs. They have to take the middle grounds while teaching or face serious consequences such as suspensions, or worse dismissal.

    We can find two clear examples of this situation in “Suspended Teacher Defends Book Assignment,” published in the Indy Channel in February 22th, 2013, which describes how a school teacher Connie Heerman, who was not a novice, has been fired after she assigned a book with apparently explicit sexual content to her high school students.  She did not wait until received “green light” from her superiors.  After she waited for their permission for so long, she assigned the book because she strongly believed that this book would be an inspiration for her students how to deal with negative feelings that can make their life more difficult in this American society.

  Moreover, in “Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing,” published in the New York Times in September 30th, 2006 by Ralph Blumental, introduces Sydney McGee an school teacher for 28 years, who has to affront the fact of not only to be fired, but also her contract was cancelled without any chance to be renewed after parents’ complaint about some explicit nude art in the museum. Ms. McGee never thought that the planned trip to the museum with her students from 5th grade would cost her career.

   Personally, I believe, American education system does not allow teachers being free to express their passion. As a result of having teachers who lose their souls because they cannot be themselves, students has been taught ordinarily. Additionally, American students that study in public school come from “cookie cutters” since they cannot access to a personalized education according to their abilities. Because they have to take standardized tests that cannot reveal theirs real potential or knowledge, they finish high school without even having general knowledge of not only math, but also about what is happening in the rest of the world besides America.