HOMEWORK HELP | What happens to gender expectations and relationships when people must survive on a poverty budget?

How do you create a sense of gender identity through
your employment or job? How does your job create a sense of gender
identity for you?
In what ways does the construction of masculinity
differ from the construction of femininity in regards to paid work? What
about unpaid work?
What happens to gender expectations and relationships
when people must survive on a poverty budget?
How do U.S. ideology and cultural values about
independence affect employment and work?

Work has been central to definitions
of masculinity. Men’s identities have been tied to work and employment, and a
man’s perceived worth is often directly linked to his job and employment.
Although physical strength used to be related to work, few men now have
physically-demanding jobs. As technological and organizational changes occur, a
cultural shift has impacted the definition of masculinity. Males and females
have come to share similar labor force participation, and the gendering of work
has affected the definitions of femininity and masculinity.
The probabilities or odds of
economic achievement are affected by gender. As an economy changes, the odds
change and also impact gender norms and expectations. With cultural values that
emphasize independence, the U.S. places expectations for economic success on
individuals. If a person is not fully employed, the individual will be held
accountable for unemployment. Economic shifts and gendered discrimination are
rarely considered significant factors in employment and work. However, economic
position is much more complex than individual responsibility. This chapter
highlights factors that impact work.

Readings,
Resources, and Assignments

Required Reading

Chapters 10 and 11

Required Assignments

Short Answer

.riosalado.edu/aecontent.php?pid=511883″>Sociology Subject Guide: A one-stop shop for all of your sociology related
research needs.

Check Prior Knowledge

Check your prior knowledge of
concepts and key terms by playing one of the.riolearn.org/content/SOC/SOC212/SOC212_INTER_0000_v5/studymates/L8.htm”>Lesson 8 games.

Term

Definition

Example

Second Shift

The unpaid work in the home,
usually done by women who are employed full-time for pay

Although dual-earning couples may
both contribute to the economics of the household, gendered attitudes about
housework, childcare, and chores remain a cultural norm.

Pink-Collar Job

Work that is done in exchange for
low wages; primarily performed by women

Examples of pink-collar jobs
include clerical, secretarial, retail, and homecare.

Career

A profession or occupation that is
chosen as one’s life’s work

A career is typically valued by
both the individual and society.

Hidden Curriculum

Unintended outcomes or byproducts
of education or schooling-related activities

Recreational and social activities
teach lessons of inequality, which normalize inequality and reinforce
cultural beliefs and norms.

Job

Work or responsibility that is
completed during employment

Although a job may be done for money,
work is considered transient, temporary, and expendable.

Comparable Worth

The belief that employers should
set wages to reflect the worth of jobs, as determined by job
evaluation studies, not by market demand (supply and demand)

Advocates of comparable worth
highlight that jobs necessary for a functional society are often paid less,
usually because women have dominated a profession (e.g., fire and police
dispatchers) and believe that pay should be dependent upon job worth.

Gender Typing

When the majority of an occupation
is dominated by a gender, the expectation for the job becomes based on
gendered expectations

Gender-typing affects the way that
a job is perceived, such as the nursing profession. Nurses are expected to be
caring and nurturing because women, who have typically dominated the
profession, are considered caring and nurturing.

Glass Ceiling

A barrier to career advancement in
which restrictions or discrimination are unacknowledged

In many professions, a woman
cannot break through the glass ceiling because of gendered expectations and
the time commitments of motherhood.

Focusing Your Learning
Lesson
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you
should be able to:

Describe ideology and the economy.
Describe historical gender expectations of the
workplace.
Compare/contrast social stratification in employment
opportunities.

Instruction
Objective:
Describe Ideology and the Economy
Political leaders and other sources
of information often espouse ideology that gives more credence to cultural beliefs
than research actually supports. Popular U.S. beliefs about work affect
interpretations of employment and unemployment. Four popular beliefs that
influence perceptions of work include:

People control their own destinies.
People should have different rewards if they made
different efforts.
The more formal education one has, the better off he or
she will be economically.
The more work experience one has, the better off he or
she will be economically.

Based upon these four perceptions,
work is considered a relatively simplistic endeavor. A person is responsible
for his/her employment and will be rewarded monetarily if he/she works hard,
has a good education, and diligently refines his/her skills. By these
standards, anyone can attain The American Dream.
In reality, though, employment and
work are much more nuanced, and many other factors besides determination affect
a person’s employment. The persistence of inequality based on race, class, and
gender contradicts the dominant ideology. People don’t necessarily receive
higher wages the longer that they maintain a job. Education does not guarantee
a good paying job. Rising housing costs, increased age discrimination,
homelessness, and a cost-of-living that increases faster than wages are all
indications that the U.S. ideology is not reality. Yet, the persistence of
cultural beliefs continues to influence perceptions of employment.

Objective:
Describe Historical Gender Expectations in the Workplace
Economic opportunities and gender
are linked throughout history. The number of people who are employed or
actively seeking work (labor-force participants) has increased steadily since
the end of World War II. Immigrants and women who entered the paid workforce
altered the economy of the U.S. The business principle of supply and demand
affected pay and jobs. With more workers in the workforce, employers could
reduce wages. The cost of living, however, increased which also contributed
to who worked and who didn’t. People, especially families, struggled to survive
on a single-earner income, and individuals (usually mothers/wives/women) were
expected to find paid work to help support the family. However, household
requirements (e.g., childcare, cooking, and cleaning) remained. Gender
expectations remain strong in the culture, which has resulted in the second-shift
and the glass ceiling.

The new political economy has also
affected work and femininity/masculinity. In the 1970s, a loss of well-paying
manufacturing jobs, which were mostly male-dominated jobs, increased the need
for women’s paid work outside the home. In the 1980s, corporate mergers and
takeovers led to more job loss (downsizing), and the threat of job loss
affected pay rates. People became more willing to take low-paying jobs than to
become unemployed, so wages decreased. In the 1990s, the fastest growing jobs
were low-end jobs (e.g., cashiers, service industry). Low wages, few
benefits (health insurance, retirement), and outsourcing (relocating jobs to
other countries) have affected employment for all genders. When a person
accepts a new job, the average earnings in the new job are less than the person
received in the old job. The ideas of career advancement and economic
enhancement ideas that were taken for granted in the 1970s are rapidly
coming to an end.

Objective:
Compare and Contrast Social Stratification in the Workplace
The earnings gap, or the
discrimination in wages, is supported by ideology. Earnings have been based
historically on beliefs of a family wage. The expectation that one
family member’s earnings would provide financial support for the entire family
justified men’s higher wages. As the head of household, the man would
require more money to support his family, so a man should be paid more than a
woman. The gender bias is also based on heterosexual ideology. Women are
expected to care for the household and be dependent on a man’s wage. Thus, any
woman in the workforce shouldn’t require a large salary because she is simply supplementing
the man’s wages. The idea that a single woman must support herself is not even
a consideration.
Prior to the 1960s, most jobs were men’s
jobs construction, physical labor, and manufacturing. Women worked in
jobs that were occupied by other women housecleaning, secretarial, and
support staff. Rapid workforce change occurred with affirmative action in the
1970s. Employers moved experienced female employees from secretarial to
professional jobs, and some women became managers. During the 1980s and 1990s,
the pace of change slowed women were not promoted as quickly. An increase in
subtle and covert discrimination entered the workplace. The glass ceiling
referred to the barriers that women faced in the advancement of their careers.
Today, many people still work in occupations that are dominated by one sex or
the other. Many women have jobs in which the majority of people are women.
Although a change in the composition of jobs has occurred, sex segregation
continues to persist.
When comparing occupations,
male-dominated professions tend to have more intrinsic rewards more autonomy,
more decision-making power, and more opportunities for training and promotion.
Female-dominated jobs have fewer extrinsic rewards lower pay, lower job
security, and fewer fringe benefits (promotion, vacation, etc.). The
patriarchal ideology of men and masculinity (men protecting women and children)
influences the value of jobs. Men are expected to perform high-risk jobs
jobs of value and importance. By adhering to the ideology, women’s jobs
are overlooked and devalued.
Summarizing Your Learning

The activity in this section is
designed to help you evaluate your learning of the lesson objectives.
However, you are not required to submit the answers to your instructor.

List three jobs that you’ve had or
wanted to have. Consider the following:

What have you gained by being the gender that you are?
Have you missed any opportunities because of your
gender?
If you were the opposite gender, would the
opportunities have been greater?
If you were born the opposite sex, how would your life
be different?
How has your life been affected by the jobs that you’ve
had?

Assessing Your Learning

Submit your assignment for
grading.

Complete the five question short-answer
assignment.
.riolearn.org/_layouts/qmlink/perception.aspx?SESSION=1386712331693711″>Lesson 8 Short Answer (25 points)
.riolearn.org/content/SOC/SOC212/SOC212_INTER_0000_v5/lessons/lesson08.shtml?encrypted-sectionid=cE5mM0xhTUFBdzZKMTY4MjA5YjlTQT09#focusing”>Have You Met The Objectives For This Lesson?

My Opinion After 40 Years in the
Classroom
I
have witnessed many panaceas in my professional lifetime on How to Fix the
Educational System in America. I remember being told that by the time
the year 2000 A.D. came upon us, teachers would only be facilitators in the classroom.
Most everything would be done by computers and that we may eventually be
replaced by teaching machines. What these so-called experts failed to
take into account is the importance of the human touch in the classroom that
cannot ever be replaced by a machine. What makes or breaks the quality of
a classroom is the person who leads the class each day. Its not rocket
science people. If you want quality education in our nation, keep the
standards high for college students studying to become teachers, pay a wage
that will lure some of our best and brightest young people into the profession,
have them mentored for their first two years by an experienced teacher, and let
them discover their strengths and then, get out of their way and let them teach.
Dont stifle their creativity by requiring them to all teach the same lessons
on the same day and give the same examinations on each unit of study.
Were not dealing with robots but rather, talented and creative people who go
into this profession because they want to give something back to society.
Knock off the ever increasing emphasis on standardized testing and let the
teachers cover the required material through their own methodologies.
Ive seen too many talented young teachers leave the profession within a few
years because of the overabundance of rules and regulations placed upon them by
the state and federal government. We entered this profession
because we love to learn and we want to share our knowledge with others.
I only wish the bureaucrats, who know little or nothing about teaching, would
fund the schools properly and leave the nuts and bolts of educating to the
people that know how to do it best.

Here is one resignation letter from a veteran teacher, Gerald J. Conti, a
social studies teacher at Westhill High School in Syracuse, N.Y.:
Mr. Casey Barduhn, Superintendent
Westhill Central School District
400 Walberta Park Road
Syracuse, New York 13219
Dear Mr. Barduhn and Board of Education Members:
It is with the deepest regret that I must retire at the close of this school
year, ending my more than twenty-seven years of service at Westhill on June 30,
under the provisions of the 2012-15 contract. I assume that I will be eligible
for any local or state incentives that may be offered prior to my date of
actual retirement and I trust that I may return to the high school at some
point as a substitute teacher.
As with Lincoln and Springfield, I have grown from a young to an old man
here; my brother died while we were both employed here; my daughter was
educated here, and I have been touched by and hope that I have touched hundreds
of lives in my time here. I know that I have been fortunate to work with a small
core of some of the finest students and educators on the planet.
I came to teaching forty years ago this month and have been lucky enough to
work at a small liberal arts college, a major university and this superior
secondary school. To me, history has been so very much more than a mere job, it
has truly been my life, always driving my travel, guiding all of my reading and
even dictating my television and movie viewing. Rarely have I engaged in any of
these activities without an eye to my classroom and what I might employ in a
lesson, a lecture or a presentation. With regard to my profession, I have truly
attempted to live John Deweys famous quotation (now likely clich with me,
Ive used it so very often) that Education is not preparation for life,
education is life itself. This type of total immersion is what I have always
referred to as teaching heavy, working hard, spending time, researching,
attending to details and never feeling satisfied that I knew enough on any
topic. I now find that this approach to my profession is not only devalued, but
denigrated and perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules the day and data
driven education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a
zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a
lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic
freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in
a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education
and particularly not at Westhill.
A long train of failures has brought us to this unfortunate pass. In their
pursuit of Federal tax dollars, our legislators have failed us by selling
children out to private industries such as Pearson Education. The New York
State United Teachers union has let down its membership by failing to mount a
much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same costly and
dangerous debacle. Finally, it is with sad reluctance that I say our own
administration has been both uncommunicative and unresponsive to the concerns
and needs of our staff and students by establishing testing and evaluation
systems that are Byzantine at best and at worst, draconian. This situation has
been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in either refusing to
call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so
constraining the time limits of such meetings that little more than a conveying
of information could take place. This lack of leadership at every level has
only served to produce confusion, a loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid
decaying of morale. The repercussions of these ill-conceived policies will be
telling and shall resound to the detriment of education for years to come. The
analogy that this process is like building the airplane while we are flying
would strike terror in the heart of anyone should it be applied to an actual
airplane flight, a medical procedure, or even a home repair. Why should it be
acceptable in our careers and in the education of our children?
My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust,
dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own
quizzes and tests (now titled as generic assessments) or grade their own
students examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the
materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers
in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers
the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a
one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the
classroom. Teacher planning time has also now been so greatly eroded by a
constant need to prove up our worth to the tyranny of APPR (through the submission
of plans, materials and artifacts from our teaching) that there is little
time for us to carefully critique student work, engage in informal intellectual
discussions with our students and colleagues, or conduct research and seek
personal improvement through independent study. We have become increasingly
evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important
product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly
appropriate to this case.
After writing all of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in
truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I feel as though I have played some
game halfway through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been called, my
teammates hands have all been tied, the goal posts moved, all previously
scored points and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.
For the last decade or so, I have had two signs hanging above the blackboard
at the front of my classroom, they read, Words Matter and Ideas Matter.
While I still believe these simple statements to be true, I dont feel that
those currently driving public education have any inkling of what they mean.
Sincerely and with regret,
Gerald J. Conti
Social Studies Department Leader
Cc: Doreen Bronchetti, Lee Roscoe
My little Zu.
Print This PageIntroduction: Connecting Your Learning Questions to consider:Work has been central to definitions
of masculinity. Men’s identities have been tied to work and employment, and a
man’s perceived worth is often directly linked to his job and employment.
Although physical strength used to be related to work, few men now have
physically-demanding jobs. As technological and organizational changes occur, a
cultural shift has impacted the definition of masculinity. Males and females
have come to share similar labor force participation, and the gendering of work
has affected the definitions of femininity and masculinity.The probabilities or odds of
economic achievement are affected by gender. As an economy changes, the odds
change and also impact gender norms and expectations. With cultural values that
emphasize independence, the U.S. places expectations for economic success on
individuals. If a person is not fully employed, the individual will be held
accountable for unemployment. Economic shifts and gendered discrimination are
rarely considered significant factors in employment and work. However, economic
position is much more complex than individual responsibility. This chapter
highlights factors that impact work. Readings,
Resources, and AssignmentsRequired ReadingChapters 10 and 11Required AssignmentsShort Answer.riosalado.edu/aecontent.php?pid=511883″>Sociology Subject Guide: A one-stop shop for all of your sociology related
research needs. Check Prior KnowledgeCheck your prior knowledge of
concepts and key terms by playing one of the.riolearn.org/content/SOC/SOC212/SOC212_INTER_0000_v5/studymates/L8.htm”>Lesson 8 games. TermDefinitionExampleSecond ShiftThe unpaid work in the home,
usually done by women who are employed full-time for payAlthough dual-earning couples may
both contribute to the economics of the household, gendered attitudes about
housework, childcare, and chores remain a cultural norm.Pink-Collar JobWork that is done in exchange for
low wages; primarily performed by womenExamples of pink-collar jobs
include clerical, secretarial, retail, and homecare.CareerA profession or occupation that is
chosen as one’s life’s workA career is typically valued by
both the individual and society. Hidden CurriculumUnintended outcomes or byproducts
of education or schooling-related activitiesRecreational and social activities
teach lessons of inequality, which normalize inequality and reinforce
cultural beliefs and norms.JobWork or responsibility that is
completed during employmentAlthough a job may be done for money,
work is considered transient, temporary, and expendable.Comparable WorthThe belief that employers should
set wages to reflect the worth of jobs, as determined by job
evaluation studies, not by market demand (supply and demand) Advocates of comparable worth
highlight that jobs necessary for a functional society are often paid less,
usually because women have dominated a profession (e.g., fire and police
dispatchers) and believe that pay should be dependent upon job worth.Gender TypingWhen the majority of an occupation
is dominated by a gender, the expectation for the job becomes based on
gendered expectationsGender-typing affects the way that
a job is perceived, such as the nursing profession. Nurses are expected to be
caring and nurturing because women, who have typically dominated the
profession, are considered caring and nurturing.Glass CeilingA barrier to career advancement in
which restrictions or discrimination are unacknowledgedIn many professions, a woman
cannot break through the glass ceiling because of gendered expectations and
the time commitments of motherhood.Focusing Your LearningLesson
ObjectivesBy the end of this lesson, you
should be able to:Instruction Objective:
Describe Ideology and the EconomyPolitical leaders and other sources
of information often espouse ideology that gives more credence to cultural beliefs
than research actually supports. Popular U.S. beliefs about work affect
interpretations of employment and unemployment. Four popular beliefs that
influence perceptions of work include: Based upon these four perceptions,
work is considered a relatively simplistic endeavor. A person is responsible
for his/her employment and will be rewarded monetarily if he/she works hard,
has a good education, and diligently refines his/her skills. By these
standards, anyone can attain The American Dream.In reality, though, employment and
work are much more nuanced, and many other factors besides determination affect
a person’s employment. The persistence of inequality based on race, class, and
gender contradicts the dominant ideology. People don’t necessarily receive
higher wages the longer that they maintain a job. Education does not guarantee
a good paying job. Rising housing costs, increased age discrimination,
homelessness, and a cost-of-living that increases faster than wages are all
indications that the U.S. ideology is not reality. Yet, the persistence of
cultural beliefs continues to influence perceptions of employment.Objective:
Describe Historical Gender Expectations in the WorkplaceEconomic opportunities and gender
are linked throughout history. The number of people who are employed or
actively seeking work (labor-force participants) has increased steadily since
the end of World War II. Immigrants and women who entered the paid workforce
altered the economy of the U.S. The business principle of supply and demand
affected pay and jobs. With more workers in the workforce, employers could
reduce wages. The cost of living, however, increased which also contributed
to who worked and who didn’t. People, especially families, struggled to survive
on a single-earner income, and individuals (usually mothers/wives/women) were
expected to find paid work to help support the family. However, household
requirements (e.g., childcare, cooking, and cleaning) remained. Gender
expectations remain strong in the culture, which has resulted in the second-shift
and the glass ceiling.The new political economy has also
affected work and femininity/masculinity. In the 1970s, a loss of well-paying
manufacturing jobs, which were mostly male-dominated jobs, increased the need
for women’s paid work outside the home. In the 1980s, corporate mergers and
takeovers led to more job loss (downsizing), and the threat of job loss
affected pay rates. People became more willing to take low-paying jobs than to
become unemployed, so wages decreased. In the 1990s, the fastest growing jobs
were low-end jobs (e.g., cashiers, service industry). Low wages, few
benefits (health insurance, retirement), and outsourcing (relocating jobs to
other countries) have affected employment for all genders. When a person
accepts a new job, the average earnings in the new job are less than the person
received in the old job. The ideas of career advancement and economic
enhancement ideas that were taken for granted in the 1970s are rapidly
coming to an end.Objective:
Compare and Contrast Social Stratification in the WorkplaceThe earnings gap, or the
discrimination in wages, is supported by ideology. Earnings have been based
historically on beliefs of a family wage. The expectation that one
family member’s earnings would provide financial support for the entire family
justified men’s higher wages. As the head of household, the man would
require more money to support his family, so a man should be paid more than a
woman. The gender bias is also based on heterosexual ideology. Women are
expected to care for the household and be dependent on a man’s wage. Thus, any
woman in the workforce shouldn’t require a large salary because she is simply supplementing
the man’s wages. The idea that a single woman must support herself is not even
a consideration.Prior to the 1960s, most jobs were men’s
jobs construction, physical labor, and manufacturing. Women worked in
jobs that were occupied by other women housecleaning, secretarial, and
support staff. Rapid workforce change occurred with affirmative action in the
1970s. Employers moved experienced female employees from secretarial to
professional jobs, and some women became managers. During the 1980s and 1990s,
the pace of change slowed women were not promoted as quickly. An increase in
subtle and covert discrimination entered the workplace. The glass ceiling
referred to the barriers that women faced in the advancement of their careers.
Today, many people still work in occupations that are dominated by one sex or
the other. Many women have jobs in which the majority of people are women.
Although a change in the composition of jobs has occurred, sex segregation
continues to persist.When comparing occupations,
male-dominated professions tend to have more intrinsic rewards more autonomy,
more decision-making power, and more opportunities for training and promotion.
Female-dominated jobs have fewer extrinsic rewards lower pay, lower job
security, and fewer fringe benefits (promotion, vacation, etc.). The
patriarchal ideology of men and masculinity (men protecting women and children)
influences the value of jobs. Men are expected to perform high-risk jobs
jobs of value and importance. By adhering to the ideology, women’s jobs
are overlooked and devalued.Summarizing Your Learning The activity in this section is
designed to help you evaluate your learning of the lesson objectives.
However, you are not required to submit the answers to your instructor. List three jobs that you’ve had or
wanted to have. Consider the following:Assessing Your LearningSubmit your assignment for
grading.Complete the five question short-answer
assignment..riolearn.org/_layouts/qmlink/perception.aspx?SESSION=1386712331693711″>Lesson 8 Short Answer (25 points).riolearn.org/content/SOC/SOC212/SOC212_INTER_0000_v5/lessons/lesson08.shtml?encrypted-sectionid=cE5mM0xhTUFBdzZKMTY4MjA5YjlTQT09#focusing”>Have You Met The Objectives For This Lesson?My Opinion After 40 Years in the
ClassroomI
have witnessed many panaceas in my professional lifetime on How to Fix the
Educational System in America. I remember being told that by the time
the year 2000 A.D. came upon us, teachers would only be facilitators in the classroom.
Most everything would be done by computers and that we may eventually be
replaced by teaching machines. What these so-called experts failed to
take into account is the importance of the human touch in the classroom that
cannot ever be replaced by a machine. What makes or breaks the quality of
a classroom is the person who leads the class each day. Its not rocket
science people. If you want quality education in our nation, keep the
standards high for college students studying to become teachers, pay a wage
that will lure some of our best and brightest young people into the profession,
have them mentored for their first two years by an experienced teacher, and let
them discover their strengths and then, get out of their way and let them teach.
Dont stifle their creativity by requiring them to all teach the same lessons
on the same day and give the same examinations on each unit of study.
Were not dealing with robots but rather, talented and creative people who go
into this profession because they want to give something back to society.
Knock off the ever increasing emphasis on standardized testing and let the
teachers cover the required material through their own methodologies.
Ive seen too many talented young teachers leave the profession within a few
years because of the overabundance of rules and regulations placed upon them by
the state and federal government. We entered this profession
because we love to learn and we want to share our knowledge with others.
I only wish the bureaucrats, who know little or nothing about teaching, would
fund the schools properly and leave the nuts and bolts of educating to the
people that know how to do it best.Here is one resignation letter from a veteran teacher, Gerald J. Conti, a
social studies teacher at Westhill High School in Syracuse, N.Y.:Mr. Casey Barduhn, Superintendent
Westhill Central School District
400 Walberta Park Road
Syracuse, New York 13219Dear Mr. Barduhn and Board of Education Members:It is with the deepest regret that I must retire at the close of this school
year, ending my more than twenty-seven years of service at Westhill on June 30,
under the provisions of the 2012-15 contract. I assume that I will be eligible
for any local or state incentives that may be offered prior to my date of
actual retirement and I trust that I may return to the high school at some
point as a substitute teacher.As with Lincoln and Springfield, I have grown from a young to an old man
here; my brother died while we were both employed here; my daughter was
educated here, and I have been touched by and hope that I have touched hundreds
of lives in my time here. I know that I have been fortunate to work with a small
core of some of the finest students and educators on the planet.I came to teaching forty years ago this month and have been lucky enough to
work at a small liberal arts college, a major university and this superior
secondary school. To me, history has been so very much more than a mere job, it
has truly been my life, always driving my travel, guiding all of my reading and
even dictating my television and movie viewing. Rarely have I engaged in any of
these activities without an eye to my classroom and what I might employ in a
lesson, a lecture or a presentation. With regard to my profession, I have truly
attempted to live John Deweys famous quotation (now likely clich with me,
Ive used it so very often) that Education is not preparation for life,
education is life itself. This type of total immersion is what I have always
referred to as teaching heavy, working hard, spending time, researching,
attending to details and never feeling satisfied that I knew enough on any
topic. I now find that this approach to my profession is not only devalued, but
denigrated and perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules the day and data
driven education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a
zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a
lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic
freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in
a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education
and particularly not at Westhill.A long train of failures has brought us to this unfortunate pass. In their
pursuit of Federal tax dollars, our legislators have failed us by selling
children out to private industries such as Pearson Education. The New York
State United Teachers union has let down its membership by failing to mount a
much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same costly and
dangerous debacle. Finally, it is with sad reluctance that I say our own
administration has been both uncommunicative and unresponsive to the concerns
and needs of our staff and students by establishing testing and evaluation
systems that are Byzantine at best and at worst, draconian. This situation has
been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in either refusing to
call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so
constraining the time limits of such meetings that little more than a conveying
of information could take place. This lack of leadership at every level has
only served to produce confusion, a loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid
decaying of morale. The repercussions of these ill-conceived policies will be
telling and shall resound to the detriment of education for years to come. The
analogy that this process is like building the airplane while we are flying
would strike terror in the heart of anyone should it be applied to an actual
airplane flight, a medical procedure, or even a home repair. Why should it be
acceptable in our careers and in the education of our children?My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust,
dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own
quizzes and tests (now titled as generic assessments) or grade their own
students examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the
materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers
in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers
the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a
one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the
classroom. Teacher planning time has also now been so greatly eroded by a
constant need to prove up our worth to the tyranny of APPR (through the submission
of plans, materials and artifacts from our teaching) that there is little
time for us to carefully critique student work, engage in informal intellectual
discussions with our students and colleagues, or conduct research and seek
personal improvement through independent study. We have become increasingly
evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important
product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly
appropriate to this case.After writing all of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in
truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I feel as though I have played some
game halfway through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been called, my
teammates hands have all been tied, the goal posts moved, all previously
scored points and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.For the last decade or so, I have had two signs hanging above the blackboard
at the front of my classroom, they read, Words Matter and Ideas Matter.
While I still believe these simple statements to be true, I dont feel that
those currently driving public education have any inkling of what they mean.Sincerely and with regret,Gerald J. Conti
Social Studies Department Leader
Cc: Doreen Bronchetti, Lee Roscoe
My little Zu.