It's the Teachers, Not the Building

When I was in school many years ago, we attended in an old, two-story brick building that was drafty in the winter and hot in the warmer months. As an upgrade, they soon installed window A/C units and finally fixed the furnace that kept us warm in the winter. 

There was no real thought at the time of building a new building because the one we had was good enough, and it had character. Parents today send their kids to a state-of-the-art facility. Has this improved our educational statistics? 

I would argue that it hasn't. As parents, it's easy to salve our consciences by building these new facilities when we somehow manage to ignore or not deal with the realities of today's educational problems. It's a brand new building. The learning has to occur. Right? 

In my day, teachers had one job. It was to make sure that I learned enough English, math, science and history to make me competitive after graduation. It was not the teacher's job to babysit me, overly worry about my self-esteem or to soothe me when I came up short. Neither was it their job to take the place of my parents. 

Apparently, times have changed. Perhaps the next time we start thinking about replacing an aging school, we can consider instead paying for, and demanding excellence from our teachers. The majority of our teachers are credits to their profession. Pay them. Pay them well. It may mean a slightly smaller executive office at the board of education, but the results will be worth the sacrifice.