Chapter Forty-Two - On the Brink: of Smarter Kids

Mary and Mike both teach civics/social students; Mary in a New York high school and Mike in a Virginia middle school. In this chapter they talk about what their kids don't know that they should, about the foolishness of banning books, about violence and guns in schools, about the threat of vouchers to public education, teaching to the test, and other controversial school issues. Our speaker bios this week are purposefully incomplete. Because teachers who speak out publicly are often disciplined by administrators we agreed not to identify the full names or the school districts and schools where the two teachers speaking in this chapter work. Mary has taught for more than 25 years at a small rural district in upstate New York. She has a BA in philosophy from Barnard College and a MA in European intellectual history from the University of Chicago. She has lived in England, Scotland and Switzerland and as a teen she attended five high schools, including a stint at a storefront alternative high school. These experiences have affected her views on education as did raising three sons, one of whom was autistic. Two of her sons work in the tech field. Mike has taught middle school civics and American history for more than eleven years in Virginia. He holds a BA in history and international studies from the University of South Florida and a MA in political science from the University of Missouri. From 2007 to 2009, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand teaching English and conducting HIV/AIDS awareness programs. In addition to teaching he coaches his school’s wrestling team and summers leads international student tours to significant historical sites, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Normandy, and the Acropolis. Mike is the father of two daughters who he says continually inspire and scare him with their perspectives on growing up in the digital age—a world vastly different from the one he knew at their age.