I just saw a Snow Angel Challenge video, which the kids call reels these days. It was a guy in swim trunks who had been challenged to dress that way, go out in the cold and snow, and sprawl out in the snow to make a snow angel. 

Somewhat similar to an Ice Bucket Challenge and anything else uncomfortable you can think of, this guy then challenged a fellow colleague to do the same.

The main problem, for some, was that the guy doing the challenge was an assistant principal of a high school. Now, he wasn’t any overly fit movie star type and he wasn’t dressed in inappropriate swimwear, but just a normal guy who didn’t mind having himself videoed for all the world to see. Many, many people expressed negative comments: not because the guy was bare chested or because he was doing much of anything wrong.  

The people had a problem because the guy was an assistant principal. And I’m sorry folks, even though we are a long way from the days when teachers weren’t supposed to get married or have babies, people still expect those folks who work with kids to have a degree of professionalism.  

I think I’m right. At least, I hope so.

I must admit I get where they were coming from.  Now, this guy has as much right as the next guy when wearing what he wants and doing what he wants, and anyone seeing the video would admit there was really nothing too wrong about the whole thing. It was apparent he was doing something to help others, raise awareness of something, and so on.  And, I’m sure in his mind and in the minds of a few other school officials, he was making himself look approachable and human and this would have a positive effect on students.

Maybe they were right.  

But let me tell you the opinion of an educator who was around long enough to see trends come and go and the pendulum swing every which way: the world of education has become a clown show, full of fun and games and an enormous amount of silliness.

Sounds like it was time for that Tullis guy to retire.  What an old stick in the mud.

Let’s start with teachers. Teachers should be well-trained, with capable people watching over them while they are being trained. In addition, they should be watched over and evaluated by capable people when they are given a classroom.  

The success of a teacher should not be gauged by how well-liked they are, nor how pretty their classroom is or how much they make children laugh.  I will tell you, I was all three of those things in my early days as a teacher. Well-liked because I was a novelty: a young male teaching elementary school.  My classroom was colorful and neat looking, and I definitely made kids laugh because my mentality often matches theirs.  But I wasn’t that great of a teacher. I thought I was, and I thought I knew it all, but I still had a lot to learn. It would take a few years before I knew what I was doing, and even then, I made numerous mistakes and was learning right up until the last time I turned out the lights and shut the door.

Heck, I’m still learning.

I should have been mentored better. I was blessed to be surrounded by a lot of pros: none of them particularly flashy or showy, but good, solid teachers who cared about kids and made good judgment calls. Teachers who told me what little kids could and couldn’t do; why things didn’t make sense to them and why certain concepts had to be explained and explained and gone over year after year.  

It’s still my contention that a teacher should start out with gaining respect and modeling a caring attitude as their primary goals. Once kids know you care about what happens to them, they are going to want to come to school anyway, and the fun and games do not have to be paramount.  

From my early days as a teacher, I saw administrators who catered to parents. Many of them wanted to keep parents off their backs. Now, the parents who had good heads on their shoulders were the ones who said things like “Look kid, if you get in trouble at school we are going to have problems.” 

But no, those weren’t the parents who were the squawkers. The ones who talked the most were largely ignorant, entitled, and had only their individual child in mind.  The kinds of parents who would protest, even when a kid found test answers and distributed the answers to kids at school for money. 

Administrators, for the most part, are coming out of training thinking they need only worry about making school fun and being a friend to the kids. I heard a group of kids absolutely slandering the name of an administrator once, all the while waving and smiling at that same administrator.  I’d already watched how kids got off scott free and teachers were questioned  about what happened during an incident more than the kids, so I just kept my mouth shut. It really is time to retire when administrators are worried more about a teacher hurting a kid’s feelings or raising their voice, rather than what the kid’s role in the whole mess is.  

Parents often question a lot of things our schools are doing, and they should. For the most part, good parents want just a few things: to know that their kids are cared for, to know their kids are getting a solid education and to know their kids are relatively happy.  

The ignorant parents want a variety of things:  to know their entitled kids will get special treatment, to know that they like their teachers, and to know they are treated in a manner they deserve, regardless if they follow the rules or do what they are supposed to. 

Those same parents think the rules don’t apply.  These same parents usually run the school and often run for school board. 

In defense of administrators, I will say it is not an easy job. You put out a lot of fires, you talk on the phone a lot, and you can sometimes have a lot on your plate. 

But look, if you’re an administrator, the buck stops with you. You can’t be lazy. You have to work harder than everyone else in the school, and you have to respect your staff, your students, and the parents.  A big part of that respect is sticking to your guns and not making concessions.  Give the staff, students and parents boundaries, guidelines, and structure: they all want that, as painful as it may be and as much as they will kick and scream. 

When school administrators aren’t equipped, I blame the upper echelon.  Yes, we have inept administration at district and county levels, too.  We have some who just go through the motions to get the paycheck and the retirement.  It’s been my experience that the really good administrators who do what they are supposed to and often take a stand for their beliefs, often wind up moving on to better places. 

I always said that if someone had too much “smarts” or class, they wouldn’t be around certain school districts very long:  and I was usually right.  

The main problem, as I alluded to before, is laziness. Parents are lazy and want schools to handle the hard stuff. Teachers are lazy and want to do half a job. Administrators are lazy and want to delegate or sweep things under the rug. 

 I could keep going.  

Pay attention to your schools. Talk to smart, educated people who you trust to be objective. Don’t base your opinions on people who squawk a lot but don’t know what they are talking about. Talk to your kids: you’d be surprised what you can learn. 

 When it comes time to vote for the school board, go to the forums and ask questions only solid people will be able to answer.

Keep current. Watch out for the lazy mentality. It seems to be on all levels.