The Clash asked the question
To a catchy tune:
Should I stay or should I go?
That’s been the question for years now,
As the walls close in to crush
The teaching profession.
First they came for the curriculum
And tried to prevent us from
Actually thinking about what we taught
To make us into teacher-bots with no humanity.
Then they came for the students,
Turning them into data-points,
Into learner-bots with no humanity.
Then they came for the books and authors
And cast a shadow over every book.
Everybook is suspect now –
Acceptable books are now the exception.
When teachers are supposed to ask permission
To teach even the tiniest poem
And writing is only about the topics
They approve of,
They do not value literacy anymore.
They value control.
Control over what students are allowed to call themselves.
Control over what can be discussed
And what views are acceptable.
Compliance is not learning.
But compliance is all they are asking for.
Thinking is discouraged.
Questioning is practically forbidden.
We are all slaves to the Test.
This is not how education should work.
Education should not be an ever-narrowing
Corridor leading to a single pre-made door.
If it has to be a corridor,
It should be a corridor that widens,
And opens onto infinite doors.
So…
Should I stay or should I go?
There has seldom been a worse time to be a teacher
Who actually teaches students to think,
To question,
To create.
But there has also never been
A more important time to be a teacher
Who actually teaches students to think,
To question,
To create.
Should I stay or should I go?
Good question.