The beauty and power of public education and math education

"I believe in the beauty and power of PUBLIC education and MATH education. Get the right math to the right student at the right time" - Noah Sharrow (on Twitter)

A fellow math teacher tweeted this and it got me thinking.

I've always thought of learning as both beautiful and powerful.  I was one of those curious kids who always wondered about everything and wanted to learn about everything.  I still am.  And growing up going to a public school in my neighborhood and being in college track classes, my experience validated my belief in the beauty and power of education.  I sat in classes with 98% white students from middle class homes in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN.  Every student planned to go to college and just about every student took their learning seriously.  There was very little yelling and no fights that I ever saw.  Most students did their homework.  There were study parties for every test.  That was the culture.

Starting to teach in Mississippi, I knew I would find some type of power in Mississippi public education (Public education inherently has power because it's an enforced law for children to be at a school in the US).  What I had some doubts about was finding beauty.

Mississippi is ranked 50th out of 50 states in public education.  High poverty rates and lack of access to quality health care  are also currently part of Mississippi's reality.  To me, that's definitely not a beautiful reality. 

Yet now, after my first quarter of teaching, I can say with certainty there's a lot of beauty in Mississippi education and, therefore, a lot of power too. 

First of all, the community involvement at our school is amazing.  Parents and guardians are at the school all the time making sure their students are working hard and doing their homework.  I've had phone conversations with guardians of over half my students and at least 90% of the guardians I talked to specifically told me to call if there's any concerns about their child and they'll make sure to their child improves.  I've talked in person with at least 50 guardians and the vast majority expressed support in getting their child prepared for college and beyond.

So first and foremost, our community has a lot of beauty.

Our students, of course, bring a lot of energy that enhances our learning environment.

I hear staff members sharing laughter and supporting each other every day.

The farm land that we're surrounded by brings a lot of natural beauty to our eyes.

So yes, there's beauty in Mississippi education and we're working to prove that to the rest of the country with an improved education ranking. 

I wouldn't be surprised if next year we're up a few spots...I expect next year that we're up a few spots.