edensgarden's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The interview, nay, the sermon. Now, I will tell you the tale of my job interview yesterday. The position was at a Charter School* in the far south part of the valley. I drove what seemed like forever, and finally I saw the sign up in the distance. When I pulled into the parking lot all I saw was an old farm house that had been converted into an office, a few poorly constructed portable classrooms and several school busses up on cinder blocks in various states of repair. Not impressed was I. *In Arizona we have Charter Schools, which are considered �alternative� because they are not part of the regular municipal school district system established years ago. Charter schools can be publicly funded or privately funded. This school was a publicly funded school. Although, this school is a publicly funded school, it is not held to any sort of standards�I will rant about this in a minute, this was just a background type of paragraph! I walked into the office and ended up waiting over a half an hour for my 1:30 appointment. This made me mad, because I already felt like I was there against my better judgment. I�d decided to not take a job at this school, if offered, before I got there for various reasons. Mom suggested that I go to practice interviewing. It couldn�t hurt I suppose, but I did miss many opportunities to work yesterday, at some of my favorite schools � this made me mad. I�m also to the point, where I�m used to going into the unknown of substitute teaching. I don�t feel like I�ve been a productive member of society if I haven�t taught school on a daily basis. Finally I heard a door down a hall crack open and the director of the school come out with another applicant. Finally, I didn�t have to sit and look at the minutes tick away on the wall clock or listen to anymore of the idle office chit-chat the secretaries were engaged in. Once in the office I sat in an American flag patterned camping chair. Herr Director, as I will call him, started to tell me about the particular mission of his school and why he founded it etc. He knew from the person that referred me to the school my religious affiliation; he is of the same affiliation. Normally this should not even be discussed, but he felt it necessary to bring it into the conversation. �I don�t normally talk about religion in interviews, but Eden, I have to be honest with you, I really prefer interviewing and hiring people of our faith. It just helps me feel better that we are on the same ground, and that I know that God will be directing you as you teach.� What? Was I really hearing this? Don�t get me wrong, my religion is very important part of who I am, but I would never, NEVER, NEVER consider even mentioning it in a professional situation, unless asked, and then I will only talk about it after school, or in a setting away from school! Keep in mind too, this is a PUBLICLY FUNDED school, he is not allowed to ask about, or mention this to me in an interview. He continued. �Our school is based on the �Thomas Jefferson� method of teaching. He went on to explain that the �Thomas Jefferson� (read: going reading books on your own, figuring them out, and then reading more books) method of teaching was different than your typical �conveyer belt� (read: �the teacher telling you what to think and what to read�) method of teaching used in most public schools. We rely on �Classic Documents and Works� to educate our students, just like Thomas Jefferson.� (He then went into some long tirade about how Abraham Lincoln was a failure as a lawyer until he read a book by Euclid � the founder of Euclidian geometry.) I don�t think I would have given that stark of a contrast to explain the differences in teaching philosophies. I use the Socratic Method in my teaching. I find it quite successful. I would not classify it as �conveyer belt� type of education. This continued on for what seemed like an eternity. I wondered if he was going to ask me any questions or if he was going to yammer on the rest of the afternoon. I was all prepared to talk about my teaching philosophy, my classroom management plan, my opinion on state standards and the AIMS test (AZ�s high school graduation exam). It never happened. Finally, he asked me if I had any questions. Yes I did! What �Classic Books� were teachers supposed to use specifically? Was there a textbook that they used? Were all of the teachers certified? Was the school accredited? His answers baffled me. It is up to the individual teacher as to what �Classic books� to use. No there is no textbook, the teachers can use any books they choose. No all of the teachers are not certified. I think this is the answer that irritated me the most. Herr Director pontificated that just because some one is certified, does not mean they are a good teacher. Certification only tells him that the person went through to motions. I will agree with him on this. HOWEVER, if a person has gone through the motions, it provides some sort of �lowest common� denominator factor, and you know, I went thought the motions, and paid a hefty chunk of cash to do this, I want the people that are my coworkers, who are being paid the same amount of money to do the same job, to have gone through the motions too. Finally, no, they were not accredited, but they are working on it. I don�t know how they expect to get accreditation, with out a fully certified staff, with out any sort of defined curriculum, or assessment procedures. I�ve said it already; this is a publicly funded school. Why is it not being held already to the same standard that every other publicly funded school in the state is held to? My tax dollars fund this place, where is my product? We were now an hour and fifteen minutes into the interview, or as I began to think, sermon. I wanted to leave, I wanted to scream, I was showing the greatest amount of restraint I could possible muster. After a few more minutes, he finally wrapped it all up. He told me to go home and think about it, and let them know if I wanted a job there. I didn�t have to wait I knew my answer. I knew it when I drove up and saw the bus on the blocks in the driveway. I sent him the following letter today via email: Dear Herr Director: I really wanted to add that I thought his school was a two-bit excuse for a glorified home school and that if he felt that having no direction or continuum as to what was being taught at his school, he was fooling himself that he was a quality educator. Oh and the fact that I would have had to wear a uniform too, did not bide well with me and my closet of very nice and very professional clothes. Nightmare, nightmare! Why this system and these types of schools are allowed to exist will always be beyond me. I don�t know if I should write my state representative, or the editor of the newspaper to vent my frustration. I think that all the money that is poured into this system would be better spent on improving the current school system, and maybe paying people like me more. 6:09 p.m. - May 14, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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