The Parable of the 3 Legged Stool

Imagine a simple, 3 legged stool.  The stool has a flat, round surface at the top, and from the bottom extend three legs, spaced in even thirds around the outer edge of the round surface.  The stool works well when all 3 legs are on the floor.  The stool is stable, and you can use it for all sorts of activities.  You can stand on it to get the fondue pot down off of the top shelf in your storage room, you can sit on it at the kitchen bar while you have breakfast with your family, or you can use it as an extra stand to place food on during Sunday dinner when the rest of the table is overflowing with deliciousness.  It's useful, it's versatile, and it doesn't take a lot of upkeep to maintain its standing status.

Now imagine that someone has been leaning back on the stool while they sit on it, applying a concentrated amount of pressure to a single one of the legs on the stool causing it to snap off.  A stool with two legs has lost the majority of its value as a functional tool. About the only uses that I can think of for a two legged stool is to use it to prop up something else that is applying sufficient downward pressure on it so as to prevent it from falling over under its own weight, or to use it to lean against, but without being actually able to sit down on it.

Since the stool is already broken, the functionality of the stool has already been compromised, and the integrity of having the legs function in their proper manner is no longer in tact.  It is only a matter of time until a second legs breaks off.  And when it does, the once-three-legged-stool-turned-one-leg is now essentially useless as a functional platform.

While the stool can diminish in usefulness by the absence of legs, its usefulness can also be compromised by varying lengths in the legs.  If the legs are all of the same length, the stool will stand nicely on its own, and provide a great surface for the multitude of uses in which it may be applied.  However, if the legs are not the same length, depending on the degree of difference, the stool may lose its functionality all together, regardless of the fact that all three legs actually exist.

In addition to being connected to the flat, round platform at the top of the stool, the legs also need to be connected to one another further down via support struts. If the legs on a tall, 3 legged stool aren't connected to each other further down the legs, then the intense moment arm created near the base of the round platform by applied downward pressure will eventually cause the legs to split outward, and break the stool.

In this parable, the stool represent the functional platform of delivering a child's education.  The flat round surface is what the child actually receives - it's the educational device they "sit on" to perform.  If it is a stable platform with all three legs securely in tact, the stool can be used for nearly anything.  It is in this situation that the child has the greatest chance for success.

Each of the legs of the stool represents a different educational pillar that supports the educational platform.  The first leg represents the parents, the second leg represents the administration of the educational institution the child attends, and the third represents the teacher.

While each of the legs are necessary to create a stable educational platform, they don't each bare an equal portion of the weight, and the portion that each leg will bare changes immensely in every situation.  However, given the ideal situation where each leg is supporting 100% of their own weight, I believe that 30% of the responsibility is born by the parents, 25% comes from the administration, and 45% comes from the teacher.

As I mentioned, these numbers will change greatly under various circumstances, but the point that I want to make here is that placing the sole responsibility of a child's education any single one of these "legs" will result in complete failure.  In fact, in any combination, it will take a minimum of two of the "legs" to provide an educational platform that could even provide a possibility for success.

Teach for America would have us believe that 100% of the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the teacher.  In my experience as a teacher thus far, I would beg to differ.

Even if you were the most incredible teacher of all time, completely capable of differentiating to the exact need of every single student, capable of meeting each various demand of your time - if the student only shows up to class 2 days out of the week because their parents are too scared to wake their child up early for school, or unable to drive them to school if they miss the buss, or incapable of providing any level of support for their child for whatever reason from home - even IF you were the most amazing teacher, there's nothing you can do about that!  You NEED at least some minimal level of support from the parents at home.

Now, you're probably thinking that not all children need the parents to motivate them for every little task like that.  Well, from what I have seen, that is true.  But it only happens with students whose parents at some level have instilled in them an innate desire to succeed and do well on their own.  Which once again, falls back onto the parents.  If the child has not received this type of encouragement/training at home, it's like Newton's first law says - a body in motion (or at rest, in this instance) will remain in that state unless acted upon by an external, unbalanced force.

Let's suppose for a moment now, that the student is showing up to school every day.  Surely then, the teacher can have a much greater effect in the classroom now, and the administration doesn't really have anything to do with it - and surely not 25%?  The direct effect of the administration is somewhat difficult to classify, but allow me to throw out a few situations.

A number of students are continually acting out in class.  They are not receiving any type of discipline from their parents at home, regardless of how many attempts have been made by the excellent teacher to contact them.  The teacher is sending home letters, making phone calls, attempting house visits and parent teacher conferences on weekends, but to no avail.  The child knows they won't be having any level of discipline from their parents, and they can essentially run hog wild.  Regardless of how good the teachers' classroom management is, an effective administration can help control these types of situations by providing alternatives so annoyingly uncomfortable for the student outside of the classroom that the student is left with two decisions - face the consequence of getting sent out of class (which they should learn to HATE) or modify their behavior to act in an acceptable manner in the classroom.

But a great administration is so much more than this - they ensure that teachers have the resources necessary for them to function in the classroom, that they have opportunity to communicate, coordinate, present a unified front, and consistent systems throughout the school to provide the rigor of instruction and consistency that is necessary for the students to succeed.  The administration ensures that each teacher is performing at a level consistent with their expectations, and that if they're not, they provide them with the additional direct support, instruction, and resources to increase their abilities to be in line with such.  The administration ensures that the school environment is one of safety, of optimism and the possibility of achievement.  The overall tone for the school is set by the administration, and in no way does this fall within the realm of control of the teacher.

Finally, just having a strong "stool" with all the parts in perfect shape doesn't guarantee success - it still needs to be sat on.  And ultimately that choice comes down to the students themselves.  However, as a child, the number of viable "sitting places" is truly limited, and so they'll have to make due with what they have at their disposal for the time being, and if the stool is strong, sturdy, and available, there really isn't anything that would deter them from wanting to sit on it.  In fact, when faced with the choice of standing or sitting, 99% of the time they'll take that seat, regardless of how dysfunctional the stool may be.

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Great Teachers - Singlehandedly closing
the achievement gap

Teacher for America panders to this egotistical, goal oriented, delusional, type A mindset by creating this image of a teacher, who, with the right amount of drive and motivation, can singlehandedly close the achievement gap.  And I'll be honest, to generate the publicity that they have received in the last few years, this is exactly the type of people they need to attract for their organization to succeed.  By advertising to this crowd, they have attracted the dreams of the ivy league and elite society hopefuls - a sense of scarcity has been instilled by the difficulty of getting in to the organization, which in turn creates a sense of prestige and privilege by those who actually do.  Joining the ranks of Teach for America feeds the desire to be unique, to stand out from the crowd and to differentiate oneself, and as long as they can continue to feed that image, I believe that having 10% of the graduating classes of the Ivy leagues applying for TFA is near the low end of what we'll see in coming years.

Don't get me wrong - I whole heartedly support the mission of Teach for America and am truly happy that so many non-educationally tracked people are getting in to education.  I believe in the cause that I have united myself to, but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with all of their philosophies and propaganda that they feed us.  I believe in the power of an incredible teacher - it's why I joined TFA in the first place.  I do everything in my power to help my kids succeed, and struggle to cope with the idea that that there are forces at play in my student's education that I have no control over.   But, I will not delude myself into thinking that I am the sole factor in my students education, and I'm telling you now, anyone who joins TFA without eventually coming to this realization has a lot of stress in store - I sure did.