As one or two of you may know, I work as a schoolteacher. It is my fourth year in the field, and the third school I have worked at. I know, that ratio doesn't seem great. But frankly, neither are the schools. The first school I worked at was a public school in Ohio. The children were amazing, as were many of the teachers, but the curriculum was propagandistic, and I found myself in the middle of a state-sponsored oppression of Black children (Ohio's recently-implemented school voucher system being just one of numerous examples). After that year, I switched to working at a Catholic Montessori school. It was just as bad, although in a different way. Where the public school had no resources, the Montessori school stole and squandered them.
After two years there, I switched again to a play-based Reggio school. I like it much more here, but I've noticed similar issues, especially regarding turnover rates, and the number of "enrichment activities," which often are nothing more than something to nearly immediately transition to and from (a difficult task for small children). However, at the midway point of my fourth year at my third school, I had a minor realization. My "ideal school" will never exist unless I create it, and even if I did, it would then fall on me to be an administrator, something I have no interest in doing. For now, I'm staying where I am, and enjoying the little moments.
245 words for Brevity Quest 2025