It’s been almost 30 years since I read it, but I still remember the response educational guru James Britton gave to the question, “What is the most important thing good teachers do?” Britton answered with another question: “Do you think it has anything to do with being social?”
From my 19 years as a high school teacher and now as a principal, I’d say Britton was on to something. I wish the general public understood the importance of “being social” in education -- of teachers forming productive, positive relationships with their students.
I blame the public’s ignorance on the 150-year old debate on what’s right or wrong in our public schools. What’s rarely discussed, in a nutshell, is this: Kids won’t learn and grow if they don’t have a positive bond with their teachers.
Good teachers have known this for millennia. Just ask Socrates.
Kids have remarkable radar about which adults are the real deal and which ones are phonies. Kids know which teachers miss them when they are absent. Kids know which teachers want to help them grow into better versions of their current selves.
I am fortunate to be principal of Oregon High School, where the adults are much more upset if we learn a kid is feeling lost, lonely and alienated, than if that same kid failed a test.
A veritable host of teachers across our country loves working with kids and understands that kids need to feel welcome and valued and respected. They remember how tough it can be to be kid.
Without that devotion to social relationships, not much worthwhile will ever get done.
I’m Andrew Nelson, and this is my perspective.