Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Theodore Sizer (1932-2009) and Nancy Sizer were coprincipals of the Parker Charter High School. Ted was founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and University Professor emeritus at Brown University. His books include Horace's Compromise, Horace's School, and Horace's Hope. Nancy, who spent twenty-five years as a classroom teacher, is author of Crossing the Stage. Together they are authors of The Students Are Watching.

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The Students Are Watching

Beacon Press

Chapter One

Modeling

I'VE DECIDED one thing, anyway" Dave says. "I don't wantto be an American. As soon as I get the chance, I'm leaving."Dave arrives early to social studies class, and while he seeminglythrows these words into the air, he clearly intends for theteacher to pick them up. A few of the kids hear them too.

    Clearly Dave is not kidding. His sentiment is as genuine as itis unexpected, at least by his peers. Something serious is festeringwithin him.

    "Really? Why?" Ms. Santos's voice is calm, interested.

    "Oh, I don't know, all these problems. You know ... we talkabout them all the time in this class. Americans think theyare so great. We think we have the answers to everything, thateveryone should copy us. I don't want to live in a place that'sonly thought of as rich and powerful. Especially when it's notreally a democracy. I mean, there are way too many poor people,and how come so many of them are black? Other countries arebetter. I'll just go live in one of them?"

    Dave is going through the First Disillusion, a rite of passagethat history teachers learn to expect. He's been through thewhole Aren't-We-Americans-Just-Dandy curriculum, the onefor little kids, and now he is learning about how hard it has beenfor his country to live up to its ideals. In him, however, thereaction is intense, more than passive awareness. His voice revealshow upset he is, even more than his words do.

    "Do you have a country in mind, Dave?" Ms. Santos says.While class technically is to begin, she stays with Dave. Theothers watch, intrigued by all this painful honesty from theirbuddy.

    As a matter of fact, Dave does have some countries in mind,but when he suggests two or three, the other kids mention problemsin those countries too. It is a lively but not threatening discussion.Dave holds his own, but he increasingly appears readyto listen to others' views. Ms. Santos does not take part as thevarious facts are traded back and forth. The clock keeps ticking.Class is about Dave.

    "Do you want to live in a country without problems?" Againher voice is quiet, her interest focused. The question, directedto Dave, embraces the others as well. All are intent. And in thisround of the conversation, the teacher helps the students toconsider the potential value of spending a life in a countrywhere there is absorbing and worthy work to do. They catch on,and start giving examples of people they know, people thay havestudied or read about who have been able to accomplish something?EleanorRoosevelt, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez.After a while, Dave is able to come up with an example too. Hisvoice grows less anguished. The issue?what is America like forthe adults who live there??becomes more complex.

    "Class" should have started ten minutes ago. The other studentsare milling around, impatient with all this soul-searchingand about to get into trouble. Ms. Santos shuts down the discussionof Dave's dilemma and the class moves back to Jacob Riisand the social troubles of the 1890s. She tells Dave, "Let's keeptalking about this."

    In the course of the conversation, the teacher is subtly guidingher students to see the ways in which honest and constructiveadults make important personal decisions. They don't shyaway from the pain they feel when they see things they don'tlike. They don't jump to conclusions before they have looked atfurther evidence. They keep their ultimate goals firmly in mind,especially the goal of a worthy life.

    Ms. Santos is modeling that process by honoring Dave's dilemma.Her calmness in the face of Dave's anger implies thatmoral outrage is an acceptable emotion. It indicates that others?perhapseven she herself?have faced the decision thatDave is facing, and that they have found a way to deal with it.She shows that she realizes that such conversations and worktake time: some now, some later. The way she responds impliesthat although moral outrage is understandable in the short run,it is also honorable to work to solve a problem. She is showinghow it can be done?modeling?but she is also teaching, bycarefully leading others through a process which is familiar toher.

    Dave is still resolved to check out another nationality forhimself. He is thinking hard, acting much less out of pain. Heis at the time in his life when he is more likely to bring up agonizingpersonal dilemmas with his teacher than with his parents.If he were to tell them, at fifteen, that he was checking out othernationalities for himself, their reaction would be likely to be amix of astonishment and ridicule. They would ignore his statement,or tell him he would outgrow it, or tell him stories aboutpeople who tried to emigrate and failed at it, or tell him thathe needs to stay nearer home. They would be either in denial orin hysterics. Neither parent would coolly help Dave to walkthrough his impressions, convictions, and disappointment inAmerica. They care too much about him.

    Ms. Santos is much safer. She has the distance from Dave'sdecisions that helps her to stay balanced, yet Dave will have accessto her all year in social studies class and can see her aroundthe school after that. She takes the time to listen, sympathizeswith a real dilemma, and, in this case, knows something aboutwhat other countries are like. She makes Dave feel as if he is beinga thoughtful person and not just a bratty teenager lashingout at what is frustrating him. The respect she shows him inclass?putting off the day's schedule?sends a powerful signalof acceptance. She takes him seriously, helping him to identifyand then weigh his choices. Without sermons, with only a fewartfully posed questions and the promise to return to the discussionwhenever Dave wants, she exhibits the kind and rationalbehavior which is especially important to teenagers who arebeginning to consider adult lives. She is modeling a certain wayto approach knotty problems.

As individuals, the Ms. Santoses can model. So too cana school, by its collective signals and its tangible priorities,"model" what is worthy and what is not.

    Many Americans are familiar with th e Westinghouse highschool science prize winners who smile shyly at us each yearfrom the safety of the newspaper photographs. The winnersand other finalists from, say, a science-oriented magnet schoolin New York City, are usually bunched informally by the photographer,all happily dazed by their good fortune and the attentionbeing placed upon it. At their side is their teacher, smilingtoo.

    The article about the winners usually quotes the youngpeople, and their teacher is asked about them. "Yes, these aregreat kids. They worked very hard. They deserve the best ..."The students respond in kind. "Mr. Jones helped us so much.... He was in the lab with us all the way."

    What is it that makes some students hurl themselves at anacademic challenge, overcome false starts, keep going, and bringthe task to a good conclusion?

    Much is involved. None of it is impossible in some form atvirtually every school, if its leaders insist on and protect it.

    There must be a challenge, a clear target that is perceived asworthy both by the...