As a traveling music teacher, I go to a lot of schools and see the inner workings of dozens of classrooms. Tuesday was my turn at the poorest school I've ever worked in. Courtesy of the following exchange, it is now the most pathetic school.
I want to read a book about orchestral instruments to the students, and ask the classroom teacher, "Is there a particular place where the students gather when you read to them?"
Classroom Teacher: "Oh, I don't read to them."
Me (out loud): "We'll just stay at the desks."
Me (in my head): "You call yourself a teacher, yet you do NOT read aloud to your students?! What kind of idiot are you?"
Then I looked around. This particular classroom has always struck me as odd for some reason I could never identify. Strangely Spartan and bare. Then it hit me.
Books. There are no books in this classroom. No textbooks, no novels, no readers, no picture books, nothing.
Walking to the parking lot, I realized these kids are doomed. When I got home, I found The Core Knowledge Blog's latest entry, which confirmed my conclusion. It makes me sad, for even though they are materially and intellectually impoverished, some of these second graders are still curious. But I can see the innocent thirst for knowledge dying before my eyes being replaced by bitter indifference.
