Nobody becomes a martyr or a cynical teacher overnight. Schools have a hidden curriculum—for teachers. Here's how we stop it.
This is about how good teachers get broken...and how we can stop it.
This line perfectly summarizes this piece: “Martyrs become cynics not because they cared too little. They become cynics because caring harder didn’t fix anything.” The order you laid out does not blame teachers. I am not a teacher, but I thank you for educating people on this issue.
thanks - that's always been the goal. Share with readers what the teaching experience is like. There are so many people outside of education throwing stones at us; I don't think we need to go after ourselves as well.
I’m in year 42 this fall, but what saved me, I think, was changing roles so many times. From grade 3 to first year students in college, I’ve taught in five states, and I have kept learning from students. We have to tune out so much that disrespects the incredible work we all do. This means staff meetings that say nothing, do nothing… the department chair who has lost all curiosity and only wants power… the colleagues who gripe every time you see them— a polite hello and keep walking.
I was so lucky to join a teachers’ writing group of incredible people who kept trying to understand not just teaching, but our messy, complicated lives. We stayed together for more than 15 years. Teaching is a gift. Truly the best profession if you can protect yourself and find your people.
Retired veteran teacher here, and I will say that your chart on keeping teachers without becoming martyrs/cynics is totally accurate. I worked for 41 years and ended up still loving what I did. Along the way, I encountered the martyrs—worked with many! - and the cynics—sad. It's a hard thing not to buy into the martyr syndrome, especially when your closest colleagues are of that sort. But it's important to do that hard thing: set boundaries. Even harder: not to compare yourself, feel guilty, or give in. But it's what kept me going for all those years, plus, as you add, keep learning and being curious. I always told my newer (okay, younger) colleagues that when you stop learning, you need to quit. You never "arrive" as a teacher; you always have something new to learn; there are always new revelations through science and research, always new things to learn from other teachers, always new things to learn about reaching all your students. I wish this were required reading this year in particular for the "powers that "be"—the principals, district leaders, superintendents, etc.—to understand their role in supporting this. Loved it.
Thank you for adding this - teaching is a practice, and my mentors and inspirations are always learning, always adding, never satisfied. I think I’ve got that, which is equally fun and frustrating.
And I love that you mention making (and sticking to) boundaries as the difficult thing. It so is, and I don’t think enough of us realize that, since it’s the first thing to go for a lot of folks.
“I’m not Martin Luther, and these aren’t my theses against district and school leadership.” - if do you have, say, 95 of them in pamphlet form I’d be interested in reading them. I’m on board for a good educational schism.
Great idea about "hidden curriculum for teachers"! AND, I think your strategies for teachers avoiding martyrdom/cynicism don't go far enough. You're describing a way for good teachers to have positive, productive experiences, helping bunches of students--true. But for me, that almost counts as cynicism in itself. I agree with "Stop rescuing broken systems." But we can't leave it at that. We need systems that work for students, and for my students in Baltimore and probably for most of yours who are reading this, we need systems that end the caste structure of society that Phillip Jackson was talking about when he coined "hidden curriculum" for students in 1968. His concern was the hidden curriculum of obedience to authority. It prepared low-income students to be low-income workers. Nothing has changed in that regard since the beginning of universal high school in the 50s. There's a picture of going further against the martyrdom/cynicism bind that looks at teachers as having a role to play in organizing challenges to existing systems. This can't be done without involving the dynamism of the young people, who in fact face the same martyrdom/cynicism trap that you describe so well for teachers. I noticed that you barely mention the students at all in this essay, and I think for most of your audience and for you, too, the energy, joy, affection, fun, intellectual stimulation that the young people give us is a large part of the answer to not just the teachers' martyr/cynic bind, but to the wholesale re-founding of schooling that is badly needed. So how do we organize the young people's dynamism and our own healthy, positive practices (many of which you list beautifully) so that we can create much different structures of education that work for all of us without having to accept "broken systems"? I have some thoughts on that. Would love to talk with anyone more about this. And thanks for the great essay!
Thanks for reading - and yeah, I've found time and again that the kids aren't the problem, nor do they play any major role in turning good teachers into martyrs and cynics.
I find that whenever I wade into the quagmire that is the SIT committee or lead team to discuss "student-centered," my ideas are wildly out of sync with those passed down from central that local leadership is to parrot. Also, no students are present at the meetings. Had a whole idea once about students effectively "running" the school and having what would feel like a "constitutional convention" every four years to evaluate and revise the system they designed. In my mind, it would take about two cycles until we had something wholly unique to the system. Yeah - status quo cultists did not like that at all.
"Wildly out of sync" with the adults is a good sign, lol! Could you convene 5-10 young people and ask them if it would make sense to pay high school students to teach things to younger children, peers, or adults in their community? What would they want to teach? How could they organize themselves to start sharing one batch of knowledge or skills? Could they imagine making a demand in some authority to pay them? Students in Baltimore, not all A students by any means, have compelled adults to pay more than $5 million through such a strategy since 2001. What adults choose to support students making such demands? What adults turn away? Happy to support you and/or a group of young people to begin this work wherever you are. Other public school people trying similar things in Miami, Atlanta, the Bronx, LA, Newark, Detroit, Kansas City, Houston, and elsewhere! Thanks so much for responding!
Love the evolution theory here. I had never thought of it that way. Also "stop rescuing broken systems" is key. When you continue to rescue, nothing will completelyfall apart. And then, nothing changes. Sometimes, everything needs to collapse to i.prove the situation.
I printed out a meme of the character Moebius in the first season of Loki when Loki asked him what he was going to do to the TVA. At the bottom of the image is the caption "Burn it to the ground."
Almost at my 20th year and yes to all of this! I have also been the cynic, the martyr, etc. Found myself nodding through this whole piece. Thanks for sharing.
Truth. Thanks. Wise and deadly accurate observations. “Stay curious” is essential. About your subject(s), your profession, and most especially your students. You obviously exemplify this in your concerns.
I also think that our service industry model of school dynamics is counterproductive. It states that admin is management, teachers are labor, and students are customers (with test scores being profit/loss). When scores dip, management pushes labor to try harder, peddle faster. The problem is that at some point, the more active the teacher, the more passive the student. And nobody’s happy.
A maybe more effective model begins with the parents and community seen as the customers. They are the ones paying, and they want more and, especially, better work from the students. In this model, the students are labor and the teachers are management, forming and communicating goals, strategies, activities and feedback. Inspiring, encouraging, correcting, rewarding, and acknowledging/ respecting the real person. Administration’s role is what its etymology states- to minister to (to serve and provide aid) to the process. During my time, as more women entered admin, more admin were sensitive to and adept at this.Teachers as management and not merely laborers allows them to better use their curiosity to create, engage, and sometimes ride the wave (as opposed to carry and pull the entire load). This model got me through 35 years in one piece and helped make most of my days into acts of co-creation with young minds while still acing district/state testing mandates. Best wishes, and remember that caretakers must first take care of themselves.
I'm a former expat teacher in Korea, and expat life is already transient. Being an expat teacher creates a different kind of burnout that creates cynics out of once hopeful teachers (me included). For a country that values English education as much as they seem to, I feel they definitely could be doing more to make it worthwhile for expat teachers. But that's another conversation. Thank you for sharing this piece!
Thank you for reading. And that sounds like a whole different set of conditions pushing y’all down the same path. And the transient nature of expat teaching probably adds another layer to it. I’m sorry the job turned you cynical. I hope you’ve found some of that hope again somewhere else. Thanks for adding this perspective.
Please do! As I said, this wasn’t meant to be anti-admin or to point fingers at leadership. We all play a role in our school’s culture, but some of us play a larger role than others by virtue of our titles and, as a result, have more heavy lifting to do.
I’ve definitely been all those teachers at different points. I’ve been a teacher for 20 years and there are so many factors that can contribute to whichever you become. The “right” or “wrong” leaders, colleagues, classes, schedules, work load… it all plays a part. Of course, we play a part too. For me, it depends on who I surround myself with as I’ll gladly get on either train and participate in either the excitement or the bitching. I suppose we need a balance of both bc toxic positivity can be super draining too. I think the biggest factor is having good relationships and support from the people around you. That makes alllll the difference.
Exactly on your final point - I try to tell my kids and follow it myself that if you hang around with four knuckleheads, you’re the fifth knucklehead, not some free-thinking individual who’s changing everyone from within. That and trying to surround myself with folks that still have the hope and optimism that I’m trying to hold on to…
Yeah, and then there’s the special ed teacher with case management paperwork on top of teaching. I also had to do academic assessments for eligibilities…and deal with principals who didn’t want to give me time to get that done.
Yes. Special ed teachers often get handed an entire second job on top of teaching, then aren’t given the time to do either one well. That’s exactly how good teachers get pushed toward martyrdom or cynicism. I’m sorry that you have things so rough. Thank you for naming this.
The cynical teacher who retires isn't necessarily irredeemable. Yes, I'm talking about myself. I'm now empowered. I am collecting my pension and a paycheck. Nothing can stop me now. I'm there because I want to be there and because there's no one to replace me. How are they going to justify taking me out? There aren't even enough subs to cover our normal absences.
When they come up with another rebranded previously failed initiative, I ignore it and I close my door and teach. I teach my way. I teach creatively. I experiment. And every single morning, I greet my kids by name in the hallway and I never fail to do the little things like hall duty. I keep my mouth shut during faculty meetings because I know what I say would be taken badly or worse, as a challenge to the status quo.
I don't try to lead. I used to do that. Before I retired, I was on every committee, and chaired most of them at one time or another. I was a union rep. But in August, it will be 39 years since I became a teacher. If I am actually asked a question in a PLC meeting, I answer it and no more. I don't volunteer. Is that selfish? Maybe, but I did my time in the front. Now, I do what I actually set out to do as an undergrad.
You are living the dream, Jim. :) But I don’t think your approaches are exclusive to retirement, yet many teachers (or even principals) would dream of following that path. We’ve been so brainwashed into thinking that the sacrifice of time and energy is the only way to show that we care, and that since “we’re a family,” we’re all going to go that extra mile. I’m with you. I do my thing, love on my kids, and go home at the end of the day. If asked, I’ll answer, but my time? I like to come up with ways to teach better and reach more kids (and now teachers…) - better ROI.
I love that you have included leaders in the ones who shape school culture for teachers. There is a fine line between being accessible and having boundaries. You have done a lot here to shape and make that line clearer for me. Thanks for taking the time to encourage the veterans to be aware of what they are modeling for the new teachers. I'm just retiring and my oldest is just starting student teaching this year...I will definitely share some of these ideas with him, especially the lunch table idea. I couldn't agree more.
Thanks so much for the kind words, and yes - please stress how important the lunch table is. That can be the most supportive or toxic place in the whole school, and especially for a new teacher, the pressure to join in and be overwhelming.
This line perfectly summarizes this piece: “Martyrs become cynics not because they cared too little. They become cynics because caring harder didn’t fix anything.” The order you laid out does not blame teachers. I am not a teacher, but I thank you for educating people on this issue.
thanks - that's always been the goal. Share with readers what the teaching experience is like. There are so many people outside of education throwing stones at us; I don't think we need to go after ourselves as well.
For me, now, it's the money. I simply can't afford this job anymore.
That sucks. I'm really sorry.
You captured so much here. Thank you.
I’m in year 42 this fall, but what saved me, I think, was changing roles so many times. From grade 3 to first year students in college, I’ve taught in five states, and I have kept learning from students. We have to tune out so much that disrespects the incredible work we all do. This means staff meetings that say nothing, do nothing… the department chair who has lost all curiosity and only wants power… the colleagues who gripe every time you see them— a polite hello and keep walking.
I was so lucky to join a teachers’ writing group of incredible people who kept trying to understand not just teaching, but our messy, complicated lives. We stayed together for more than 15 years. Teaching is a gift. Truly the best profession if you can protect yourself and find your people.
Retired veteran teacher here, and I will say that your chart on keeping teachers without becoming martyrs/cynics is totally accurate. I worked for 41 years and ended up still loving what I did. Along the way, I encountered the martyrs—worked with many! - and the cynics—sad. It's a hard thing not to buy into the martyr syndrome, especially when your closest colleagues are of that sort. But it's important to do that hard thing: set boundaries. Even harder: not to compare yourself, feel guilty, or give in. But it's what kept me going for all those years, plus, as you add, keep learning and being curious. I always told my newer (okay, younger) colleagues that when you stop learning, you need to quit. You never "arrive" as a teacher; you always have something new to learn; there are always new revelations through science and research, always new things to learn from other teachers, always new things to learn about reaching all your students. I wish this were required reading this year in particular for the "powers that "be"—the principals, district leaders, superintendents, etc.—to understand their role in supporting this. Loved it.
Thank you for adding this - teaching is a practice, and my mentors and inspirations are always learning, always adding, never satisfied. I think I’ve got that, which is equally fun and frustrating.
And I love that you mention making (and sticking to) boundaries as the difficult thing. It so is, and I don’t think enough of us realize that, since it’s the first thing to go for a lot of folks.
“I’m not Martin Luther, and these aren’t my theses against district and school leadership.” - if do you have, say, 95 of them in pamphlet form I’d be interested in reading them. I’m on board for a good educational schism.
you know… :)
Great idea about "hidden curriculum for teachers"! AND, I think your strategies for teachers avoiding martyrdom/cynicism don't go far enough. You're describing a way for good teachers to have positive, productive experiences, helping bunches of students--true. But for me, that almost counts as cynicism in itself. I agree with "Stop rescuing broken systems." But we can't leave it at that. We need systems that work for students, and for my students in Baltimore and probably for most of yours who are reading this, we need systems that end the caste structure of society that Phillip Jackson was talking about when he coined "hidden curriculum" for students in 1968. His concern was the hidden curriculum of obedience to authority. It prepared low-income students to be low-income workers. Nothing has changed in that regard since the beginning of universal high school in the 50s. There's a picture of going further against the martyrdom/cynicism bind that looks at teachers as having a role to play in organizing challenges to existing systems. This can't be done without involving the dynamism of the young people, who in fact face the same martyrdom/cynicism trap that you describe so well for teachers. I noticed that you barely mention the students at all in this essay, and I think for most of your audience and for you, too, the energy, joy, affection, fun, intellectual stimulation that the young people give us is a large part of the answer to not just the teachers' martyr/cynic bind, but to the wholesale re-founding of schooling that is badly needed. So how do we organize the young people's dynamism and our own healthy, positive practices (many of which you list beautifully) so that we can create much different structures of education that work for all of us without having to accept "broken systems"? I have some thoughts on that. Would love to talk with anyone more about this. And thanks for the great essay!
Thanks for reading - and yeah, I've found time and again that the kids aren't the problem, nor do they play any major role in turning good teachers into martyrs and cynics.
I find that whenever I wade into the quagmire that is the SIT committee or lead team to discuss "student-centered," my ideas are wildly out of sync with those passed down from central that local leadership is to parrot. Also, no students are present at the meetings. Had a whole idea once about students effectively "running" the school and having what would feel like a "constitutional convention" every four years to evaluate and revise the system they designed. In my mind, it would take about two cycles until we had something wholly unique to the system. Yeah - status quo cultists did not like that at all.
"Wildly out of sync" with the adults is a good sign, lol! Could you convene 5-10 young people and ask them if it would make sense to pay high school students to teach things to younger children, peers, or adults in their community? What would they want to teach? How could they organize themselves to start sharing one batch of knowledge or skills? Could they imagine making a demand in some authority to pay them? Students in Baltimore, not all A students by any means, have compelled adults to pay more than $5 million through such a strategy since 2001. What adults choose to support students making such demands? What adults turn away? Happy to support you and/or a group of young people to begin this work wherever you are. Other public school people trying similar things in Miami, Atlanta, the Bronx, LA, Newark, Detroit, Kansas City, Houston, and elsewhere! Thanks so much for responding!
Love the evolution theory here. I had never thought of it that way. Also "stop rescuing broken systems" is key. When you continue to rescue, nothing will completelyfall apart. And then, nothing changes. Sometimes, everything needs to collapse to i.prove the situation.
I printed out a meme of the character Moebius in the first season of Loki when Loki asked him what he was going to do to the TVA. At the bottom of the image is the caption "Burn it to the ground."
That's taped to the wall behind my computer desk.
Almost at my 20th year and yes to all of this! I have also been the cynic, the martyr, etc. Found myself nodding through this whole piece. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for reading! Please share it around!
Already have 🫶🏻
Truth. Thanks. Wise and deadly accurate observations. “Stay curious” is essential. About your subject(s), your profession, and most especially your students. You obviously exemplify this in your concerns.
I also think that our service industry model of school dynamics is counterproductive. It states that admin is management, teachers are labor, and students are customers (with test scores being profit/loss). When scores dip, management pushes labor to try harder, peddle faster. The problem is that at some point, the more active the teacher, the more passive the student. And nobody’s happy.
A maybe more effective model begins with the parents and community seen as the customers. They are the ones paying, and they want more and, especially, better work from the students. In this model, the students are labor and the teachers are management, forming and communicating goals, strategies, activities and feedback. Inspiring, encouraging, correcting, rewarding, and acknowledging/ respecting the real person. Administration’s role is what its etymology states- to minister to (to serve and provide aid) to the process. During my time, as more women entered admin, more admin were sensitive to and adept at this.Teachers as management and not merely laborers allows them to better use their curiosity to create, engage, and sometimes ride the wave (as opposed to carry and pull the entire load). This model got me through 35 years in one piece and helped make most of my days into acts of co-creation with young minds while still acing district/state testing mandates. Best wishes, and remember that caretakers must first take care of themselves.
I'm a former expat teacher in Korea, and expat life is already transient. Being an expat teacher creates a different kind of burnout that creates cynics out of once hopeful teachers (me included). For a country that values English education as much as they seem to, I feel they definitely could be doing more to make it worthwhile for expat teachers. But that's another conversation. Thank you for sharing this piece!
Thank you for reading. And that sounds like a whole different set of conditions pushing y’all down the same path. And the transient nature of expat teaching probably adds another layer to it. I’m sorry the job turned you cynical. I hope you’ve found some of that hope again somewhere else. Thanks for adding this perspective.
Thanks for this! I may have to send it to my admin.
Please do! As I said, this wasn’t meant to be anti-admin or to point fingers at leadership. We all play a role in our school’s culture, but some of us play a larger role than others by virtue of our titles and, as a result, have more heavy lifting to do.
My issues are with over-evaluation and constantly creating new initiatives. Our admin is mostly good otherwise.
I’ve definitely been all those teachers at different points. I’ve been a teacher for 20 years and there are so many factors that can contribute to whichever you become. The “right” or “wrong” leaders, colleagues, classes, schedules, work load… it all plays a part. Of course, we play a part too. For me, it depends on who I surround myself with as I’ll gladly get on either train and participate in either the excitement or the bitching. I suppose we need a balance of both bc toxic positivity can be super draining too. I think the biggest factor is having good relationships and support from the people around you. That makes alllll the difference.
Exactly on your final point - I try to tell my kids and follow it myself that if you hang around with four knuckleheads, you’re the fifth knucklehead, not some free-thinking individual who’s changing everyone from within. That and trying to surround myself with folks that still have the hope and optimism that I’m trying to hold on to…
Hahaha that works for teachers too!!
Yeah, and then there’s the special ed teacher with case management paperwork on top of teaching. I also had to do academic assessments for eligibilities…and deal with principals who didn’t want to give me time to get that done.
Yes. Special ed teachers often get handed an entire second job on top of teaching, then aren’t given the time to do either one well. That’s exactly how good teachers get pushed toward martyrdom or cynicism. I’m sorry that you have things so rough. Thank you for naming this.
I love this.
The cynical teacher who retires isn't necessarily irredeemable. Yes, I'm talking about myself. I'm now empowered. I am collecting my pension and a paycheck. Nothing can stop me now. I'm there because I want to be there and because there's no one to replace me. How are they going to justify taking me out? There aren't even enough subs to cover our normal absences.
When they come up with another rebranded previously failed initiative, I ignore it and I close my door and teach. I teach my way. I teach creatively. I experiment. And every single morning, I greet my kids by name in the hallway and I never fail to do the little things like hall duty. I keep my mouth shut during faculty meetings because I know what I say would be taken badly or worse, as a challenge to the status quo.
I don't try to lead. I used to do that. Before I retired, I was on every committee, and chaired most of them at one time or another. I was a union rep. But in August, it will be 39 years since I became a teacher. If I am actually asked a question in a PLC meeting, I answer it and no more. I don't volunteer. Is that selfish? Maybe, but I did my time in the front. Now, I do what I actually set out to do as an undergrad.
I teach.
You are living the dream, Jim. :) But I don’t think your approaches are exclusive to retirement, yet many teachers (or even principals) would dream of following that path. We’ve been so brainwashed into thinking that the sacrifice of time and energy is the only way to show that we care, and that since “we’re a family,” we’re all going to go that extra mile. I’m with you. I do my thing, love on my kids, and go home at the end of the day. If asked, I’ll answer, but my time? I like to come up with ways to teach better and reach more kids (and now teachers…) - better ROI.
I love that you have included leaders in the ones who shape school culture for teachers. There is a fine line between being accessible and having boundaries. You have done a lot here to shape and make that line clearer for me. Thanks for taking the time to encourage the veterans to be aware of what they are modeling for the new teachers. I'm just retiring and my oldest is just starting student teaching this year...I will definitely share some of these ideas with him, especially the lunch table idea. I couldn't agree more.
Thanks so much for the kind words, and yes - please stress how important the lunch table is. That can be the most supportive or toxic place in the whole school, and especially for a new teacher, the pressure to join in and be overwhelming.