The Blueberry Story
"We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, junior rheumatoid arthritis, and English as their second language. We take them all. Every one. And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it’s not a business. It’s school.”
At that moment, Vollmer had what he calls his ‘blueberry moment,’ a willingness to see the emperor as he really is––America’s nearly impossible expectations of its schools. From that day, he has devoted himself to support public education. After visiting hundreds of schools, he has said, “The most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs, and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.”
He produced “Vollmer’s List: The Increasing Burden placed on America’s Public Schools.” It describes the added school responsibilities for each decade since 1900, all fitting into the same calendar school year. And now schools must also act in loco parentis.
Because public schooling in these troubled times is changing in ways that Vollmer––and all of us–– did not expect, it’s all the more important that we find ways to support them, especially teachers in their classrooms.
America cannot afford to lose its public schools where in classrooms children of all races, religions, and ethnicities learn. Where whoever walks in the door is welcome, as the Constitution proclaims, “We the people of the United States…” Not some of us. All of us.
Invite teachers you know to read my blog, written with them in mind to provide hope in these troubled times.
