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University of Oklahoma Graduate College a State of Unfairs

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University of Oklahoma Graduate College a State of Unfairs UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE A STATE OF UNFAIRS: A CASE STUDY CONCERNING RESPECT FOR TEACHERS IN OKLAHOMA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION By KODY RYANNE MONTGOMERY Norman, Oklahoma 2016 A STATE OF UNFAIRS: A CASE STUDY CONCERNING RESPECT FOR TEACHERS IN OKLAHOMA A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ACADEMIC CURRICULUM BY ______________________________ Dr. Crag Hill, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Susan Laird ______________________________ Dr. Lawrence Baines © Copyright by KODY RYANNE MONTGOMERY 2016 All Rights Reserved. Lovingly dedicated to my family. I’ve worked very hard, and you’ve been with me every step along my journey. I hope you are as proud of this as I am. Table of Contents List of Figures ..........................................................................................................v Abstract .................................................................................................................. vi Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Women Move In ...........................................................................18 Chapter 2: Westward Bound ..................................................................................29 Chapter 3: Moving South .......................................................................................44 Chapter 4: The Men Come Back ...........................................................................55 Chapter 5: Unionization .........................................................................................70 Conclusions: ...........................................................................................................78 References: .............................................................................................................85 Appendix A: Survey Questions .............................................................................89 Appendix B: Interviews .........................................................................................91 Appendix C: Visual Representation of Respect ...................................................165 Appendix D: Journal Entries ................................................................................169 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Charts Comparing Demographics…………………….……………….14 Figure 2: Charts Comparing Districts …………………………………………...16 Figure 3: Bell Curve of Oklahoma Schools A-F Grades………………………...61 v Abstract The purpose of this research study is to examine if and how Oklahoma teachers are disrespected within their profession. This study incorporates an online survey and in-depth interviewing to attempt to address the respect/disrespect teacher in Oklahoma might feel and where the lack of respect might be coming from (i.e. students, lawmakers, administrators). These feelings of disrespect, reported by the teachers online and during interviews, are tied into the early years of teaching and analyzed in terms of historical context and potential gender bias. This study concludes with suggestions of how to decrease feelings of disrespect among teachers. vi Introduction During the course of my educational career, both as a student behind a desk and crossing the wide, flowing river into becoming an educator myself, I have spent a significant amount of time with teachers. I have possibly spent more time with teachers than I have with my significant other; maybe even more time than with my own parents. I have only ever wanted to be a teacher. Yet, there are things about teaching that no one—not my mentors, not my teachers, not even my own mother—told me before I began studying education. As I crossed the metaphoric Nile River of educational theory, curricula, and classroom management on my entrance into the profession, I began to realize that there is as sort of black cloud, like Los Angeles’ smog, that overhangs the teaching profession. To say it simply, teachers feel disrespected. What began as a simple case study to determine exactly what made Oklahoma teachers feel so disrespected became, for me, a history lesson about the teaching profession and a self-guided journey into my own understanding of what is truly means to be a teacher. The purpose of this study, by gaining some understanding of what causes Oklahoma teachers to feel disrespected and by exploring the history of teaching, is to perhaps arrive at some remedy for the sickness that is the current state of public education, which is most certainly caused by teachers feeling disrespected. Therefore, my study will attempt to answer several research questions: 1 To what degree do Oklahoma teachers feel respected/disrespected within their profession? What is causing Oklahoma teachers to feel as if they are disrespected? What, if any, movements in the history of teaching are related to the disrespect of modern teachers in Oklahoma? What can be done to make Oklahoma teachers feel respected? Chapter Overview and Structure As the typical thesis structure did not allow for the relative freedom required for the multiple layers of this study, it is necessary, perhaps, to provide a type of general layout of the chapters contained within this study, as well as the general topics covered in each. I will initially discuss all of the mechanics of my study, including the full methodology, an introduction to the teachers interviewed for the case study, any biases or problems I have had or could foresee having with the data collected, and a brief overview of the findings of this study. All of this information will be contained in the following sections of the introduction. After the Introduction, I will begin a discussion of the history of teaching, the results of my study (in more depth), and an analysis of how the two relate. The chapters will roughly follow the chronology of the history of teaching in America from Colonial times until the first World War. I have chosen this time period specifically because this is when the most dramatic changes in teaching emerged. The first chapter will cover the feminization of teaching, which begins to take effect between the full establishment of the thirteen British Colonies in 2 America and just before the Civil War (roughly between the 1770s and the 1860s). This period is when teaching truly became a “female’s” profession. In this chapter, I will link the history of teaching to modern teaching through the concept of “moral education.” Essentially, I will look at how early public schooling placed female teachers into this double bind of “the angel of the schoolhouse,” as far as being cast as the perfect sex to educate children, and yet being scrutinized at every turn for educating children. I will then discuss how this historic disrespect translates into modern teaching in the form of the perpetual struggle between parents and teachers over the “moral” education of children, backing up my analysis with the opinions of actual Oklahoma teachers. The second chapter will follow a similar pattern as the first: beginning with a discussion of a particular movement in the history of teaching and its immediate effects on female teachers and ending with a discussion of the modern effects of these movements and how modern teachers react to and exist within those effects. This chapter, which will overlap slightly with the first and the third chapters, will discuss female teachers venturing westward to teach, many following the “call.” This chapter will discuss the “call” as both a reason to teach and as a teacher trap which keeps women in the profession. Looking at the modern parallel, I will discuss how teachers are now feeling the “call” to leave teaching behind or to leave the state of Oklahoma behind. I will specifically discuss how what was once seen as a spiritual or religious call to action has turned toward a monetary call away from the profession. 3 Chapter Three will look closely at the white, northern, female teachers who flocked South after the end of the Civil War in order to teach formerly enslaved African Americans and how those women were disrespected for wanting to teach the “other.” Currently, this trend of disrespect continues; however, the “other” now are students who are English Language Learners (ELL/ESL), students in need of Special Education (SPED), or, in general, extracurricular subjects, like music, art, or Physical Education (PE). These teachers, much like their predecessors, do not feel the support of the community, the school system, or even their peers, as my collected data will show. Chapter Four will look at the bureaucratization of the teaching profession, which takes place mostly between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. This is a period in which regulations began to be placed on the curriculum of public schools. The drive toward a nationalized curriculum both increased the quality of teachers and limited the instructional freedom of teachers through intense observations and strict regulations. In the 21st century, public education has seen another great push for a nationalized curriculum and the advent of the national and state standardized test, which causes many of the same restrictions that early teachers felt alongside a crippling feeling of disrespect from administrators and lawmakers. The final chapter covers the period of time from roughly the middle of the push for
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