Eskelsen: ‘We have the world watching us’

Lily Eskelsen is secretary-treasurer of the National Education Association. She deals with issues that impact 3.2 million NEA members worldwide – pension cutbacks, No Child Left Behind, regulations, and policies. Nevertheless, Eskelsen says, “the most important thing I have ever been and will ever be in my career is a sixth-grade teacher from Utah.”

NEA Secretary-Treasurer Lily Eskelsen

In her keynote address at the 2007 UEA Convention, Eskelsen said making decisions about what is best for public education “should always come from the ‘real world’ part of us. For me, these are not just political decisions. These are moral decisions, and they come down to one question: What will it mean to somebody’s kid. Somebody’s kid who wants to go to college. Somebody’s kid who’s learning the ABCs in English. Somebody’s kid who needs special education, or to talk to a counselor, or to see a school nurse. Somebody’s kid who needs a talented professional who’s willing to make a career working in a public school.”

Eskelsen, who taught in Utah schools before her election to national office, explained how during the NEA Bus Tour last year she got a firsthand look at how a Cedar Rapids, Iowa school was making a difference in the life of a child. After singing a song with her colleague, Eskelsen said a student approached her and said, “Dude, like you guys really need practice.” Eskelsen said she thanked him for sharing and asked, “So, how do you like [Cedar Rapids] Metro [Alternative School]?”

According to Eskelsen, the boy took a breath and said, “They care about you here.” The boy’s teacher, who was standing nearby, said, “I wouldn’t want to teach anywhere else. We get to know these students. Most teachers never have the opportunity to know their kids the way we know our kids.” A teacher’s aide told Eskelsen, “These guys know we want them here.”

“Tough kids. Quiet kids. Funny kids. All needing something different from us,” Eskelsen said of her experience in Iowa. “Metro Alternative is succeeding because their kids are more than a test score. It’s succeeding because its core value is caring about individual students and giving them everything that’s in them.”

Eskelsen said educators may not always be given everything they need to do their job, “but that will never be an excuse for us not giving everything we have in us to our kids.”

The former UEA president criticized certain members of the Utah Legislature for passing a voucher law “dumber than No Child Left Untested.” She said “we had some dramatic and valiant heroes who stood up for common sense and defended public schools, but we had one vote too many on the wrong side, and now it’s up to the people of Utah to fix this – oh, what’s the technical term? – stupid law.”

Eskelsen called the voucher law “fatally flawed,” but credited the pro-voucher camp with saying one thing that was true: “Public schools aren’t always what they should be. They said all children can’t always get what they need in a public school. And we’ll be the first to admit it. We’ve been ringing that alarm bell for a long time,” she said.

“We don’t always have the best facilities; enough counselors; working computers in the library; we need more special education teachers and librarians; and space in alternative schools and art programs and AP classes,” Eskelsen told the crowd of 500 educators from across Utah.

“I think it’s interesting that some of those very same politicians who criticize us for not being what we could be are also the ones who would never support the funding for what we need to be what we could be,” she said.

“We have the world watching us,” Eskelsen concluded. “We deal with something as dangerously fragile as a child’s mind. Everything we hope to accomplish in our great country will depend on whether we do our jobs and do them well. We should shake in awe at the responsibility . . . the public trust we’ve been given. But we should never shake with fear. Ours is not work to fear. Ours is a joyful work. And we can only do it well if we have the courage not to flinch when something gets tough.

“We have to love the most unlovable child. We have to find the potential in the most challenging kid. We have to be creative in reaching them and teaching them everything they need to know . . . and sometimes that means not letting a test get in the way of teaching,” Eskelsen said.