There Is No Single Story of American Education
There Is No Single Story of American Education: An International Teacher's Perspective on American Classroom Culture
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
King’ori Gitahi
6/15/20262 min read
I still strongly believe that if I had come to the USA with a green card, or with a visa that allowed me the freedom to look for another job, I would have quit on my very first day of teaching in an American school. I must have been extremely naive about what to expect in an American classroom. Although I had read an article about the American education system before coming here, it focused on college students rather than the middle school environment I was about to step into.
The first thing that hit me hard happened on my very first day. I was standing at the front of the class speaking, yet the students continued talking to their friends as though I were not even there. It was almost as if I was invisible. They would quiet down whenever an administrator walked in, only to resume their conversations the moment the administrator left.
The first thought that crossed my mind was: Is this where our son will come to learn?
Simply put, no meaningful learning could occur in such an environment. The classroom was chaotic. Students were noisy, walking all over the place, some lying on the floor, doing everything except the one thing they were supposed to be doing; learning.
The second thing that took time to sink in was the lack of interest in education. Apathy is the best word for it. Like Plato’s poets, many of the students pretended to know what they did not know. Those who did not pretend simply declared that they did not want to know. Nothing seemed too serious for them. I cannot count the number of times I heard the words “I don’t care” whenever I pushed them to learn or confronted them about unruly and disrespectful behavior.
But don’t think that this is a representation of the American classrooms. No. Today, I teach in a highly performing high school, and the experience is completely different. The students are engaged, the culture values learning, and the environment is far more conducive to teaching and learning.
Many international teachers are often placed in what might be called ‘hardship zones’ — schools that are inadequately funded and burdened by a host of systemic challenges. There is much that could be said about this, but that is a discussion for another article.
Still, not everything was discouraging.
I was genuinely fascinated by the physical beauty of American schools. As I walked through the hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, gymnasium, and teacher workrooms for the first time, one thought kept crossing my mind: The people who built this place truly set out to build a school.
American schools are remarkably beautiful and highly resourced. The desks students use are far better than the ones we used in college at Kenyatta University. In fact, the only facilities that matched this standard were the seats, computers, and general environment of what became to be known as ‘the postmodern library’ at my former university, which was completed after we graduated in 2010.
My first encounter with the American classroom was deeply disorienting, but it also taught me an important lesson: there is no single story of American education. It is a system of sharp contrasts; inspiring in some places, discouraging in others, and deeply complex everywhere. Two schools separated by a short drive can have completely different cultures, resources, expectations, and outcomes.