Police over at the state’s Department of Public Safety Standards Training office held a media day the other day. They ran through various training sessions with reporters and photographers to help them better understand the issues behind an officer’s decision to use deadly force.
I think that’s a great idea. I also like the citizen police academies that some of our local law enforcement agencies put on from time to time. When you’re put in the position of having to “be” the officer, you get a whole new perspective on their jobs.
I wish there were a practical way to extend this experience to a few other professions. Teaching, for instance. A requirement for having children should be that every single parent spend a day leading a classroom. Just one day is all it would take, and I’d lay odds they’d never, ever, vote down a tax measure again.
Ah, Media Day! Let’s have a media day here, and invite Joe Public to see how WE do business.
I’d start by bringing in a few hospital people and have them try to report on a multiple-injury car wreck. Some of their colleagues in the health care world will give you a one-word response (“Fair,” “Critical,” etc.) about the patient you’re calling about, which is all you need. Some will say only whether the patient has been admitted. Some won’t even tell you that. It is a total crapshoot as to which answer you get, from which hospital, on which day.
We are blessed with wonderful law enforcement officers who, for the most part, are very good about returning calls and telling us all they can about whatever wreck or chase or arrest we happen to be asking about. But it would be interesting to see them sit on this side of the phone for the evening. Better yet, I’d have them try to write a story based solely on one of their own written reports.
I’d love to get the people who write in corporatese to sit down at my keyboard for an afternoon. Write a story about last night’s city council meeting, I’d tell them. Make it interesting and relevant, but factual and short. The words “utilize,” “paradigm” and “dialogue” are off limits. You have 20 minutes.
Like many readers, I disagree with our editorial perspective from time to time. (Sometimes more often than that.) But I’d like to see some of our louder critics try to write any editorial at all every single day for going on 40 years, let alone two of them, let alone make them interesting, concise, well-researched and well-argued each time.
Media Day! I like it. I learn about your jobs, you come learn about mine. Whattaya wanna know?
6 comments
suedavis23 says:
Mar 5, 2010
" A requirement for having children should be that every single parent spend a day leading a classroom. Just one day is all it would take, and I’d lay odds they’d never, ever, vote down a tax measure again."
Jennifer, if we were voting for 'babysitters' I could agree with these statements. However, we are talking about educational ability and knowledge that allows a "teacher" to evaluate a student's learning style and be able to adjust methods to assist that child. Giving more money will not make a teacher great in this area. Just as we see in real life, there are people who can make babies but are poor parents. We all probably know teachers who have a degree in education but cannot teach. This is a very complex issue for parents, students, teachers and will not be settled to the satisfaction of everyone.
I, personally, do not think that more money is the only answer to this issue. There are many things that come into play here, but 'common sense' (or the lack thereof) and ability are huge parts of solving this equation for me.
jennifermoody says:
Mar 5, 2010
Hey, Sue. Fair enough. The title alone does not a good teacher make.
That said, I think the times when teachers could easily handle and instruct classes of 30 students or more are long gone. Those were the days when it was reasonable to expect that the majority of the kids sitting in front of you were fed and clothed adequately, spoke your language, didn't have a physical or learning disability (because those kids would have been somewhere else), and had parents who let them know misbehavior and inattention in class would not be tolerated. Those kids were far more likely to listen, follow directions, turn in homework and generally achieve what they were supposed to achieve. (The ones who didn't left in the eighth grade and got a good job in the mills or on the docks and did OK for themselves.)
jennifermoody says:
Mar 5, 2010
Reply part 2, as the whole thing wouldn't post:
In most classrooms today, those conditions can no longer be guaranteed, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect that a teacher with more than a couple dozen students can reach everybody, no matter how good he/she is. While you're right that simplistic solutions don't cover complex problems, I think to have a prayer of keeping education meaningful, you have to start by shrinking class sizes. That's where the money comes in.
jennifermoody says:
Mar 5, 2010
As one of your editor's louder critics, I'll respond to this: If writing two quality editorials daily is incredibly difficult – which I am not disputing – then THE NEWSPAPER SHOULD TRY SOMETHING ELSE, like having multiple people write editorials or simply not running one every single day. Churning out a crappy product just so the editor can get his opinion in the paper every day suggests he privileges hearing himself over the quality of the product.
In other words: You've not made an argument for having someone walk a mile in the editor's shoes; you've made an argument for changing the current practice.
jennifermoody says:
Mar 5, 2010
Forwarded from Dennis Dugan:
"As one of your editor's louder critics, I'll respond to this: If writing two quality editorials daily is incredibly difficult – which I am not disputing – then THE NEWSPAPER SHOULD TRY SOMETHING ELSE, like having multiple people write editorials or simply not running one every single day. Churning out a crappy product just so the editor can get his opinion in the paper every day suggests he privileges hearing himself over the quality of the product.
In other words: You've not made an argument for having someone walk a mile in the editor's shoes; you've made an argument for changing the current practice."
Ineka says:
Mar 6, 2010
I don't think there ever was a time when all students were fed and clothed adequately and spoke English. I would hope that there was a time when children were expected to be respectful to their teachers and punished if not, but even that I don't think is a certainty.
My grandfather was in school in the 1910's or so, and he was dirt poor, didn't speak English, and never went to church. I think there are children like that in every age.
I also think that if every perspective parent had to spend a day in a classroom before they had children we would simply have fewer children.