A Teacher's Formula for Classroom Success

While slick politicians promise voters that we can all live at the expense of everybody else, the politically correct culture of public education continues to indoctrinate the students confined inside its system. The social experiments that masquerade as modern teaching methods are brainwashing many students into a bunch of low-achieving, over-sensitive, undisciplined, and dimwitted wimps. How anyone remains perplexed over floundering classroom performance eludes comprehension. The problem is in “the culture.”

Teaching high school English for nine years, I rejected every politically correct buzzword associated with so-called education reform. In a system notorious for tiptoeing around feelings and devaluing facts, I created a classroom environment that embraced merit and confronted the immaturity or apathy that retarded my students’ learning. No, I didn’t acquire my approach from the peddled dogmas camouflaged as teaching methods by today’s teacher education courses. Instead, I assembled my system from sound training and leadership principles that I learned in the Marine Corps. Like the Marine Corps, my classroom had its own culture: hard work, self-discipline, and personal responsibility. This was the only culture I tolerated, so multiculturalism had to be stomached somewhere else.

Instead of preaching tolerance and diversity, I mentored my students in success through tenacity. Every day we targeted our mental, physical, and character discipline. The students cherished this approach and abandoned the values of political correctness. Enthusiasm and confidence--not excuses or self-pity--fueled our classroom. Preparation, challenges, and accountability ensured that students learned.

One note from a former student named Mike captures the reward: “I used to be a loser, but this year I have completed every assignment. As I studied, I worked to my full potential, striving to be the student you wanted me to be.” While humbling, such comments propelled us forward.

The students nurtured their new culture nightly through reading or writing assignments that could always be followed by “surprise inspections” the next day. Consequences taught them the hard way not to tolerate irresponsibility, especially their own. Without consistent consequences for failing to study, students would have continued in their old culture--expecting me to narrate an entire story and to tell them what to think about it. They learned that thinking required great effort, and that without the facts and evidence residing within the texts, their opinions about the literature were worthless.

They discovered how literature could teach us to appreciate the lives we had and to work for--never just to expect--the lives we wanted to have. They also learned that leadership involves much more than austerity and toughness; it also requires devotion, compassion, humor, and patience. We succeeded because my students wanted to follow me. Their parents supporting my vigorous approach also contributed to our success.

Sometimes my intensity startled students and parents alike, but my sincerity and objectives ultimately earned their confidence. For instance, one incredibly shy student named Lauren wrote, “I was really hesitant about being in your class; however, now that I’ve taken it, I’m so glad I did. I really appreciate everything you have done to help me.” Earlier that year I had agreed to assist Lauren switch classes. My direct style to inspire apathetic boys in her class had initially intimidated her. When she decided to stay, I welcomed the challenge to build Lauren’s self-confidence. Her unexpected note was tremendously uplifting.

Teaching teenagers responsibility and hard work can present a dispiriting test at times, but teachers are obligated not give up. Despite what some teachers believe, motivation is the teacher’s responsibility. We must set the example that we want our students to emulate. Students are searching for leaders; they want to succeed. By developing leadership characteristics and applying basic leadership principles, teachers can inspire that success.

On the other hand, the politically correct approach to success prefers to hamper individuals deemed to have unfair advantages (bright students) so that the disadvantaged (weak students) don’t feel bad. In the utopian fantasy of political correctness, we would all have mediocre lives in an egalitarian society. However, in my world, we all have weaknesses that we need to confront, not bury. The way to compete against those “with unfair advantages” (natural talent) is to outwork them and never to submit to self-pity.

I imagine most parents desire more than a mediocre life for their children. I also believe most teachers want more than a mediocre life for their students. As a result, we had better reconsider the cultural values we encourage students to tolerate. Otherwise, excuse makers and weasel politicians may eventually ensure that only America’s cultural values are intolerable.

Lee Culpepper is a former Marine and high school English teacher. Currently he is working to complete his first book, Alone and Unafraid: One Marine's Counterattack Inside the Walls of Public Education. Visit Lee's website at www.leeculpepper.com.