We have been overwhelmed these past few days with the news of three suicides: a Los Angeles teacher who had learned a teacher database published by the Los Angeles Times said he was not an effective teacher; a Rutgers University freshman and accomplished violinist who had an intimate encounter with a gay friend broadcast on the Internet by his roommate; and most recently, a University of Texas math student who was obsessed with gun control policies.
Rigoberto Ruelas, a fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary in South L.A., a gang-ridden, impoverished part of the city, was so passionate about teaching, the Times reported, that he had nearly perfect attendance for 14 years on the job. His family said they are boycotting the Times after the newspaper’s website published a database that rated his ability to increase students’ scores on reading tests “average” and his ability to increase students’ scores on math tests “less effective.” The Times said he was, overall, “less effective” than his peers.
His family said he became depressed after learning about the analysis in the Times. The state’s union president has called for the database to be taken down. Despite the paper’s analysis, he said, by “all other measures, this was a really good teacher.”
In the days before the second suicide, the one at Rutgers, for two nights in a row, Tyler Clementi spent some intimate time with his boyfriend in his dorm room. He had asked his roommate, Dharun Ravi, to stay out of the room until at least midnight, which he did. However, some people say Mr Ravi activated a webcam that was recording Mr Clementi’s encounter and streaming it live over the Internet.
A few days after learning he had become the biggest gossip in his dormitory, Mr Clementi took his own life. Mr Ravi and his friend, Molly Wei, both 18, have been charged with invasion of privacy in connection with Mr Clementi’s death. The Sept. 22 death, incidentally, came on the same day Rutgers University was kicking off an education campaign to teach students about the importance of civility, especially in light of possible uses and abuses of new technology.
And finally, in what is perhaps the most inexplicable of the three suicides, University of Texas, Austin, math student Colton Joshua Tooley indiscriminately fired rounds into the air from his AK-47 rifle before taking his own life in a campus library about 10 miles from his home. He was a model student at Crockett High School in Texas before attending UT, and a spokesman from Crockett had this to say about the shooting at UT:
All of us in the Crockett High School community are shocked and saddened by today’s tragedy at the University of Texas. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Colton Tooley. Colton, a 2009 Crockett graduate, was an excellent student, who excelled in every subject, and was ranked 7th in his class. His teachers recall him with words such as brilliant, meticulous, and respectful. Crockett High School will have additional counselors on campus, beginning Wednesday, to assist students and staff who request their services.
Although a single suicide should not guide us in crafting policies, it does show us what might be the tip of a much bigger iceberg.
As for labeling teachers as failures based on standardized test scores, we already know test scores don’t paint the whole picture of a teacher’s effectiveness, especially in the younger grades. Sure, in college, how good a teacher you are depends almost entirely on how much your students learn. But in fifth grade, the level at which Mr Ruelas taught, the important thing is getting kids to like being in school, in preparation for a lifetime of fun learning in safe learning environments.
For example, at the Charles Gates Dawes Elementary School, a math and science magnet in Chicago, their ultimate mission is, of course, to “implement an effective curriculum, supported by professional development, with an emphasis on literacy, math, science, and technology.” But before the mission, the school lists its “vision,” which is as follows:
Dawes School will foster an inclusive, healthy and safe learning environment supported by a researched-based [sic] curriculum and meaningful assessment with a focus on literacy, math, science and technology. Staff members will work collaboratively with students, families, and community partners to promote high quality teaching and learning.
Just do a Google search and find out how many elementary schools say “safe learning environment” on their Web sites. Once people hear about a good idea, it multiplies like a virus. How are we supposed to assess a “safe learning environment” in a gang-ridden school like the one where Mr Ruelas devoted 14 years of his life to kids who were at an initial disadvantage because of poverty, gangs, and no doubt other troubles? Yet, in any other profession, employees would be judged against their goals and the goals of the organization for which they work. Any other analysis falls short of comprehensive. We have the “persistently dangerous” category for schools written into our laws, but such a designation doesn’t bring anywhere near the call for reform that low reading and math scores do.
And I am not ignoring the fact that teachers have been measured by levels of formal education and years of experience for a long time. These measures, past a certain point, have almost no correlation to teaching effectiveness. What this means is, the system needs to change. Standardized tests just aren’t the answer—at least not the total answer.
Next, we need to look at privacy. The sentence Ms Wei and Mr Ravi could get may be up to five years in prison for allegedly recording and broadcasting a private moment between two gay lovers. In education, there are the “Three Rs,” i.e., reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. In the press, we have the “Three Hs”—homes, hotels, and hospitals. These are the three places that are generally considered off limits. As a rule, reports in the press about what someone does in a home, hotel, or hospital are considered substandard journalism and lacking in integrity.
A roommate with a webcam may not be aware of these rules, but most people in civilized societies think the Three Hs provide a fairly good guide as to where to draw the lines of privacy. In fact, legislatures may have codified this civility in some states, such as New Jersey. And just because some company makes a long-range lens and listening device on a webcam doesn’t mean it should be used to invade people’s privacy. Just because videos can be posted on YouTube doesn’t mean you should post every shot you take.
And finally, there’s the legacy left to us Americans about guns. It didn’t start with the Columbine shootings, but those murders and the subsequent suicides of the gunmen certainly brought the message home loud and clear. Guns can be a beautiful thing: they kill animals humanely, they are useful in sport, and they provide protection for those members of our society who are charged with enforcing the law and dealing with the bad guys. In the wrong hands, though, they are dangerous. In the hands of children or teenagers, these dangerous weapons are subject to the moods and whims we all remember from our own childhood.
When a teen or young adult is depressed, that depression must be addressed by family members, friends, counselors, or other professionals. It is most important at these times to keep guns—and other dangerous things—away from the depressed young adult. Factors that can lead to this depression include the normal stress of life as a young adult, such as working toward a bachelor’s in mathematics at a competitive university like UT.
Suicide is acknowledged as the third-highest cause of death among American teenagers. About 150,000 teens attempt suicide in New York every year, with about 70 of them succeeding. If they have means to do the job quickly and relatively painlessly, such as a gun, the rate would be higher. We need to deal with the root causes of suicide, such as depression, as early as possible, but keeping effective killing machines out of the hands of emotional teens can also be a good tool in our arsenal.
“With depression, we’re turning inward, we’re going into ourselves, and we’re cutting ourselves off from the outside world,” said Amelio A. D’Onofrio, professor and director of the Psychological Services Institute at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education, at a conference earlier this year. “We need to turn into ourselves and curl into ourselves when we don’t feel known, or we don’t feel love, [or] when the message we receive is, ‘I want you to be something other than who you are.’ ”
