Happy Thursday, loyal readers. This month at Article Club, we’ve been focusing on “An American Education,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow.
If you haven’t read the article yet, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s outstanding. It’s about how the superintendent of a school district in Bullhead City, Arizona, tries to deal with its severe teacher shortage by attracting top-notch educators from the Philippines. It’s also about one of those top-notch educators – Rose Jean Obreque – whose skills and optimism and high expectations and growth mindset unfortunately are no match for American middle school students and their shenanigans.
It’s a depressing story, no doubt, but it nonetheless tells the truth of what teachers and students are currently experiencing in schools across the country. I hope you’ll join us to discuss the article on November 20, 2:00 - 3:30 pm PT on Zoom.
I’m also very happy to share that I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Saslow yesterday about his brilliant article. We talked about a number of topics, including:
how writing the piece reaffirmed his deep respect and appreciation for teachers
how it felt to be in a chaotic classroom, especially as a parent
how of course it’s hard to recruit teachers when you’re paying them $38,000
how he approaches writing about what it’s like for people who are “in the swirl of our country’s biggest problems”
and yes, spoiler alert, that ending (wow)
I hope you take a listen and let me know what you think.
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