To be a Federal Employee

The last few days haven't been very good for my boss.  Not my immediate boss...he's doing fine.  And so is his boss and his boss and her boss and his boss and her boss and while it has been a rough week for Secretary Hagel, I am actually talking about his boss.  The President leads the executive.  He is responsible for a mammoth bureaucracy that is the executive branch.  Weeks like this week are not good for those of us working for the Federal government. 

 

I have argued with my friends all week about how scandalous the events of this week really are, but truth be told, I am embarrassed.  Ethical behavior at work seems to be difficult to find these days.  So why should it be any different for Feds?  It turns out that the actual reason comes down to Chapter 5 of United States Code section 3331 which requires each Federal employee to state the oath.  On 17 September 2009, I stated:

 I, Patrick Martin, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

So that didn't happen for a bunch of people in this town and it came out in different places this week.  I am not always a model employee.  I get frustrated, I tire of regulation, and there are days I don't want to work as hard as I can, but I try to remember that most Americans don't respect Federal workers. I try to display the integrity that I believe the office demands.  I take personally the failure of Federal employees and while I work with some truly dedicated and professional folks, we can certainly do better.  

So I'm not going to defend the actions of Federal Workers today.  I am going to try to be more passionate and work harder.  I am thankful for my job and believe that the furloughs that I am to serve upcoming is a way for me to do my part for the deficit.  Now...everyone.  Turn off the news.  Get back to work.

Cast in Bronze

Statues are a strange way to celebrate people.  Today at lunch, I was approached by our communications director outside our building doing a fluff piece on statues that flanked the entrance of our building.  They were Indian goddesses, one so particularly well-endowed that it was awkward to bring visitors to the building without hearing a comment about the guardians of our building.  Frank (our communications guy) asked what statues should flank the doors of our new buildings.  Immediately, I thought about officials that have left our organization (some have left in disgrace), but thought that joke might not be received particularly well.  I fell on an easy joke about Frank himself and my lunch companion.  The truth is, it would be really strange to have people go up as statues at a learning institution.

But tonight, Joe Paterno still stands in bronze at Pennsylvania State University.  The finger raised is supposed to signify his football program.  Tonight, it is a representation of the number of mistakes it takes to shatter lives and tarnish reputations.  Joe Paterno was a man.  By most accounts, he was a very good man, but it turns out that some decisions he made were deplorable and led to the shattering of lives.  His long-time rival Bobby Bowden thinks they should remove the statue.  I don't know for sure, but I bet Joe would agree.  People don't belong in bronze or marble.  They aren't that simple.  They are a culminations of their decisions and their experiences; their opportunities and circumstances.  Most of all, I think Joe was different depending on who you ask.  He stands in bronze to some who he led out onto that field.  He stands in rubble for those who were counting on him standing up for their innocence.  Let it be a lesson to us all.  We have to try to be good people all the time.  All the accomplishments in the world do not make better our worst moments.  We will be judged by those.

A Short Goodbye

Today I grew as a professional because of the work of one man. I work for kids. Everyone I work with does; but sometimes we forget that. Today, we said goodbye to someone who never forgot it in his 31 years of service to the same organization. Think about that for a second. In this day and age, it is one thing to spend ten minutes in one place. Today, Charles Toth retired from an organization to which he truly gave his life's work. From a substitute teacher, the man moved up to Principal Deputy Director.

Anyone who knows Charlie can understand why. He's a mammoth man with a personality just as big. His voice booms as he speaks in triads to his teams. It used to be teams of football players and basketball players, but it quickly became teams of teachers, principals and eventually I got to play on his team. This last team didn't win any titles, but as I'm sure he always did, we played as hard as we could for him. Charlie's skill is knowing what he doesn't know and letting others lead when they can. He knows talent when he sees it and he pushes people to be better.

Charlie taught me today that you don't get to pick when you're done. I'm sure he would have preferred going out with a district title and the accolades that could have brought for us. He knows he leaves an organization in a bit of turmoil. He also knows that it is someone else's game now. He was gracious in bowing out, never allowing anyone to see the disappointment he might have been masking. He thanked everyone. He showed me what it should look like after 32+ years of marriage when you thank your wife for standing by you.

It was very similar to watching my Dad bow out of Education last year. You don't get to pick it, but when it is time, it is just time. It is a gift and you can't keep it. Charlie taught me my last lesson today as I was walking out. Keep your nose clean and look to the future. A good coach sees the potential, but it is up to the player to reach that potential.

Charlie, this is a private blog that isn't viewed by many people, but I thank you and so do thousands of military students and parents. You kept them safe whether they knew it or not while their parents were defending this nation. I will do the best I can to keep that in mind when I do this work. Enjoy your retirement. It is well deserved!

Shut It Down!?

It amazes me that there are some people that find really complex things simple. Mostly, I think we will things to be simple. Even the really complicated things. Tomorrow night, the government may shut down for some really complex reasons. I think good people are working as I type this to avoid it, but it may happen anyway.

To me, if I wanted this to be simple, I'd say this is because lawmakers aren't doing their jobs. But I suspect it isn't like kids who show up to class without their homework done. This is complex. This has to do with public polls, policy issues, economic concerns, and some new people who maybe thought this was all a little more simple than it is.

Education is complex like this too. Since nearly everyone has been to school, we all think we're experts. That's like saying anyone who's had their teeth cleaned could be an oral surgeon. Education is part art, part science. It requires dedication, commitment, long hours sometimes, grace, eloquence, a warm, quick wit, and heaps of patience. We have a national shame in what we pay teachers. In fact 30% of Americans claim that teachers should be paid more than anyone else!

You know what no one really talks about? We probably don't really think that. We probably think that the really good teachers...the ones who make a huge difference; the ones that are constantly getting better, should be paid more. We probably don't think the burned out teacher or the person that hands out worksheets all day should be making 125K like the teachers at TEP. Except that at TEP, they haven't seen test scores go up dramatically yet.

Do you know what I really hate? I hate that the people that know a lot about this stuff dumb it down to the media. We need to be informed. We need to know how hard merit pay would be. How would you like it if your job was on the line and those that could save it were adolescents who care more about their impending break-up or basketball game than a test? Maybe that's how government workers feel tonight! We also need to know how hard it must be to be chancellor of the New York City School System. It is easy to take shots at teachers or Michelle Rhee. What's hard is to look at Cathie Black, Michelle Rhee, Geoff Canada, Arne Duncan, as well as many dedicated teachers and think how hard it must be to be them. It has to be so hard to do what they are charged with doing.

We need to stop dumbing it down...or else our kids will be the product of that. So work hard tonight, Senate staffers. I bet it is hard doing what you're doing tonight. Oh...and thank you for doing it. Your teachers would be proud.

Spring!

Springtime usually means that we can start anew. We shake off the dust (and hopefully the pounds) that winter has left behind and look forward. In the world that I have always lived in, however, the school year rules. Sometimes, in this environment, the snow melts and we are left with the same issues that were there in the fall and perhaps a little less hope that change will be made "this year." It is a strange cyclical view of the year where people begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that light may not be what we hoped for in the Fall.

It is these times when the ideas and focus of our team members can help us get to a place where we can push forward. Building a great team does not require you to be a leader in title. I think it requires only two things: a shared vision and the self awareness it takes to build meaningful relationships. Look around your community, home, and workplace. Who is on your team?

Pretentious

I mentioned in my first post, that this wouldn't be about my work as a technology educator. Still, it is a large part of what I am and this is really more just about people anyway. I digress.

I'm attending ISTE 2010 in Denver this week. Things here are just getting underway and I've only just registered, but already I have seen incredible evidence of the digital divide. I'm currently listening to a guy from Baltimore who dresses the part (emo glasses, pac man tee-shirt) discussing with a group of boomers how to use Twitter. Currently he can't get the network to work. This is incredible people-watching. At the heart of the problem here...and believe me, there is a problem...is his lack of respect for the people he's talking to. He really thinks they're stupid. Now if you sat him down, he'd no doubt deny it; but in dark places he doesn't like to talk about, he loathes these people. See that's only half of the problem. They hate him too. On the face of it, they are interested, have checked their egos at the door, and are ready to learn. Except that they haven't done that.

Then again...maybe they have.

A First

Perhaps as good a time as any to start blogging. After all, I worked incessantly to convince my wife to begin blogging with her class and have now begun to make a living finding ways for technology to enter the classroom. Still, this won't be about my profession, my personal life, or a vicarious jaunt into what it would be like to be a paid writer. These are thoughts. Random at times, and not likely ready for consumption by the general public. If you've stumbled across this, welcome. You won't likely need to stay long.

Today I couldn't help but think, as Landon Donovan streaked toward a near empty net, that there was some truth to the idea that this sport has caught on here. It isn't as if this is new. Moms have taken an adjective to describe their minivan driving, orange quartering existance from it. But there is something different about the game that has caught on for more than a few people in the places I visit. The game may be played well by all involved and still not yield a fair winner. The amount of corner kicks, time of possession, number of fouls or even shots on net do not determine the outcome directly. There is a flow to the game. All try hard, though at times they are theatrical and dishonest and yet there is no promise of just ends. I wonder if that's how oyster fishermen feel this month. I wonder if that is how factory and mill workers have felt over the last decades. Maybe Americans have more in common with the 'lads on the pitch' than we'd like to admit. Today, though, Donovan's yeoman-like effort in the 91st minute yielded a result that any American can aspire to. Victory...plain and simple. I wonder how we would have reacted if he didn't quite make it.