A Time of Educational Opposites

We are living and working in a time of educational opposites.

*Our class sizes are growing as our teacher ranks are shrinking.
*Our students' needs are expanding as our professional development time is diminishing.
*The public's confidence in our professional abilities is lessening while the public's distaste for supporting public education is broadening.

These opposites are not good. However, there's a bright side as well.

*Socioeconomic status still constricts but equitable access to information is ballooning.
*Skin color matters less while individual merit opens many more doors.
*Gender bias is on a downslope while women's rights have climbed and climbed.

Nice, huh?

And finally...

*Budgets are shrinking but our viewpoint that budget determines how well we can do our job is as well.

Not really an opposite, I know, but still, it's a good thing to be able to diminish this all-too-trite excuse we so often hear in our ranks for not doing better. (Though, it certainly has some merit. Not as much as people would have everyone believe... but some.)

These days we now, in my opinion, have much more of a mindset of, "Hey, these are the cards we've been dealt so there's no use whining about them... so let's just start playing them the best we can." I think this perspective on our plight is good for us as it allows us to see what is possible with our resources as opposed to what is not possible due to our lack of resources.

And if some more money comes back into the picture sometime soon, we'll take it, right?