The International Schools Review Forum

I started my teaching career out of my sincere concern for the lack of equity in the educational opportunity among public schools in the U.S. and I completely acknowledge that in taking a job at an international school I am joining a private school community and will be working with a different population. Although I'm comfortable with my decision to leave the public system in the U.S. (at least for a while), I am concerned with how I'll be able to balance my new position with the concern for social justice issues that drive my dedication to education and teaching. If any one has any insight that they would like to share about how they have or haven't been able to become engaged with the local community, I would greatly appreciate it.

At our school, we raise money to send orphans to school, have contests to bring in sports equipment, send students to other countries to work with Habitat for Humanity, etc.

It is still possible to deal with social injustice, although not necessarily at the local level (which I honestly would not want to get involved in while in this country).

All children deserve a good education! Plus rich kids may have the same problems as the poor, absent parents. Also the students we teach, may, have a better chance of being the next leaders of the world. Don't we want to shape them into better leaders than we have now??

There is no doubt that all children deserve a good education, but that is not the reality for public education in the U.S. or many, many other countries. My current students are definitely "poor" but their primary "problem" isn't absent parents and for most of my students that isn't a problem at all. Simply because students in international schools MAY become the next leaders of the world doesn't mean that ignoring issues of social justice will solve them. I do want the next generation to have better leaders than the likes of the Ol' Shrub, Mr. Putin and many other power hungry politicos, but I also believe in helping to alleviate current inequities.