America’s classrooms are falling apart.

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022

Last week, I mentioned that one of the things I disliked about being a teacher was that our facilities are run down.

If you don’t look too closely at the image above, it doesn’t look too bad. The necessary resources are there. There’s even a fancy, expensive interactive screen. Closer scrutiny reveals something wrong with almost everything.

If your school is like mine, the heat and AC have never worked right. Window AC units have been installed in some classrooms. Someone has used clear packing tape to seal some of the gaps.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

I now have a choice in some of my classrooms during the warmer months. We can be cool, or we can hear each other speak. We can’t do both.

Some of the floors are crumbling.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

Some of the ceilings and walls are crumbling.

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022

Some of the furniture is crumbling.

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022

Some of the carpet is stained and buckled.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

The upholstery on many student desks is torn, stained, and/or marked liberally with ball point pen ink.

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022

Some ceiling tiles are stained and bowed. Some rooms are visited by wasps, lady beetles, and stinkbugs. You can see their carcasses in silhouette inside the fluorescent lighting fixtures in classrooms and hallways.

Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022Photo taken by the author on March 24, 2022

The money that gets spent on improvements tends to go to technology. While I was writing this draft, our SMART Boards were replaced with big new Lite Touch Interactive Screens. The old SMART Boards weren’t broken or anything.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

This chair at the front of one class has had some kind of crud on the seat for as long as I can remember.

Photo taken by the author on April 4 2022

This chair at the front of another class has some kind of visible filth on it.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

This chair at the front of another class has some kind of visible, tangible crust on it.

Photo taken by the author on April 4, 2022

These are chairs that I am supposed to sit in. Chairs for teachers at the front of classrooms. I don’t even want to touch them.

I want to teach in classrooms I can be proud of. I want students to learn in classrooms they can be proud of. I don’t want to have to apologize to students for the condition of their classrooms.

We occasionally host prospective students and their parents in these classrooms. I wonder what they think. I wonder if I’m the only one.