One of the things I deeply admire about my partner is her approach to professional challenges. She may complain about an issue, but she doesn't spiral into negativity over it (at least, not outwardly-directed negativity, but that's another issue.) She also doesn't brush it aside. Instead, she processes her feelings about it, and then works to identify next steps towards a solution.

This is a process that I struggle to embody when it comes to teaching difficulties. Teachers are really, really good at complaining, and a good vent session can be incredibly relieving after a difficult day. However, when these vent sessions get repetitive, they start to weigh on me. The solution is not toxic positivity--platitudes like "we do it for the outcome, not the income!" are a definite non-starter--but I do feel better if I can pick my colleagues' brains for advice, not just commiseration.

Unfortunately, when we try to get at the root of a problem, we often find ourselves facing down huge social structures that aren't solvable from behind a teacher's desk. Sure, we'd love for our students to learn for the sake of learning, develop their senses of self, and explore the world around them. But we are constrained by the realities of our social structures. When we run into these issues, we have to zoom back in and ask "but what can we do in our classrooms?"

There is somewhat of a push to turn schools into the savior of society. Nevermind the limited funding, administrative mismanagement, or aging resources of schools--they are asked to educate children, feed and clothe them, foster their creativity, help them achieve passing test scores, direct their moral and social development, build their communities, support their parents, prepare them for a future we cannot predict, offer them a myriad of opportunities while limiting their exposure to things their parents might object to, teach them how to do their taxes and change a tire and tie their shoes while still meeting rigorous standards and giving them grace but holding them to high standards and--

This is asking too much. The institution of education is not capable of solving all of society's ills. In fact, it's struggling to even fulfill its primary function of educating children (although what exactly "educating" means is another question worth delving into.) So what should we do? We have to zoom back in and ask "what can we ACTUALLY do in our school systems?"

In answer to that question, I have a few suggestions:

• We can't erase the social pressure of "hustle culture," but maybe we can shorten school days and schedule more breaks and unstructured time so that children have time to absorb what they're learning.

• We can't remove the addicting siren call of personal technology and constant media from our students' lives, but surely we can ban it in schools so that students can focus on their education.

• We can't remove external pressures to achieve from our students' shoulders, but we can change our grading systems to reflect the value of personal growth and self-fulfillment so that students can learn skills and information instead of simply aiming for a number.

• We can't recreate disappearing local communities, but perhaps we can integrate our students across programs and subjects to work towards common goals so that students can make connections between the different things they're learning.

• We can't remove the barriers of class, race, ability, gender, sexuality from our students' lives, but perhaps we can put enough resources (read: teachers and support staff) into classrooms to allow for inclusion without homogeneous tracking so that students can be met where they're at and learn from classmates of different backgrounds

Simply complaining about schools isn't enough--nor is plastering positivity over their ills, like by unquestioningly approving school funding without asking where that money goes. When we run into big, social problems, it's not our job to try to unilaterally solve them from the bottom-up--indeed, attempting to do this just bloats school budgets, limits their efficiency, and hinders their ability to actually educate students. Instead, we have to turn towards our selves and ask "what can we do within our own institution?" and start there.