Yesterday I had one of those moments when I was being punished for being good at my job. I was being punished (or so I felt at the time) for caring about young people and their learning. I was being punished (or so it seemed) because I cultivate purposeful, meaningful experiences and I believe it is my responsibility to make sure that students’ time is well spent.

As I continue to learn, not everyone thinks about education the same way that I do. And that can be very, very isolating.

I don’t like being told that I care too much or work too hard or that we’ll wait and see. Sometimes waiting and seeing is fine, but it’s not fine when “wait and see” means being reactive instead of proactive. It’s not fine when our inability as adults to take responsibility for difficult work puts students in positions where they cannot be successful. It’s not fine when waiting and seeing means picking up the pieces once there are enough pieces.

It might be hard to say no to student and parent whims, wants, and desires. It might be hard to implement procedures and policies. But it’s also necessary. So that we don’t have to pick up pieces.

Because students are people, not pieces, and they deserve to be treated as such.

Which is why, when asked to take on a task yesterday that is far beyond my roles at school, I did. Because someone needed to do the right thing and someone needed to make sure that a child who was hurting learned from his actions.

This is what I mean when I talk about people-building. This is what I mean when I say I want to raise good people.

We form relationships. We do work that is challenging. We do right by students.

And I say “we” because people responded when I asked for help. Students deserve to learn. And we have chosen to raise them.