FROM THE EDITOR: Why Do We Write about Education?
Because the people best positioned to improve education are being ignored.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Throughout the Advance’s first year, without doubt the question I am asked most is this: “Why do you write so much about education?”
There is a very practical answer, of course. Significant sums of our tax dollars go to support public education, and journalism’s first commitment is to serve as a watchdog on government.
Over the past year, that has motivated a great deal of our education reporting across the region. From questions about the amount of legal fees being paid in Spotsylvania County Schools and the challenges facing Stafford County Schools’ aging infrastructure, to Fredericksburg City Schools’ struggles to elevate test scores, the challenges before schools and the consequences of failure are profound.
Taxpayers spend serious money on these issues, and they deserve a fair, straight assessment from well-trained journalists unafraid to bring to light the challenges schools face and the ways in which they are working to face them.
The Advance has done this faithfully throughout our first year, and we will continue to do so in 2025 with even more vigor.
But this isn’t the sole reason, or even necessarily the most important.
We are motivated to cover education because there is no other government institution that has as potent an effect on people’s lives — both now and well into the future — than education.
And there are no more important people in this equation than the teachers themselves.
As one who has covered education nationally and internationally for over two decades, I am still learning how vital these people are to our future, and how valuable outstanding teachers are.
Everyone’s future, be they student, parent, or citizen, rests on their work.
That reality has weighed heavier on me this past year than at any point in my professional life, in no small part because for the past two years, I’ve added the job of teacher (a decidedly novice one) to the job I’m more comfortable with, and far more accomplished at — journalist.
In a quarter century of education writing, I’ve always respected teachers and the difficult work that they do. But it wasn’t until I had to daily stand before a group of young minds and struggle to prepare them intellectually, emotionally, and dare I say spiritually for their lives ahead that I really began to appreciate how remarkable truly great teacher are.
We are motivated to cover education because there is no other government institution that has as potent an effect on people’s lives — both now and well into the future — than education.
And there are no more important people in this equation than the teachers themselves.
In education, a passion for working with young people is a pre-req; it in no way prepares you for the work. So, too subject-matter expertise.
Over the past couple of years, I have watched and learned from genuine professionals in the field. And in so doing, I’ve come to appreciate their expertise.
To understand that a child in your class is reading below grade level is easy. To know how to move that child from where they are, to where they need to be is a significantly more-daunting task that one can’t figure out instinctively.
Now imagine a class of 35, where three-fourths are below grade level, and that’s just one of five you teach every two days.
To understand that testing is important for measuring student development is easy. To instill a love of learning when your hands are bound by rigid curriculum guides and paced to such a point that helping students just stay level becomes a near-impossibility is quite another matter.
Most challenging of all, however, is to spend years developing the skills to be successful, only to take directions from bands of people with little to no insight into how to make things better.
The number of conversations I’ve had as a reporter with people about education that begin with — “My wife or husband is a teacher …” — are too numerous to count.
As one who has been married to a teacher for nearly 40 years, and has spent two decades writing about education, I can confidently say that the knowledge these people have is not transmitted by simply being in their presence.
And this gets to the crux of why we write.
If education is to begin to succeed as we all want it to, it will begin with all of us trusting teachers.
This doesn’t mean to trust blindly. Teachers don’t always get it right. Nor is this to say that parents and politicians and critics have no place at the table.
It is to say that until we approach teachers from a position of trust, the maneuverability teachers require to exercise the very great experience and skillsets they bring to the table for educating students will not emerge.
If schools are not meeting our standards, the blame must fall first with those of us who are not daily in the classroom.
In two years as a teacher, I’ve learned that it would take me at least ten more to become a really sound educator.
Experienced teachers deserve the first say in improving academic achievement. They are the best positioned to know what will and will not work.
Why do we write about education? Because while taxpayers have every right to hold schools accountable for outcomes, teachers have every right to control the ways they believe will work best to deliver those outcomes — not parents, not the state, not even administrators in schools.
When it comes to teaching, improvement grows from the classroom up.
In 2025, may we all start there, in our quest to prepare our children for the very challenging world that we are bequeathing them.
Editor’s Note: A h/t to TJK, ARR, EF, and many more who have made me a far better education writer and editor this year.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
