Becoming a Voice: Genesis of Our Novel, the Newsletter

“Yesterday I watched people read your essay. Frank Nolden amen-ed every paragraph. Alice Cain’s ready to drag the school system kicking and squealing backward into the age of the little red schoolhouse. And George Moore ran off a copy for every teacher on his wife’s faculty. I think we’ve got something here. We should go public. A newsletter—district-wide, sent to every teacher and administrator.”

“Have you been drinking?”

“No. I want to publish a newsletter. Will you help me?”

“Wait. Wait. I don’t want my name connected to anything.”

“Why? Don’t you want anyone to know what you believe?”

“Yes, of course. But I’ve seen people ruined in this system for speaking out. Look at you! You hardly get comfortable in your chair before they send you packing.”

“OK. We’ll go underground.”

“Underground! Like The Free Press?”

“Sure.”

“I can’t do that, Nick. I don’t have time, and I don’t have that much to say.”

“Then we’ll get more people.”

“Who?”

“David.”

       “David! Come on, Nick.” Karen pushed her back against the headboard and flicked on the light. “That weasel would never take any chances.”

       “No. He wouldn’t. Not in public anyway. But David’s clever. He could fire shots from the shadows. And Alice Cain is disgusted with this system. You know she’s worried about education. You could just mention this to them tomorrow. Plant the seed. Teachers have never had a real voice in this town, Karen. Don’t you think they deserve one?”

This short passage from our novel, A Disgrace to the Profession, illustrates both a need among teachers to be heard and a fear of administrative reprisal if they speak. That situation led to The Emperor’s New Clothes, our real underground newsletter, in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1989.

Positive response to the little paper, some of it anonymous, was like a bursting dam relieving pent-up torrents of frustrations, complaints, emotions, and recommendations for improving the schools. Readers thanked us for saying what they had never had the opportunity—or courage—to say themselves. The newsletter also created a dialogue, some of it sub-rosa and not all of it just among educators, in Des Moines about the state of education. The result was a revamped focus in district publications and press releases and more awareness of teacher discontent.

Encouraged by the power of our pens, we decided to paint a picture of teachers struggling in a pressure-laden work environment. A Disgrace to the Profession dramatizes one year at a fictional Midwestern high school through two teachers, Nicholas Staal and Karen Merchant, and what happens to them personally and in their careers when they speak out.

Watch for our next posting: Becoming a Voice, the Novel.