Should Teachers Ignore Poverty's Impact?

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Rafe Esquith, central Los Angeles fifth grade teacher and best-selling author of "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire":

I'm with the teacher on this one.

Of course, there are teachers who give up far too easily and make excuses. I think of myself as a reasonably hard worker and someone who gives every child my best effort.

But there are fantastic doctors who have patients that die. Is it always the doctor's fault? Certainly there are patients who will not survive despite a great doctor's heroic efforts.

People who believe that "all children will learn" have watched too many Hollywood movies about teachers. I'm pretty good at what I do and fail all the time. There ARE circumstances that are beyond my control, despite the fact that I normally work 18 hours a day and spend every penny I have on the kids.

And as you wrote about me when you said kind words about my book, many of the teachers who "save everyone" don't even teach anymore. The idea that all children will learn sounds wonderful, but these words need to be surrounded with a little bit of realism.

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Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) school network, Houston:

Full personal responsibility for student achievement and refusing to blame other factors does NOT mean we ignore the other factors; it simply means we view other factors as challenges and problems that require solutions, and we view the possibility of solutions as fitting inside our personal sphere of influences vs. shrugging our shoulders and giving up.

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Kenneth J. Bernstein, social studies teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Prince George's County, writer and blogger: