Apple On An Empty Desk

About the Book

Offering nine reasons why one teacher walked out on her career, this book has been written in an effort to explain what’s wrong with the American education system: it is a struggling system beleaguered by unclear purposes, unbearable conditions, unprofessional evaluations, unavailable values, undervalued standards, unqualified employees, underdeveloped expectations, unraveled communities and unchanging minds. This writing will challenge mentalities, perspectives, ethics and attitudes regarding the American public education system. In short, it will show day-to-day dealings between colleagues, and it will reveal the inconsistent attitudes held by administrators. It will point fingers at some notions which need to be altered, and it will offer simple ideas that could make a difference toward positive change. This book isn’t designed to repair the public education system. It, instead, is designed to give a real look at what real teachers deal with on a regular basis. It is a surprising study of what happens to the educator who succeeds. And it is an alarming look at how colleagues deal with someone else’s success and popularity. This book awakens the reader to the realities and struggles of those few who truly are dedicated to the teaching profession. And then it asks real questions for you to ask yourself as a reader, as a taxpayer, as a parent and as a member of our educated society.

About the Author

Born and raised in the rural Midwest, Rachael M. Smith Traywick was raised by two devoted parents who each taught in America’s public schools and who carried their high standards of excellence home to their two daughters. Dr. and Mrs. Smith’s love of teaching passed on to Rachael as she pursued her own teaching career, following in her father’s footsteps as a secondary education major. A proud member of Phi Beta Kappa, Rachael’s excellence as a student was matched on the other side of the desk as she became an English instructor in the Midwest in the early 1990’s. First teaching at the college level, then teaching in three different American public high schools until her final resignation in 2004, Mrs. Traywick maintained a strong fervor for the business of enlightening and challenging America’s youth. Now out of the classroom, Rachael Traywick’s goal is to use her voice in educating others about what they can do to improve America’s schools, whether as students, as parents, as taxpayers or as teachers. Her story is one that is told from an “insider’s” experiences, and it is a story told out of concern and heartbreak for what the public education system has become: another institution reflecting the breakdown within American society. Rachael currently resides in Hawaii with her husband, Brad.