“So, what were you like in high school?”

The question comes up at least twice a semester. Truthfully, I am a high school teacher who hated high school. I’d retreat during calculus class to the restroom windowsill to read novels. During lunch, I’d hide in the library to avoid monotonous lunch-table gossip and peruse the latest Time magazine. (President Obama had just been sworn in, and the iPhone now featured a built-in speaker.) During science classes, I’d drum my Ticonderoga pencils and watch the Amtrak train zip by the open window.

I longed to be on that train; to be taken from my high school and its suburban trappings to Boston or New York City. What I did not know then is that years later, I would follow that train line to the heart of North Philadelphia to be a high school English teacher. There, I would realize that the neat details of my own schooling were evidence of resources that weren’t shared equally across the state.

My sprawling, recently built high school campus in Central Pennsylvania was surrounded by mossy green athletic fields. Science labs were stockpiled with dead critters to dissect and the student weight room resembled an Equinox gym. Classes were never large and most students were academically on grade level. We had a brand new ventilation system that provided temperate conditions year-round. The only time it was defunct was when a few seniors let some chickens loose in the ductwork.

Read the full article about funding schools in Pennsylvania by Lydia Kulina-Washburn at Chalkbeat.