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I felt a little anxious after I submitted my last column. I was self-conscious about being too negative and cynical. I worry about falling into that trap. No matter how rational or right a person is, a voice of reason can easily be lost when it gets too closely to ranting.

Wanting to find some positive inspiration, I went off my usual column preparation diet of education websites and Facebook pages, looking for encouragement. And that is where I found the real ranting. I found teacher-centered blogs, Facebook pages, and websites bashing everything from charter schools, Teach For America teachers, and core standards to poor families, Bill Gates, teacher evaluations, scientific studies, and even students.

One particular teachers group had as their mission statement that they “give voice to every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality through education.”

I understand that teachers aren’t responsible for solving poverty in America, but I also know what an overstatement it is to say that people expect that of our educators. It is an extremely negative way to begin the mission statement for an association of people that ostensibly puts learning first. Even if it’s true, who starts a mission statement with a denial of responsibility?

The statement goes on to say that the group refuses “to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning.”

Who has “contempt” for learning?

And another question comes to mind: Why is there no mention in the statement of helping students?

I don’t think Jeffery Canada, who started Harlem Children’s Zone, or Ron Clark, who opened the Ron Clark Academy in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Atlanta, go on and on about how unfair it is for teachers to be expected to change the lives of students who live in horrible neighborhoods and face grave problems. Those education leaders go in knowing what their mission is and what challenges they face, and they don’t “refuse to be blamed” for a failure to solve poverty.

It is ironic that the Harlem Children’s Zone and the Ron Clark Academy are the types of schools that are under attack by the same group. Charter schools are often slammed for “creaming,” which means admitting students whose parents are already involved in their children’s education, while leaving kids with uninvolved parents in failing schools.

I understand the sentimentality and concern for inequality, but how is it wise to force one student to stay in a failing school just because we haven’t yet found a way to reach that other student?

The reasoning of the teachers group locks both categories of students into failing systems because of teachers who “refuse to take the blame,” while also preventing anyone from leaving. If that sounds like an oversimplification of what is actually a very nuanced position, that’s because it is. I don’t think people in this group actually want to trap the kids.

Equally as nuanced, and of great concern for our students, are the positions of people who support the charter movement, Teach For America, and teacher evaluations.

Maybe the political climate around education is just a reflection of the fractured, polarized, and intractable climate in politics right now. But even if that is the truth, I will not, for even a second, operate as if I believe we can’t change it. If I did, then I would lose the part of me that works to bridge that gap.

That is also why my mission statement will never suggest that I am not responsible for any student’s learning. And I will not shy away from being evaluated on how well, or how poorly, I reach even the most difficult student.

Education was broken long before standardized testing, Bill Gates’ education efforts, and Teach For America. I believe what broke it was the change from America believing that it could do anything — even put a man on the moon — to being a disillusioned nation with a heavy heart brought down by war, divisions over civil rights, and growing economic disparities.

These days, the public, teachers, school administrations, and even politicians stand on the same side of the battle against ignorance. But instead of finding solutions, we are fighting ourselves. We have to stop.

Communities have a stake in the quality of their teachers, and they have a right to ask for measurements of educators’ performances. Politicians are responding out of concern for the communities that they serve. A lot of the policy that comes out of those concerns may be misguided in the way it is executed, but when teachers isolate themselves in opposition to what sounds like common sense to everyone outside — like a performance evaluations based on outcomes — then we remove ourselves from helping to develop education policies.

Teachers need to identify the good intentions behind a lot of the education policy that we hate. Even when I bemoan the way things are done, I don’t lose sight of the fact that even the leaders and administrators with whom I vehemently disagree have the best intentions of their communities at heart.

Teachers need to take into account that other people have a valid stake in trying to fix this education system, and that educators alone proved to be unable to fix it for two decades before testing or performance evaluations ever entered the scene. Teachers need to create forums for those of us who understand such concerns so that we can come together and shape those policies so that they function the way they were intended, as a boon and not a detriment to our classrooms.

And we need to know that we can adjust policies to take into account harsh realities, even as we go to work every day with a mission statement that says that we can reach every single student.

Michael Wooten is a former sergeant in the U.S. Army and University of California Berkeley graduate who came to Hawaii as a Teach For America teacher in 2008. He earned his masters degree in education from the University of Hawaii and currently teaches English and film at James Campbell High School in Ewa Beach.