Featured Educator

Esteban Morales, Educator for Special Education

“We waste too much money.”

     You think you have a tough classroom? Think about the students Esteban Morales works with - teens from correctional facilities, kids coping with recovery from sexual abuse, children suffering from mood disorders, substance abuse or ADHD. Morales is the director of the school at Psychiatric Institute of Washington, which provides treatment to children (and adults) needing psychiatric care.

     Morales has worked in Special Education for all of his professional life and comes from a family tradition of teaching. "I don‘t know if I decided [to be a teacher], or if I was picked," he said. He has five uncles who were teachers before him. This educator began his career in Chile, migrating to the US in 1995. He arrived knowing no English, but by spending eight hours daily for eight months in ESL classes, quickly became fully bilingual.

     In comparing American schools to schools in South America, he said "What surprised me sometimes was the lack of resources or the waste of resources. In South America, many teachers must pay from their pockets due to a lack of resources. Here in America, what surprised me sometimes was the waste of resources. We waste too much money."

     His observation of the other major problem in American schools is one all teachers can relate to - "Too much paperwork."