Let Teachers Teach
2013-09-16 - by
“The problem with education policy is that it’s made by old white men who haven’t been in a classroom since college.” – A professor of education
For decades now, cycles of education “reform” have swept across America and North Carolina. Testing programs, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and now Common Core.
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine had more: give every student a tablet and start teaching “emotional intelligence.”
In North Carolina today, Republicans have their hobby-horses: have more charter schools and give tax money to private schools.
Here’s a wild idea: Why not just let teachers teach? Why not trust the people who know most about teaching today’s student? Why do we instead listen to people who haven’t been inside a classroom in decades and are driven by politics and ideology?
And let’s stop assuming that people who are successful in business – or, more accurately, have big titles in big corporations – know what to do in the schools.
One of the great “reformers,” Diane Ravitch, has come around. For years she rode every reform wave that came along. Now she’s admitting error in a book titled, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.”
She’s finally figured it out, she says: “We know what works. What works are the opportunities that advantaged families provide for their children.”
Good luck fixing that. But there’s an alternative: provide students good teachers who can provide something approaching those opportunities.
I give Governor McCrory credit for getting one thing right. In his new TV ad, he says: “Let’s stop over-testing” in the schools. He should add, “And let’s stop under-paying teachers.”
Some years ago, when Charlie Crist was a Republican and the governor of Florida, he made a reform proposal that made sense: Pay teachers $100,000 a year.
Stop disrespecting them and distrusting them. Let them do the job they’re trained to do – and can do well. Pay them well.
Stop falling for every fad reform that comes along. Use your common sense: You know from your own days in school – no matter how long ago that was – the difference a great teacher made.
Let them make a difference for students today.
Let Teachers Teach
2013-09-16/
“The problem with education policy is that it’s made by old white men who haven’t been in a classroom since college.” – A professor of education
For decades now, cycles of education “reform” have swept across America and North Carolina. Testing programs, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and now Common Core.
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine had more: give every student a tablet and start teaching “emotional intelligence.”
In North Carolina today, Republicans have their hobby-horses: have more charter schools and give tax money to private schools.
Here’s a wild idea: Why not just let teachers teach? Why not trust the people who know most about teaching today’s student? Why do we instead listen to people who haven’t been inside a classroom in decades and are driven by politics and ideology?
And let’s stop assuming that people who are successful in business – or, more accurately, have big titles in big corporations – know what to do in the schools.
One of the great “reformers,” Diane Ravitch, has come around. For years she rode every reform wave that came along. Now she’s admitting error in a book titled, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.”
She’s finally figured it out, she says: “We know what works. What works are the opportunities that advantaged families provide for their children.”
Good luck fixing that. But there’s an alternative: provide students good teachers who can provide something approaching those opportunities.
I give Governor McCrory credit for getting one thing right. In his new TV ad, he says: “Let’s stop over-testing” in the schools. He should add, “And let’s stop under-paying teachers.”
Some years ago, when Charlie Crist was a Republican and the governor of Florida, he made a reform proposal that made sense: Pay teachers $100,000 a year.
Stop disrespecting them and distrusting them. Let them do the job they’re trained to do – and can do well. Pay them well.
Stop falling for every fad reform that comes along. Use your common sense: You know from your own days in school – no matter how long ago that was – the difference a great teacher made.
Let them make a difference for students today.