Throw the Bums Out! There are more players than just teachers

I like to listen to talk radio and frequently tune in different station to hear all sides of the daily whine.  The car radio was tuned to a local station and a moderator and guest were discussing various societal problems.  When they discussed education, the guest began the rhetoric of scapegoating teachers.  The message this man sent out was that our schools are in ruins and it is the fault of the teachers, so we have to create vouchers, and charters to move improve education.

There is a persistent drumbeat in the media causing us to believe all our schools are failing and the way to solve the problem is to get rid of the teachers.  My experiences as an educator leads me to believe that this is a very simplistic solution.  Certainly there are bad schools and certainly there are bad teachers but to label all students as poorly educated and all teachers as bad misses the mark at the heart of the problem.

My experience is that most teachers are dedicated professionals trying to help as many students as they can.  Most students want to succeed and usually behave like adolescents in pursuit of that goal. What I find interesting about the debate is that since I began teaching in 1975 nothing has substantially changed.  At that time schools were failing, students were not going to be able to succeed in life, other countries were ahead of us in test scores,  and teachers were the problem.  It is hard to believe that adults today have the thinking skills to evaluate the problems  of education, that they do is a testament to the fact that somehow they were able to make meaning of their educations despite the fact it was so bad.

I believe that part of the problem is that most children did not like being told what they had to do and blamed their teachers for their unhappiness at having to go to school.  I think that is the root of the problem.  Many people remember their education from negative emotional memories.  This can be solved by making schools a happier environment.  I believe that being kind and respectful to all students can go a long way toward achieving the goal of children being happy about going to school.  When they first started school that is how they felt.  Educational institutions should strive to create environments of wonder and awe.

What about the bad teachers?  There are some, but I do not believe that you can find them by looking at their student test scores.  Education is a cooperative, collaborative process with many stakeholders and they all have a hand in the success or failure of each child.  Parents,  administrators, teachers, education aides, school boards, unions, substitute teachers, state legislators, and federal administrators are some of the stakeholders in this process.  How do we evaluate their responsibility for the system failures and successes?

My real question is how do bad teachers get to the classroom?  Maybe we should evaluate that system as opposed to scapegoating the teachers.  How does a bad teacher get a degree in education?  What role does the hiring process play in putting bad teachers in the classroom?  Why can't certification processes be better filters of good and bad teachers? Why aren't "bad" teachers identified early in the evaluation process, given guidance, and mentored?  Certainly a contract can be negotiated with teacher's unions that recognizes the importance of working together for the best interests of the children.

Our adversarial, competitiveness drives the school systems.  These are not 21st skills, they are 19th century skills.  Today it is more important than ever that we show our children how collaboration and cooperation drive teams to win.  The United States is a team and if we truly believe that our children are important we need to demonstrate the best traits of competition, not the worst.  Throwing out teachers is not the answer to reforming education!