Walt Gardner in his recent article on teachers hits on a major problem that has plagued educational reform for years. Reformers, especially in the political arena, have absolutely no idea about what goes on in a real classroom.
I was a Principal for many years in California. I knew I was only as good as my teachers.
Unfortunately, America has a blind spot when it comes to teachers. Most Americans, and politicians look down on the profession as “those that can do, those that can’t teach”.
It is no accident that teachers in California organized into unions at the same time Proposition 13 passed. Teachers are in unions because they need protection from a public and politicians that consider them expendible and look down upon them.
Finally, our socioeconomic collapse, that has reduced many inner cities into blighted horrors of human misery, produces children who are nearly impossible to teach. What would you do, go into an impossible situation for which you will be unfairly blamed, or teach in the “safe” schools where your efforts will succeed with much reward?
Our politicization of education has resulted in a dysfunctional system and it is not our teachers’ fault.
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