Educators Rant or Right

It is amazing how consistent editorial writers are in their total ignorance of public education. In today’s editorial “It’s Not Just About Money” the scene is set that California has chronically underfunded its schools. Information as usual, is divulged explaining how inflation is not even being matched, and California’s position in the nation is deteriorating. Schools quite simply are being told increasingly to do more with nothing.

Then, predictably, the editorial asserts that Prop 98 is to blame, because it has “hamstrung” how to allocate scarce resources. Moreover, it’s lousy teachers’ faults, so test scores should be tied to teacher evaluations.

There you have it, abandon Prop 98 and make it easier to fire teachers and education will improve. Of course nothing is said about teachers who deal with students from socioeconomic and family backgrounds who need more help than our public system can give.

Nonsense…nonsense…nonsense!

Lousy teachers are to blame for billions of dollars in underfunding? This feeds the public’s wrong headedness that public education is full of lousy, good for nothing, rotten teachers. Nonsense!! California is the most diverse state in the nation. Every day teachers enter classrooms with abused children, illiterate children, angry children; etc. Everyday, these same teachers somehow survive and teach children who simply DARE them to teach them. Yes, some do fail, but in circumstances that even master teachers would struggle with. Now, thanks to chronic underfunding, the odds of success are reduced dramatically. The latest budget will make bad schools worse, mediocre schools bad, and good schools suspect.

So, we’ll fix it, suspend Prop 98 and underfund education even more?? Set up a system that rewards those who teach high achieving students? So, who would then be stupid enough to take on the low achieving students if you are punished when they don’t succeed on arbitrary standardized tests.

Because of the nonsense you propagate, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get anyone to become a teacher. If you are so naïve, get ready to be blamed for every societal ill, plummeted by politicians eager to destroy equal opportunity, and maligned by a governor who can’t begin to comprehend what ordinary people do.

Here is the way to fix education in California. Value your teacher corps, reward with good salaries, benefits and prestige those who toil in our overcrowded and underfunded classrooms. Forget about tinkering constantly with a system you don’t understand.

“Fixing education” means investment and public responsibility, which are evidently not part of the California political landscape anymore.

Note: I am a retired school teacher/administrator of 35 years, and know more about education than every one of your editorial writers put together. You hurt teachers again today with your foolishness.