There's an odd feeling now in being a retired teacher at this forum.

madfloridian

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Thu Apr-08-10 11:32 PM
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There's an odd feeling now in being a retired teacher at this forum.

And in the Democratic party.

And in this country now.

I was proud of what I did all those years. When people like me entered the teaching profession, we knew we would not get rich. And yes, it is a profession.

There was a sense of pride in our area in being a teacher. There was mostly a sense that we were appreciated for our education and for our work with students.

We continued our training all the time. Some of us took classes at nearby universities and colleges to keep up with the latest in information and teaching techniques. There was a very special pride in getting a graduate degree, and it was rewarded with respect and money.

The most heartbreaking thing I have noticed recently is that there are no Democrats standing up with teachers as they are being discredited. There are almost no Democrats standing up for a traditional public education which has been the backbone of this country.

They don't dare speak out even if they cared enough because they would be going against the party's policy.

So they are silent.

Actually right now as I write, the Florida Republicans are getting ready to make Florida a wasteland for teachers.

Senate Bill 6 subjects teachers to firing without cause at the end of each school year. Principals will be able to fire teachers at will. If a teacher disagrees with a principal on anything -- anything at all -- that teacher can be terminated, even if her students are successful based on test scores.

Graduate degrees will have no value. Senate Bill 6 forbids teachers from earning salary based on advanced degrees or credentials. The very professionals who are to encourage, mentor and develop students to be college-ready are now told that their education credentials are worth nothing. Is that the message we want to send to our children whom we want to see go on to college?

Experience doesn't count either. Now that is really strange. Practice and experience used to make one more skilled, but that appears not to apply to teachers.

There have been no loud Democratic voices opposing this terrible bill. Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink says it is not a good bill, but she has failed to follow through and elaborate on it strongly.

From the same link...Reagan started the shameful attacks on teachers in order to prepare the ground for privatization.

He formed a Commission on Privatization in 1987:

President Reagan today appointed a commission to study ways Government functions can be turned over to private business.

Prof. David F. Linowes, a political economist at the University of Illinois, was named chairman of the President's Commission on Privatization, and said the 12-member panel's mandate ''is very broad.'' It will ''probe the entire dimension of Government operations'' and offer recommendations in six months, he said.

Mr. Reagan, vacationing at his ranch near here, issued a statement saying the commission would help him ''end unfair Government competition and return Government programs and assets to the American people.''

..."Professor Linowes, speaking to reporters here, said he could not predict what the commission might recommend. But he indicated that likely targets of study included Federal low-income housing projects. The Government has already given some prospective tenants vouchers to pay for low-income housing of their choice, rather than building new Federal housing units. A similar Administration idea, to distribute education vouchers so parents can send children to the school of their choice, has gone nowhere.

In Florida those vouchers are catching on and growing in number. My tax money sends tens of thousands to private schools, many to religious ones. It is considered okay now to do that.

Once I posted that there was under this administration a growing contempt for teachers.

That post angered people, but it was true.

Diane Ravitch answers a blogger

Hi, Fred,

I think that Bush wishes he could have imposed the agenda laid out in Race to the Top, but he would have had to fight against the Democrats in Congress. They would never have supported a plan that bribed states to lift the caps on charter schools–far too intrusive, and many would have seen this as privatization. Nor would they have supported a federal requirement that states remove any legal restriction on linking teacher evaluations to student test scores–not only because it is offensive to teachers, who know that they are not solely responsible for their students’ scores, but because the research does not support this idea.

So, do I think that Duncan is carrying forward Bush’s agenda? Yes, beyond the dreams of Margaret Spellings, and without the opposition of the Democrats in Congress.

But please, tell me, do you think I am wrong? Do you like the fact that a Democratic administration is promoting charters, private management, merit pay, and high-stakes testing for teachers?

I just quoted the assistant Secretary of Education under George HW Bush.

I am still proud to have been a teacher for over 3 decades. I touched the lives of a lot of children in ways that went far deeper than the scores on one test.

I am saddened to see the lack of respect for teachers at this and other Democratic forums.

We will hear tonight or tomorrow that Florida has passed its shameful bill. There will be too many who think the teachers deserve it, and too many who fail to see that education in Florida was just destroyed in every meaningful sense.