First, Bash the Teachers- Media find a scapegoat for educational failure

[Panaconda]

First, Bash the Teachers
Media find a scapegoat for educational failure

By Peter Hart

Writing on the Wall Street Journal editorial page (10/1/09) under the headline “How Teachers Unions Lost the Media,” two education writers praised the press for turning on teachers, showing a “new attitude” that is in sync with today’s politics:

Editorial pages of major papers nationwide have begun to demand accountability for schools, despite objections from vested interests. Since the Obama administration took an unexpectedly tough line on school reform, the elite media response has been overwhelmingly positive.

But it’s hard to imagine that many people who follow the media would consider this much of a surprise. In fact, one of the first prerequisites for being deemed an education “reformer” by corporate media has long been an eagerness to bash teachers’ unions—and it cuts across the usual liberal/ conservative lines.


NewsWeek cover about the failure of American schools
...

Anti-union bias is not just found among opinion journalists. Newsweek’s cover story (3/15/10) on the failures of American teachers assembled a catalog of downbeat statistics about the state of American education and the failures of American teachers—and then observed, “At the same time, the teachers’ unions have become more and more powerful.” Newsweek writers Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert noted that teachers’ unions “are major players in the Democratic Party at the national and local levels,” and explained that “it is extremely significant—a sign of the changing times—that the Obama administration has taken them on” by promoting policies that would “weaken the grip of the teachers’ unions.” The implication, of course, is that this is a welcome development.

...

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4144

[madfloridian]

1. And the anti-union anti-teacher screed is being fed by Democrats.

And that angers me a lot.

[daleanime]

2. Wouldn't it be better.....

to do everything we can to make each teacher the best that they can be?O8) Placing blame never fixes anything.

[asjr]

3. Some of the best years of my life were spent

in the classroom with teachers who had my respect. They all had my respect. That was quite some time ago but I learned! My love for classical music came from my second grade teacher who played the music for the class on certain days. We all looked up to the teachers. I don't recognize schools now. I don't think teachers have changed that much--they just have to watch their backs more. I have chastied my grandchildren at times because they talk about teachers they "hate."

[TBF]

4. Core question is whether we really want to educate kids -

and of course I'm talking about the kids in public schools. As one article puts it: "This question is at the heart of a longstanding battle between business-oriented educators, who want to churn out a ready workforce, and progressive educators, acting in the tradition of John Dewey, who believe schools should nurture well-rounded, independent-minded citizens."

The entire article can be found here -
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/30-7

[blindpig]

6. I think you know the answer...

..a ready workforce, gullible consumers and an incurious, easily led citizenry is what they want, for us. Their children will get what everyone should get.

[TBF]

7. Exactly -

and they want "teachers" who are willing to dumb it down, at the lowest possible salaries.

[Versailles]

5. From an ex-teacher...

The biggest problem is that the most intelligent, energetic, and dynamic teachers don't fit this mold of what a teacher should be so they end up, in many cases, being the target. Often the best teachers are consistently at odds with administrators, many of whom have never been in a classroom as a teacher, because the good teachers understand how to be engaging and that there is no "one size fits all" approach to classroom management.

Personal example: I have ADD. I've learned to focus my attention and how to function properly in a classroom setting and now a work setting. For me, I often need to keep the creative aspect of my brain busy so that my logical/analytical part isn't distracted. When I was teaching in a 5th/6th grade combined classroom, I had a 5th grade girl who I knew to be very intelligent and was outstanding when presented information 1 on 1. However, when in a class lesson situation she would constantly be distracted - playing with anything she could get her hands on, talking, humming, etc. I recognized many of the same difficulties that I had focusing and asked her what she would rather do during lessons. She immediately said drawing. I gave her the ok on a trial basis to do so while I was giving class instructions. Her grades immediately went up and she was able to process the information from the class lessons much easier because her brain wasn't getting in the way. Her behavior problems went down as well. The problem came when other kids tried to do the same thing and were not able to focus on two tasks like she could. Sure enough, I got a call from parents and the principal angry at me because I was being unfair and allowing this girl to draw during class and no one else. Despite my explanations to the principal, she would not listen. This put me in the cross-hairs during the year and sure enough at the end of the year, my contract was not renewed. Rather than trust that I knew my students who I spent all day with, I was expected to give a cookie cutter approach to her education. Nevermind the fact that I helped to improved her test scores (I won't get into the stupidity of those at this point!), stopped her from causing behavioral issues which distracted the rest of the class, and gave this young lady a boost of confidence that potentially could have changed her academic future. But, because of the silliness of this all teachers must teach the same material exactly the same way she was thrown by the wayside and eventually I gave up on education.

I will say that there are bad teachers in the system, but those bad teachers are rewarded in this push for making things "better". Unoriginality, textbook teaching, teaching to the test, are all rewarded in this educational climate. Teachers that truly have a passion for teaching and an exciting idea are driven out of education because those concepts don't fit into the nice little box that some bureaucrat has decided makes a "good teacher".

[YvonneCa]

8. Thank you for this post...

...from another ex-teacher. :)