Truths

Education is something of a rallying cry for me. It is my crusade. If I were in charge of the world, or even just this country, there would be some big changes in education.

One of the things I would change is how the general public views teachers. I am sick and tired of people thinking it is an easy job, that anyone can do it, that it’s an easy out for those who don’t have the mental capacity to do anything else. A substitute once told my high school class that we should study hard in school so we didn’t have to be teachers. Um, sure. I want stupid people to teach my kids. I studied hard so I could be a teacher.

It’s emotionally draining watching these kids and wanting to take away the almost insurmountable problems some of them face and not being able to. It’s mentally draining dealing with administration and parents and everything else that makes so many demands. It’s physically draining. I came home completely exhausted from teaching a lot of days. Not to mention that wonderful bruise I had last November.

Teaching is not easy. And those who think it will be, they don’t last.

I’ve seen a few news stories lately about education I’ve been wanting to comment on.

? Experts to Champion Better Maths – Britain is proposing new programs to help students with math. The things that stood out to me about their program was the necessity of parents to get involved, and the statement that children should do more mental math in the classroom. Those two things of themselves were one long story while I was teaching elementary school, fighting parents and even some teachers on those issues the whole time.

? One constant struggle with education is funding it. California seems to be approaching the funding problem by cutting it. I’m not sure how that makes sense and how that will help the schools. I’m so grateful I never took that job there. At the time it looked like the best offer I was going to get. I hate to think where I would be if I had ended up teaching there. (story 1, story 2, story 3, story 4)

? So why do politicians (currently the biggest one is McCain) think that vouchers would ever work? In the end they take money from schools too. The logic they say is that those parents whose children are attending struggling public schools can get money to send their kids to private schools. How about instead of funding vouchers, we fund schools and help those struggling schools get better? Vouchers have been a topic here before, and more than once. I doubt I will ever think they are a good idea.

? Incentive-based and merit based salaries. There have been several stories recently about different districts setting up merit based salaries (Utah considers, Utah OK’s, Colorado, DC). The trouble with this idea is that education is not a free market system. At your business, if you have an item that doesn’t sell, you get rid of it. If you have an employee that doesn’t perform, you fire them. Public education cannot fire kids who do not perform (public schools can, and do, and that’s why they always appear to do better on average than their public counterparts). Tell me how it is fair to base a teacher’s pay on the performance of students who have mental, family, emotional, physical problems.

? But I do think that those teachers who are good should be reviewed, and those that are no longer effective should be encouraged to leave, no matter how long they’ve been teaching. Accessing teachers is difficult though. One district has set up a peer review system. I’d be interested to learn more about it.

? This is the kind of stuff I wanted to do eventually with my classes. Elementary Students Show of Tech Projects. Maybe some day I can still do it during the summer with my kids and their friends.

? A teacher after my own heart. She celebrates fun weird days, and she loves Crayolas. Beloved “rare-crayon” teacher packing up her Crayolas. I already bought some brand new boxes of Crayola crayons for myself for the coming year.

I love education. I really do. I just wish those who don’t know anything about it would step away from it and let those who do take care of it.