Extorting Teachers

I read two reports today. The first was about how depraved gangs in Ciudad Juarez have been extorting teachers and schools, demanding that they give up their Christmas bonuses or the gangs will attack the teachers, the schools or the children. Some attacks have taken place.

The second report was closer to home. One section of the Democratic Party has joined the Republicorp in attacking teachers' unions, on the grounds that union busting will lead to better schools. I doubt if I can express how pathetic this plan is.

Back in the twentieth century a huge amount of compelling research in many different countries went into studies of how young people learn effectively. None of it demonstrated that punishing teachers or their unions would raise the success rates. What we are seeing in American public systems--and this includes the Obama administration--is a scapegoating of faculty members, blaming them for problems brought on by system-enforced concepts refuted by science a hundred years ago. Often the teachers know better, but they held captives to a stupid rule book, ignorant parents, overcrowding, and a mania for testing and punishment. Private schools and charter schools, on the other hand, range from excellent to weirdly eccentric with approaches so intellectually ridiculous no expert would give them a second glance.

All I can say to parents today is (1) try to be born wealthy so you can afford one of the few excellent schools or (2) take heart from the fact that most of a child's learning takes place out of school; pay close attention to your child's interests and cultivate learning that the child will love.

--Gary Goss