Here Goes My Opinion Problem Again...

I've been watching the news today and reading the news online. Obama spoke on his views on education. No surprise to what he's said. There are good things about NCLB -primarily the accountability factor- and I'm glad he's keeping that pretty much as a scaffold for the rest of his policy ideas. His thoughts on early intervention (head start, early childhood education and nursing info programs for first time parents) are right on target and wise. I also like how he reiterates all the time when he speaks about education that we all are FIRST in responsibility; parents need to be the first educators of their children, we need to not only encourage our children take learning seriously, but we must keep learning as well. To me, a 35yr old professional single female with no kids, that is a no brainer. Personal responsibility should be the forefront of all of our actions. -and it's not just parents that shoulder the responsibility for educating ourselves, it's all of us, anyone who calls themselves an American whether you've got kids or not.

Ok, so the part of Obama's speech today that I really, really dig are his comments on effective teaching. I like merit pay. I always have, and I think the competitiveness would be very healthy for this industry. I don't know how it would make sense or how to do it so that it's fair...but I agree poor performing teachers need to go -when remediation and extensive staff development and supervision becomes akin to flogging a dead horse, they need to go. What other industry gives automatic raises each year regardless of performance, pays it's employees a middle class wage for 3/4 of a year's amount of work, and has a union so strong that even people who wish to NOT be part of the union still, by law, must pay about 75% of the annual dues that full members pay?? I'm not sure about other states, but in Minnesota, even if you oppose the union and wish NOT to be a member, you've still got to fork over around 75% of the annual dues by law -it's called "fair share" and it's never seemed that "fair" to me. I like to believe that the teachers' union is good for student achievement and enables us to create contributing members of society -and I think that for the most part, it does provide leadership that advocates for that. However, the dark spots on the union are the antiquated "muscle" that, in all fairness, was probably needed back in the day when school administration practiced a management style that differs from today's leadership style that most districts operate under. There are more federal laws and civil rights initiatives that protect everyone now than there were at the conception of the teachers union as well. It's very difficult to fire a low performing teacher. How would you feel as a parent if your child's teacher was poor (ineffective), was putting in their time, or-God forbid...and it DOES happen a lot- the teacher doesn't even like working with kids?? You'd want them out too. Easier said than done. And if a school district fires a teacher, they have to be sooo careful or else face the union's lawyers. What a waste of resources and time. While the union is busy rewarding failure, the good teachers are getting burnt out and our children aren't achieving as well as they could if all the resources and attention were on THEM...the reason we have teachers in the first place.

And one more thing: Obama mentioned his endorsement of a longer school day and/or school year. I have always liked that idea too. Always. Yes, I like my summer vacations, but if you know me, you know that most of the time, I am not on vacation, I'm working another job or going to grad school -and a lot of the reason is because I feel guilty because I've got all this time off --I did not go into education because of the saying "the three best reasons for being a teacher is June July & August". I know that we can see far more achievement and progress in our children if we extend seat-time...that's a no-brainer too. I'd like to see some pilot programs of extended time in various parts of the country (not just in urban/suburban areas either!!). I think it's funny that some parents oppose more classroom time (extended day/extended year) because "kids need to be kids" and not have to be in school so much cuz it's so much work for the poor kids and they don't even have time to relax or play...blah blah blah, but then are first to complain about "all the workshop days" and vacation days districts have -that thought process does not make sense.

One thing is certain, our culture on education must change. We need to stop pointing fingers, stop whining about how "hard" it is, stop attacking schools when their kids are disciplined or get bad grades, and start biting the bullet and exercising some personal responsibility doing unpopular things like merit pay and extended time. My mom always said that just because something is popular, that doesn't make it right. I believe that. I'll flip that around and say that it's likely that if it's the unpopular thing to do, it is probably the right thing to do. Nothing worth doing was ever easy. I think it's honorable to do the right thing even though it is difficult and unpopular -especially when it's difficult and unpopular. I think we've lost some of that conviction in this "disposable" society, and we're going to have to find our way back so we don't become an entire nation left behind.