... is hosting a forum about education right now on his show. Unfortunately, the two children whose education I most value are making it difficult for me to watch right now, but we're "dvr'ing" it. Still, some quick points:
1. A lot of people ask me what I want to do, and why. Here's a longer version of my elevator speech answer to this.
I went to law school because I want to get involved with education policy. I taught in public schools, and regardless of what you think of public schools, the fact is that teachers do not make the rules, do not control the purse strings, and almost without question they do not have a voice as to curriculum, or policy. (I am not talking about unions or the NEA claiming to represent teachers. Those "voices" are a different issue altogether.)
No Child Left Behind is a perfect example of good intentions gone terribly wrong. People wanted accountability in the schools, and the best way to measure something quantitatively is to test it. Thus we entered the world of large-scale high-stakes testing. Any teacher could have told you in two seconds how the system would be gamed, the standards lowered, the passing scores manipulated, and ultimately the curriculum modified to reflect this dumbing down -- all to show that we "mastered" a test and we're all on the same playing field. Any teacher could have predicted that schools would follow a (sorry have to say it here) race to the bottom until classes became little more than a series of practice tests for the big test, with testing -- not teaching and learning -- the focus and the only concern of administrators.
The problem is that no one asks the teachers for their input. The people who make the rules and push down legislation and mandates have never been in a classroom as a teacher, and by and large they've only ever been in classroom as, and with other, good students. On the other hand, teachers neither get meaningful input nor care to leave the classroom, so they never have an opportunity to make the rules or policies -- or even, in a meaningful way, to influence them. (Seriously, had anyone in any role of influence asked teachers to predict the end result of NCLB, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now! And when I was "just" a teacher, sure, we were asked for our opinions, but they were either not presented to the powers-that-be, or they were repainted with rosier glasses. Our concerns were never heard, our input never valued other than for show.) The result is that we end up with a group of professionals being told how to do their jobs by people who have no earthly idea how to do those jobs. The logic seems to be, "I was a student; I know how to be a teacher." Huh? I was a patient, so I know how to be a surgeon? The fallacy is so obvious, and yet it is not just ignored; it's as if no one has ever even considered it. As far as I can tell, this is the only profession where everyone thinks they know how to do it better than the professionals.
I went to law school to get involved in education policy because I want to be the bridge between teachers and their concerns, and legislators and other policy-makers. I want to be a voice of reason for teachers' interests and concerns without being bullied, pushed and pulled by union and other political interests that really have nothing to do with teaching and learning. I went to law school because I have something to say, by golly, and I need the "credit and cache" a law degree gives me to be able to say it to people who are in power to effect a change. Maybe one day I will even hold one of those positions!
2. A teacher on the show was just speaking (among other things) about how she is mandated to have a certain amount of class time each day dedicated to small-group work and large-group work. She expressed frustration with the idea of small group work as it is presently mandated, because it small group work is not always appropriate or the best fit for the students' needs. Glenn Beck seemed to balk at this at first, offering, "But isn't that where we are all going?"
Here is the problem: Yes, in work situations it is important that we know how to work in groups. But there is no value in working in groups if you first don't know how to think. Knowing how to work in a group is an important life skill; knowing how to think so you have something to bring to that group and value to add is infinitely more important.
That's it for now. I'm eager to watch this forum from the start, and hopefully I'll be able to do that this weekend.
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