Ph.D., Psychology, author, speaker
Stop Blaming the Teachers!
When did teachers become the betes noir of public education? Why are they getting all the blame for America's public education failings? Everywhere you look, people are piling on teachers as if they are at the root of all that is bad in our public education system. Even President Obama has gotten in the act, supporting the mass firing of teachers at a Rhode Island school that has been deemed "failing."I always thought teachers were the good guys (and girls). They were those incredibly committed, hugely overworked, and vastly underpaid people who chose a career that may be the most fundamentally vital to America's economy and future, namely, the education of our next generation of citizens. They have the second most important job in the world, after parenting, and are only paid slightly more and, sadly, respected even less. My gosh, teachers who teach in poorly performing schools should get Congressional commendations just for showing up every day and trying to teach kids who are so unprepared to learn.
Yet, from all you read these days, teachers seem to be wholly responsible for our students' poor test scores, lagging international education standing, and the achievement gap between the have and have'nots. You'd think that teachers are these slothlike creatures who are setting themselves up for some cushy job in which they can just kick back, live the easy life, pick up a fat paycheck,
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