Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Kelly Flynn: Teachers hold the key. They always have. - Living in Dialogue

Kelly Flynn: Teachers hold the key. They always have. - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Kelly Flynn: Teachers hold the key. They always have.


Guest post by Kelly Flynn.

I'm intrigued by the topic of Anthony Cody's two recent blog entries, "Are Critics of Corporate Education 'Reform' Winning the Online Debate?" and "Lopsided Debate Over Education Reform Reveals a Broken System."

We may be winning the online battle, but so far, we're losing the war.

After teaching high school for almost 20 years I left the classroom to write a weekly newspaper column about education for The Flint Journal in Flint, Michigan. Because the column was published in a mainstream newspaper, I was able to inform and educate the general public about the reality of life in the classroom, and then show them -- using humor and anecdotes -- exactly why a particular piece of legislation would not work.

I began writing about the dangers of NCLB and the dismantling of the public school system in 2002. I wrote