Get Schooled: Is teaching a special career, or a job like any other?
Peter Smagorinsky of the University of Georgia is a frequent contributor to the Get Schooled blog. He gives us a lot to think about this Memorial Day.
On a personal note, thanks to our women and men in uniform, past and present, and a special shoutout to my son-in-law, 1st Lt. Lane Pratt, an Army Ranger now serving in Afghanistan.
Now, back to the business at hand: teaching.
By Peter Smagorinsky
Earlier this year I had breakfast with a professor who was visiting Athens from the Midwest. All of his teaching during his career had taken place in universities, rather than schools. Our conversation touched on many areas, including how K-12 teachers are evaluated, retained, and dismissed. His view, he said, had been forged in his youth as a native of a southern state and member of a working class family who scorned labor unions. He posed a question that has given me much to think about: In just about every line of work, people get fired for