Reformers: Stop accusing critics of wanting to ‘defend the status quo’
(By Scott Olson/Getty Images)
It’s rare to hear a school reformer speak these days without accusing someone of resisting change because they want to “defend the status quo.” No critic of school reform that I know is an actual status quo defender, but that doesn’t ever seem to matter. In this post veteran California teacher David B. Cohen makes the case that it is time — right now — to stop using that overused phrase. Cohen has been a teacher since 1993. He is National Board Certified, and is associate director of the Accomplished California Teachers group. This appeared on InterACT, the group’s blog.
By David B. Cohen
It’s time to retire the cliché “defend the status quo.” Just. Stop. Now.
It’s misleading, insulting, and worst of all… it’s an overused cliché, which makes for dull writing and dumbed-down debates. We need an intervention to help people who can’t help themselves when it comes to repeating this worn-out phrase.
This blog post has been drafted, revised, and held back a number of times. What pushed me to finally click “Publish” was last week’s debate over SB-441* – a California Senate bill that aims to improve teacher evaluations. Supporters of the bill who took the debate online via Twitter grabbed this tired cliché and attempted to shame the bill’s opponents with the hashtag #protectthestatusquo.
Perhaps they felt clever getting that little dig in, but the problem is, no one is actually satisfied with the general state of teacher evaluation in most public schools. Who are these defenders of the status quo? The California Teachers Association has its own 17-point, 36-
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