Classroom Teachers are the Real Scholastic Experts – Not Education Journalists
When you want an expert on health, you go to a doctor.
When you want an expert on law, you go to a lawyer.
So why is it that when the news media wants an expert on education they go to… themselves!?
You’ll find them writing policy briefs, editorials and news articles. You’ll find them being interviewed about topics like class size, funding and standardized tests.
But they aren’t primary sources. They are distinctly secondary.
So why don’t we go right to the source and ask those most in the know – classroom teachers!?
According to a Media Matters analysis of education coverage on weeknight cable news programs in 2014, only 9 percent of guests on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News were educators.
This data is a bit out of date, but I couldn’t find a more recent analysis. Moreover, it seems pretty much consistent with what I, myself, have seen in the media.
Take Wyatt Cenac’s “Problem Areas,” a comedy journalism program on HBO. The second season focuses entirely on education issues. Though Cynac interviews numerous people in the first episode (the only one I saw), he put together a panel of experts to talk about the issues that he would presumably return to throughout the season. Unfortunately, only two of these experts were classroom teachers.
There were more students (3), policy writers (3) and education journalists (3). There CONTINUE READING: Classroom Teachers are the Real Scholastic Experts – Not Education Journalists | gadflyonthewallblog
