I'm sorry to say that this country's desperately needed education reform looks a whole lot like our healthcare reform -- a lot of high-salaried "experts" telling the 'little people' in the trenches what's good for them. In this case, teachers are almost universally women while reformers are invariably high-salaried men like Obama's good buddy Arne Duncan, a CEO who has never taught for even a day in his life. Gee, I can hardly wait for childcare reform to begin.
A teacher writes a letter to Oprah:
I wish someone who knew even a little bit about real classrooms, the heart-breaking challenges teachers face daily (teachers spend an average of $400 annually, out of their own meager salaries, to equip their rooms), had a national forum. I wish one of your guests was a real teacher. John Legend? Really? Come on, Oprah, I don’t try to tell John Legend how to make music; he’s going to tell me about teaching? Or perhaps you’re stereotyping? Instead of John Legend, why don’t you have Pedro Noguera, who wrote a stunning book discussing the problems black males face in the system (The Trouble with Black Boys)? Or Mike Rose, who’s worked for decades with working class, side-lined students and schools of America? Or Diane Ravitch, who recanted her support of NCLB because it not only doesn’t work, it harms students?? And Race to the Top is simply an Obama-ised NCLB, I’m sorry to say. . .
If you want real change, invite real teachers to your show, Oprah. The irony is that the conversation seems to valourise teachers, saying that “good” teachers can change things for kids. So can smaller classrooms, food, adequate resources, the freedom to teach according to a child’s needs. But then, that’s not what the “experts” are saying, is it? Unfortunately, the “experts” have no real experience with students. Or teaching. Or classrooms. They only know how to tell the teachers in the trenches what to do?
Wondering how in the world education came to this pass,
Britton Gildersleeve
Politics Feminist News Gender
