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If teachers would stand against the idiotic policies...this could be fixed. But...

From your article:

There are still many skilled and inspiring teachers, make no doubt about that. But the system is stacked against them.

George, with all due respect, people who continue to put all blame on public school teachers are just as much a part of the problem.

I'm not saying there aren't bad teachers out there, and in some areas the unions certainly bear their share of the blame. BUT!

Teachers end up following policies sent down by the federal government, or by elected school boards, or by administrators hired by those elected school boards. And then there are there court cases filed by parents who don't think their baby should have failed for plagiarizing a paper or been suspended for not following the school rules.

You also have the court cases that say the schools are responsible for "educating" children who are profoundly handicapped and would have either been in residential facilities or never left home in the past. There are also those students with "behavior disorders" who have to be tolerated because a behavior disorder is a disability.

Going back to the school boards, many school board members have never been in a classroom, but they think they know everything about how one should be run. (I did too, for that matter, before I actually started teaching...I found out I was wrong about some things.)

Many of the administrators weren't real good in the classroom. Some were downright bad, but now they are the ones who tell the teachers working for them how to teach.

In many states, it's illegal for teachers to go on strike, and when they do so, most parents feel the teachers are being selfish. Some parents don't worry about their children learning anything, they just want that taxpayer-funded babysitting service functional so that the smaller children aren't home alone and the larger ones aren't "on the street".

Yes, there are bad teachers out there. Yes, the unions have some blame. No, the teachers aren't solely to blame, and they can't fix the system alone.

They do make a nice scapegoat, though.

George, with all due respect, people who continue to put all blame on public school teachers are just as much a part of the problem.
I'm not saying there aren't bad teachers out there, and in some areas the unions certainly bear their share of the blame. BUT!
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Amelia, I'm not blaming the "bad" teachers, I'm blaming ALL of them. ESPECIALLY the "good" teachers are to blame because they especially should have known better than to allow all of the bullshit coming from on high to be made policy.

And, today, teachers are afraid of losing their "low wage jobs" if they stand up to the evil of administrations. And, the "teacher's " unions WILL forsake any teacher who tries to fight the administration. The unions and administratiors and lawmakers are in cahoots to "get more money". Teachers rarely see any increase despite the MASSIVE increases in education spending. NOT EVEN, to mention the "Capital" budgets for "infrastructure". But, many "continuing education" junkets are funded, that essentialy teach the teachers what the article speaks of.

Sorry, but teachers must share in the "blame" in the EVIL that is education in the present day United States of America. It has only become so over the last few years. WHY???????
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".....the teachers aren't solely to blame, and they can't fix the system alone."
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No, teachers aren't "solely" to blame. But, teachers are the ONLY force capable of fixing the system "alone". And, they already get enough money to do so. Peace and love, George.

Amelia,
You are correct that the teachers can't fix the problem as things are, and administrators are not good either. But the teachers union is to blame for this. Who has the time and energy to stack the ballot process in favor of school boards who give the teachers the seniority system?

Of course parents can do their part, and the ones who value education do help their kids get through the system. But how much better if teachers really know their subject matter and keep the kids interest up?

Every school has several teachers who don't know what they are doing and turn kids off. Right?

Good rant.

Here are my observations from teaching kindergarten in an upper middle class school and then teaching jr. high Title math in a very poor, rural school.
Good teachers are going to be good no matter their training or education same for bad. Students and teacher either connect and respect/like each other, are indifferent, or hate you. The good teacher will get the poor student to achieve, when the relationship is indifferent, than the student gets by, but when they hate each other, it is very difficult to get through the emotion and down to the task at hand. My main problems with my coworkers was when some coaches (I coached too) shut down their class during their season. They became worksheet teachers and it was very annoying for the kids. The teacher would then collect a homework worksheet and assign it 50 points. If the student didn't do it, they were screwed for the grading period. The other problem is that when a teacher is bad, we basically have to wait for them to retire.

Parent involvement is the main reason why students don't so well. In the poor school, we had 3rd generation reliefers, and there was literally no incentive for the kids because they knew big brother would give them money. We had parents that would take kids to be tested for disabilities so they could qualify for SS disability. Then the kids would literally fail their classes and the parents don't care because they are still getting paid. If the govt is going to give kids SSD, than it should also be tied to achievement. These kids were dumb like a fox. They knew how to play and beat the system at the age of 13. The govt should only give money (whether it is welfare or SSD) based on student achievement or somehow hold their parents accountable. I am sure we would see a big lift in grades and state test scores if that were the case. We had kids getting free lunch and breakfast than selling it to other students! Like I said, dumb like a fox.

I taught Title 1 Math. I was to be in the classroom working with teachers. When teachers didn't want me there, I literally was not allowed to do anything. I was bent down at a student's desk trying to help him and the teacher called on him. When the student wasn't able to answer the teacher, he was yelled at. Then, I was not allowed to remove students from the room because it nay hurt their esteem. My job was to improve students math skills that were at risk, but not special ed. How was I to do that? I was not allowed to introduce new material. I wasn't allowed to remove them from the room. The classroom teacher has control of the room and what they say goes. I was to support them. One of the 4 teacher used to give me Fridays with the whole class where I made games or fun activities based on the week's lesson. Those kids got better, but 25% teacher cooperation is not going to make a successful program. I talked to many higher ups and was told that I was to just do the best I could.