Some comments to a previous post . . .

On Sunday I shared a follow-up post on the Vanderbilt merit pay study.  For some reason Scott and Ethan couldn't get their comments to post.  I thank them for sharing their thoughts and want you to also have the opportunity to read them.

From Scott - Thank you Mike for bringing this to the front on your blog in recent weeks. What I find most interesting about the discussion as it relates to teacher's unions is that in all the polls and in all the discussion, teachers and teacher's unions are talked about as two different entities. Teachers are the teacher's union and while many in our profession do not see themselves union activists, the truth is that the very things that unions fight for are the same things that teachers want because the union represents the teacher voice.



With that said I wanted to weigh in on a few things. The Waiting for Superman movie hits theaters in the next few weeks, I find it important for people to read a couple of responses from NEA  and American Association of School Administrator.


In addition to these movies, I find it interesting that the NBC poll lists legislators and parents as a major problem when all of the talk in the media is about teachers unions. My hope is that more people can see that policymakers are the ones that have the power and the need to look at how we fund our school systems is in the hands of the legislators. Parents also need to become more of a partner in their child's learning. Being a part of their education and getting involved is essential.


I think that the discussion of the "education problem" will stay at the forefront, especially when we have big names such as Oprah, Bill Gates, and John Legend talking as if they know something about education. They talk about how great charter schools are and how terrible public schools are when in reality charter schools have proven to be no better than public school. A study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes shows that only 17% of charter schools perform better.


This conversation will continue for years and there are two things I know; everyone will always have a magic bullet to the solution and everyone will always have someone to blame. Let the debate continue.


Lastly I want to share a link to another education documentary called "Race To Nowhere" at www.racetonowhere.comhttp://www.racetonowhere.com/ It discusses the pressures that students, teachers, and parents are feeling in our current state of education.

From Ethan - Hope is not a strategy. I would argue that what we have seen so far, no matter how well intentioned, will not be transformative. It will have impacts. It will lead to improved educational experience for some students. That, of course, is a good thing. But it won't be transformative across the board. Structural changes are called for, and structural changes are being proposed and enacted. And some changes may be influencing some people's mental models. But it won't be enough. The work that is happening is, ultimately, just tinkering around the edges. I imagine something like this: Maybe we are upgrading the engine, the interior, or the suspension of our car. And that is all good. Maybe it will transform our beater car into something better...except that what we failed to recognize was that we while we've always built cars we should have been building boats.



These changes don't get to the heart of what teachers do. Until they do, while we'll all be riding in better cars, we'll still be missing the boat.