Thompson: Rethinking The War on Teachers

Alexander writes that NSVF president Ted Mitchell gave "a pretty good speech about the need for reformers to do things differently, and better."

Indeed, many or most "reformers" regret that their attacks on teachers have spun out of control, but teacher-bashing has always been one of their core principles. The neoliberal education accountability movement came of age during an age of the "triangulation," and "Sister Solja" tactics of "New Democrats."  The political wisdom of the day was that progressives had to find a post-New Deal "status quo" to attack. They did not have to lump teachers and unions into the status quo, and I bet that many reformers would like to have that decision back.

My theory is that reformers believed they had to sound tough and distance themselves from the seemingly soft-hearted progressives. They chose to beat up on teachers, but they did not necessarily mean to demonize us.  Reformers were in too much of a hurry to produce transformational change, so they did not listen to the professional wisdom of practitioners.  When their rushed reforms did not pan out and they faced resistance from teachers, the blame game was stepped up.  After NCLB, an unintended war on teachers became acentral tenet of reform.  Some true believers in test-driven accountability seem to be more committed to settling scores with adults, but the time has come for most reformers and most educators to negotiate a peace treaty for the good of the children.-JT (@drjohnthompson) image via.

 

Comments

[CarolineSF]

Here's my view: Follow the money, as usual.

"Innovative" ideas -- "thinking outside the box" -- are what attract funding from those omniscient foundations.

The "innovative" ideas largely come from sources who have no classroom experience (Bill Gates, Whitney Tilson, Chris Whittle) -- who may never have set foot in a public school -- and simply don't have a clue what they're talking about. And some who do have a little classroom experience (Michelle Rhee, the KIPP dudes) are doing what it takes to bewitch those funders. It's a variation of "fake it till you make it."

Teachers, who DO know what they're talking about on this topic, can give an informed opinion on the workability and likely success of those ideas. Quite often, teachers are likely to point out that the ideas are unworkable, unscalable, likely to lead to unintended consequences, etc.

Thus, teachers must not only be excluded from the discussion -- they must be firmly discredited, by any means necessary. This has taken place on a massive scale. It won't stop until/unless the "reform" sector and the foundation funding situation are transformed.

[Larry]

I just read Finnish Lessons by Pasi Sahlberg, and the level of esteem and professional respect that Finns have for their teachers offers a stark contrast to the direction that has been taking place in this country. Their stature is so established in the culture that they are the driving force behind all educational innovation. They even collaborate with architects in the design of new schools.

Most of the teachers I know are crouched in a defensive posture, holding on to their ideals, but also counting the years to retirement. This is no way to foster creativity, and it is absolutely counterproductive to students learning more.

There are better ways to improve schools, and they all involve ending the war on teachers and giving them some real power to implement change.

[Tutors Brisbane]

That sounds just about right. After all no good thing can come out from a bad thin, right?

[Mary]

I think the only reason corporate reformers are "rethinking" their attack on teaching is that they're worried they've bitten off more than they can chew; but now it seems to be your job to walk it back for them.

Who is speaking out of your mouth here, when you explain away the past decade of "reformist" cheating, lying, extortion, and intimidation?
"Reformers were in too much of a hurry to produce transformational change, so they did not listen to the professional wisdom of practitioners."

Here is what I saw with my own eyes, and it opened them. My students came to me in tears, to be signed out of the building against their will for "failure to make academic progress". Then, they disappeared from the school rosters and from the Massachusetts DOE Data Warehouse. The poor misguided transformational reformers put my girls out onto the street with less than a tenth grade education, to leverage the corrupted public system test scores, and thus validate the toxic education oversight services they were vending. Then they threatened and browbeat me and other teachers for not "embracing" their reforms, fired good teachers, and drained my district of the funds that should have supported the children they had mugged.

They were confident they could beat the teachers and administrators down into compliant stooges with "accountability" propaganda; now that they see they can't. They wish they'd moved more carefully, but aren't thinking of changing direction.

They have a fallback corps of pundits who "symapthise" with the teachers and now plead with us to support the poor reformers in exchange for Randi Weingarten's seat at their table.

Not gonna happen, John. The mealy-mouthed "transformational change" narrative is in pieces, and their hypocrisy is being exposed everywhere. Check this out, for instance.

http://dianeravitch.net/

[Sarah]

NCLB’s imposed “war on teachers” was by no means a fair attack, and never will be, in every case. Then again, standardization does that to a system as complex as learning.

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[Angie]

Creativity has disappeared from public schools because everyone is trying to meet Adequate yearly Progress (AYP). Some teachers are frustrated with the way they have been treated by school officials, and children are leaving schools that have good teachers but struggle in some academic areas. The U.S. will regret the day they mistreated their teachers. Teachers make the difference; they always have and they always will.