"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves." -- John Adams

"No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." -- Indiana Constitution Article 1, Section 6.

"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." – Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Teacher's World

Politicians, pundits and policy makers all seem to know how to teach simply because they've been to school. Molly Phillips at Classroom Confections has an opinion about that...

Imagine a world where a doctor prescribes medicine to help make a patient well. The patient doesn't take the medicine, so his health doesn't improve. The doctor is held accountable and the doctor's wages are decreased each time the patiend misses a dose of the medicine.

Imagine a world where a dentist meets with a patient to instruct them on how to brush and floss. The patient eats sweets before bedtime and chooses not to brush. The dentist's pay is decreased based on the number of cavities the patient gets.

Imagine a world where a nutritionist works to help a patient lose weight. She puts the patient on a special diet that the patient doesn't follow. The nutritionist is docked wages for every pound the patient gains.

Imagine a world where a teacher spends her days working hard to teach a child in her class. Recommendations are made and extra effort is put forth to help the student succeed through small group remediation and reinforcement. Despite all of this, the child fails THE test. The child is not showing improvements. Other important factors to consider are: the child is late to school, is absent, does not do homework, does not study for tests, has no parent involvement. keep all that in mind and guess what? Yep! The teachers salary is determined based on those lack of improvements. After all, the teacher must be incompetent, right? (sarcasm intended).

No one would ever consider doing that to doctors, dentists, or nutritionists. But for teachers, this will soon be their world!

Written by Molly Phillips
www.classroomconfections.com
Public education needs a stronger voice!
  • We need a US Secretary of Education who is an education professional.
  • Our schools need to be administered by education professionals not corporate boards of directors.
  • We need to stop listening to billionaires simply because they have money.
  • We need teachers who are education professionals, not college graduates with 5 weeks of training (or less).
  • We need principals and superintendents who are education professionals.
  • We need elected school boards not mayoral control.
  • We need public funds reserved for public education.
  • We need to increase funding for schools needing help, not the opposite.
  • We need to teach...not just test.
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Stop the Testing Insanity!


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