Teachers deserve better...our respect.

VERY IMPORTANT CITIZENS

But...Parents are the key. As a parent & husband of a certified teacher, I believe that most charter schools are a band-aid (or privatization) approach to a great system that is in need of some reform instead of the 'bleeding dry' reactionary approach of some state legislatures (Utah), and parents who have forgotten about the value of a high-standard community. Some of the teachers at the charter schools are not certified, but have the value of some measure of help from each students parent or parents.

If concerned parents involved themselves in the public school system, as they are required to do in charter schools, then our current system would be much improved, and most of our issues would find themselves worked out. Better Student to teacher ratio. Reading & math scores improved. Bad teachers weeded out by parent word-of-mouth. One-size fits all (otherwise known as No Child Left Behind) would be replaced by teachers trained to teach to different learning styles. Less administration to run poorly conceived programs.

For the past decade or so we have seen schools try to be forced to comply to a business managerial ideology that has all but crushed the common sense and creativity of innovative teachers and schools. I believe now is the time to reclaim schools as democratic learning communities based on shared values and teaching beliefs that realize the gifts and talents of all students. Yes, there are problems. I was told that the 'first in - first out' tenure is now gone in most districts in Utah. Next, we need less middle-management bureaucracy. Last, let's give back the respect that good teachers deserve. Parents...are the key. 



Edit 11/23/11: Thomas Friedman has a great article on this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-about-better-parents.html