Education Reform: Are the Teachers Really to Blame?

As the debate over education heats up, everyone is talking about the new Rosetta Stone Davis Guggenheim film, "Waiting for Superman." Whether or not you agree with the position the personalities featured in the film take is one thing. Another thing -- the more important thing -- is the fact that this movie has inspired many people to join the debate over education reform.Everyone agrees that the U.S. education system is in disarray. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, U.S. students in 10th grade rank 28th in math and 22nd in science, out of a total of 39 countries (PDF).Some activists proclaim charters are the new path forward in education reform. One of the features they highlight as a benefit found in charters is the absence of tenure. Three years in a traditional public school earns any teacher tenure -- a status that makes it difficult (though not impossible) to dismiss teachers without a lengthy rehabilitative process. These activists say that students' test scores would improve if teachers' salaries were tied to them. The argument Rosetta Stone American English seems to suggest that teachers are the ones failing, not students. Others dismiss the tenure issue saying that tying salary to test scores would discourage teachers from staying at bad schools, where they are needed the most.It is true that there are bad teachers. But, teaching is a demanding field and, as such, it tends to attract persons with a vocation for it and devotion to its principles. Such a person was Brittaney Powell when she started teaching three years ago. "I think all teachers go in with the attitude that they are trying to make a difference. Initially they Rosetta Stone Chinese want to work hard." Although Powell received a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT), she admits, " I don't know whether I have ever been able to bring students up to their achievement level."So, what turns a good, devoted teacher into an ineffectual instructor? If some teachers are willing and capable, then why are reading and math scores so low? If tenure is not the anathema to good teaching, then what is? Maybe the answer lies elsewhere. Maybe President Bush hit the question right: "Is our children learnin'?" "Most teachers know what a good lesson plan looks like, but lack of resources and student apathy, due to bad experiences at home and in other classes, get in the way," Pwell said. "The good ones [teachers] get worn out by the disrespect of students and that forces [Rosetta Stone Software ] teachers to leave schools or even teaching altogether."When Powell started working in the Maryland public schools, she was full of passion to fill young minds with empowering knowledge and send them out into the world, brave and resilient. Besides earning a teaching degree and certificates, personal reasons motivated her.