The American Federation of Teachers Got It Right

President Obama is going to propose amendments to the No Child Left Behind Act that is either vilified or glorified, depending on whose ox is being gored. The basis of the proposed changes will be a more generalized statement of goals, with an emphasis shifting from “hard scores” on achievement tests to items like graduation rates and life skills preparation. How that is going to help achievement in Math and Science is beyond me. It looks more like looking for “feely touchy outs” for those who can cut the muster. But that is another story.

Here’s the truth. I’m sure there are bad teachers out there just like there is bad everything else. But for the most part, these are good, hard working folk who really want to do a good job. Unfortunately, No Child Left Behind nothwithstanding, the powers that be work against the educators at every turn to the point where many teachers are forced into being nothing more than glorified babysitters…not by choice…but by design of administrators, the courts, and clueless government officials.

My wife has been a home economics teacher for 32 years. A friend of hers also teaches Home Ec in the Mansfield area, and here is the content of her friend’s experience. Over the years, her school has continually changed the class schedule varying times of the class, days of the class, how many kids are in the class…and the number of classes she is supposed to teach. These adjustments happen year to year preventing any consistency in course work.

Right now, she teaches six forty minute classes that involve six different preps. She is only supposed to be teaching five, but it wasn’t worth making a fuss. Into these classes, the school has placed mainstreamed special education kids. One girl is in a wheel chair and does not really have the mobility or physical coordination to do the cooking. Another is a boy is severely retarded and cannot speak. Apparently these kids are capable of learning, but it is beyond what this lady has time or the capacity to do. Add to the mix those girls who are pregnant, some with more than one baby...it is a mess.

The insurance carrier for the school came into her classroom several weeks ago and told my wife’s friend she is to take an inventory of the knives in her class both at the beginning and end of the class because there was an “incident” in Ohio relating to a stolen home economics knife. Of course, there are no metal detectors in the school that would address a more obvious threat, a student walking through the front door with a gun or a knife. The teacher told them point blank she refused to do it because it would add five minutes at the beginning and end of all of her classes to comply, thus reducing her class time to thirty minutes, much of which is taking care of the mainstreamed physically and mentally challenged kids.

My wife also has stories to tell, but space and the fact she is still working prevents me from writing about it. Can anyone tell me when her friend is supposed to teach? With the regulations and rules and edicts flowing into the classrooms from the school boards, the courts, the state governments and the federal governments; with HIPPA and cell phones and prohibitions against failing students and revisionist approaches to almost every subject for fear of offending somebody (God forbid, if you call a Native American an Indian)…how are teachers supposed to teach?

Couple that with schools now taking it upon themselves to feed three meals a day to their students, provide day care before and after school both for the students and the students babies, and to provide health care services to those deemed needy enough. It goes on and on...when does education take place?

While I have never been a fan of teacher unions, I believe the American Federation of Teachers has it right criticizing Obama’s new education policy, claiming it places more burden on the teachers, with none of the authority. Obama's Secretary of Education responded that the new proposal spends hundreds of millions dollars more on education. That may be the case, but that's not the point.

Would you want a job like that? No wonder Johnny can’t read.