What Teachers Want

There is a disconnect between what teachers want and what education reformers expect.  This disconnect is exacerbated by politicians and their media allies who, along with the education reform movement demonizes teachers every chance they get.

 If you ask the education reformers privately what they want for their child, they would say the following about their child's school:

•  Low class size
• Adequate resources
• An experienced teacher certified in the subject
• A stable school environment
• Strong student discipline procedures
• A thriving learning classroom

Just take a look at all the leading figures in the education reform organizations and their political allies and see what they demand for their own school-age children and you see that is in fact what they have for their children.  However, when it comes to other children, these education reform organizations demand the following:

• Large class sizes
• reduced resources
• cheap and replaceable teachers
• Weakened student discipline code
• High-stakes testing and test preparation
• Inappropriate test-based teacher evaluations

 Add to that how these education reform groups want to divert money to charter schools, private schools, and demand merit pay and you have the makings of the demoralization of the teaching profession. What better way to explain the shortfall in education funding then to blame teachers on the woes of the school system by attacking their pensions, tenure, and teacher due process rights.

What do teachers want?  We want the following:

•  Low class sizes
• Teacher autonomy
• Adequate resources
• Respect for the teaching profession
• An enforceable student discipline code
• Collaborative administration 
• A strong union that represents their members

What teachers don't want:

• High-stakes testing
• Merit pay
•  Evaluations tied to inappropriate tests
• "gotcha" Administrators 

Obviously, teachers want what all concerned parents want for their children and that is a peaceful and academically thriving classroom with real student growth not artificial and inappropriate benchmarks that have no real world applications.  Learning should be fun and students should not fear and loathe going to school because of these high-stakes tests.  Is it any wonder that there is a growing teacher shortage nationwide and the "opt out" movement is spreading throughout the country?

Unless, the education reform movement is exposed as a bunch of hypocrites who want their own children to have the same things public school teachers want and not what they claim the rest of us should get, both the teacher shortage and the "opt out" movement will continue to grow. See what teachers want is what parents also want for their children.