Bob Herbert in the NY Times this morning writes about “Failing Teachers”.  I have been thinking for some time about the causes, not solely for failing teachers, but for the failures in education.  Remember, when we talk about education, we are principally concerned about PUBLIC EDUCATION.  This means the system of schools, school boards, teacher education, teachers and their organizations and the vast number of students who attend these schools.

There are some things wrong with that SYSTEM.  The first thing, to which I wish to pay attention, is “Failing Teachers”. Bad teachers should not be in schools. Teachers who do not teach to the entire class are not doing their job.  If students are free to choose seats in the back of the room and disregard the teacher and the rest of the class, that teacher is not doing his or her job. Part of my job as a professor of Teacher Education was to be a cog in a sifting process to prevent inadequate teachers from gaining licenses. My major occupation was trying to impart the knowledge I had gained from my teachers, my own research and actual teaching for many years in a variety of schools, student bodies and economic and social venues. A significant number of my students had no interest in teaching other than obtaining a secure job in a respected “profession”. This was in spite of the low standing of the teaching profession as perceived from outside the profession. These poor teachers exacerbated a problem and worsened their own reputation.

Attention is more often paid to school buildings, the safety of students and health aspects for all who work and learn there than for the quality of teachers who work there.  A school that is falling down is no place for anyone and education suffers because of that environment. Attention, however, is paid more to the bricks used to construct schools than to what takes place in those schools. Sometimes the quality of the books used in the schools can be suspect.  We have learned from experiences that a big state such as Texas, orders homogenized texts all at one time from favored venders. They are costly and rarely replaced, once in place in classrooms.  In some schools, discarded texts from more affluent districts are routinely used in poor district schools although out of date and in poor condition. Yet, the information in those books is almost last on the list of importance when the price of the books is considered. Penultimate before the students who are last, are the teachers and their welfare.

Attention IS paid to whether books are unduly Liberal.  In examining the thrust of some books, “experts” discover Liberal thinking and this goes against expert conservative thinking that is right and on the Right.  In the ongoing history of our country and the development of its system of education, the story of how room was made for more and more people in our society as equals, became something that the conservatives wished to downplay. It is clear that conservative trashing of teaching and education is becoming all too popular.

School Boards hire superintendents and principals. These are instructed to husband resources and not be spendthrifts. In many places, there is no accountability and public funds are wasted, duplicated and spirited away.  School boards are in place to examine needs of the schools, teacher and students and to be responsible to the taxpayers. Sometimes they send their own chilren to “good” schools, private schools, academies or parochial schools. School Boards squabble over the credentials of Superintendents who are used as scapegoats for the failure of policies of the Boards repeatedly. Democracy is in place in the local school boards but it is dysfunctional.

One principal cause for classrooms where teachers do not teach is the awarding of tenure by a system that does not do its homework of really knowing to whom tenure should be awarded. Tenure is not at fault. All tenure does is to assure due process is followed in the process of eliminating inferior teachers.  Tenure does not protect inferior teachers: inferior supervisors and principals protect inferior teachers.  These teachers should never have been given tenure in the first place.  The supervisors and principals who let them stay are at fault. States and Departments of Education are also at fault for not scrutinizing the preparation of teachers.  Making teachers experts in a particular curriculum does not mean they will know how to teach in classrooms full of children.

In the end, the money problems of the Public Schools are more easily settled when bricks and books are concerned.  New roofs for schools are delayed until leaks rot out the books and shelving in rooms that become unfit for the students until public outcry points to the disgrace. Money problems begin with supposedly professional salaries at the beginning and get worse when the profession cannot compete or compare with other professions.  In many instances, even after attracting well-prepared teachers, the teachers being hired are then sent to the “worst” schools.  Then these teachers find that they have no future for their pay prohibits living like professionals. Budgets force those supervising education to expend the least amount in order to heed the unspoken mantra – “NOTHING BUT THE CHEAPEST FOR OUR CHILDREN”. “Moonlighting” teachers often are too tired to teach well after weeks of working two jobs.

Teachers were allowed to form unions only after a century and a half of agitation for recognition and to better the conditions in the Public Schools. Private school teachers are often content with lower pay but with better teaching conditions and a student cohort that came prepared to learn. The disgrace of some union officials has confirmed society’s negative picture of the Public Schools. Unions and union officials do not have to antithetical to public education. The ground swell AWAY from public education continues with elite education for the few and questions about boys and girls who cannot benefit from an academic education unanswered. Schoolrooms become filled with children who pay no attention, are not paid professional attention and cause the condemnation (deservedly so) of what goes on there. Poor teachers find cozy nests and allow unruly students to do as they please and ignore the needs of the rest who begin to realize that the Public Schools will not be where they will send THEIR children.

When the idea of a tax-supported system of public education for ALL children was adopted in the 1840’s, the decision then was that it was cheaper to build schools than build prisons. Let us lay the accusation squarely on the culprits – those who would rather build prisons than spend their tax monies on a fair, equitable and best possible education for all of our children. I have concluded that huge numbers of children are left behind today because no one is dealing with the real problems in Public education.  The discussion can now shift to where superior education can be found.  Where is that?