First I want to say that I believe public school teachers in the United States to be the best in the world.
Unfortunately, we have turned our school system over to a philosophy that defies reason.
We require that our teachers be certified, and then allow management of these teachers to be the responsibility of school boards consisting of either automobile dealership owners or dentists.
Also, the career administrators who live very well by doing reports about progress well away from children are doing untold harm to our kids since they are so far out of touch with what goes on in classrooms.
I know I am not saying anything that isn't said or felt 100 times a day in most public sector teachers' rooms throughout the country.
And, the sad thing is that there are so many great educational alternatives in the United States that are completly frozen out of the public sector because in order to work with public school children, an organization or private tutor must agree to do EXACTLY what the public sector wants, that is, do more of the same kinds of things that have made our schools just terrible.
As a parent, I am told so often by education boards that OUR school district or campus (or whatever) is AN EXCEPTION. Any kind of good news, like going from the 13th percentile to the 15th percentile nationally is enough for administrators to year after year say that we are improving and it is just a matter of time before that 15th percentile will become the 99th percentile.
Of course, that never happens because everyone is so lost in the current system.
States like Connecticut, for example, pay a fortune for their public school activities, but all of them are what I call top down institutions. With the kind of genius existing in the student bodies of the State of Connecticut, they should be among the top achievers in the WORlD.instead, Cennecticut's best public high school students are ranked 19th on international tests compared with the best students of the industrialized world.
In addition, the "accreditation" system that we seem to have adopted in the United States requires and enforces a top down one size fits all system in the name of equal opportunity.
That is, no private tutor can be accredited in the U.S. Nor any school that plans curriculum once the student is known can be accredited in the U.S. Only cookie cutter schools can be accredited by recognized bodies.
And, that, of course, means that unless a school is ignoring the needs of individual students for the sake of equality, accreditation is not possible. And, without accreditation, the public sector won't look at a tutor or alternative school in terms of funding.
We have spoken about reform so much, and yet, we have done everything in the name of top down management to make sure that the system marches to the same tune year after year.
President Bush is so well intentioned, but he just can't do much with regard to education as long as the Department of Education runs the national programs with the same top down one size fits all management style.
I have written to President Bush, Mrs. Chaney, and Ms. Spelling, and so many others pleading with them to take authority away from career administrators and give it to teachers to plan and execute curricula.
Children are not all the same. There are some schools and tens of thousands of great teachers who would be able to do so much more in our schools if they were freed from the overriding burden of billion dollar management.
When Oprah and John Stossel talk about our schools being in crisis, for a short while people listen, and then they look at the messages from the management of their own public schools and believe somehow that their schools are doing OK.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As mentioned above, our very best students, in the very best school districts in the U.S. Rank below all but Cyprus and South Africa in terms of demonstrated knowledge on international tests.
If tomorrow all credentialed teachers were declared private tutors by the U.S. And the schools were turned over to the private sector, not only would the bill for schools drop by 60%, but the genius of our children and our teachers would once again allow America to lead the world.
Also, I would encourage people like Bill and Melinda Gates to start looking for the private sector when they hand out their billions. All a 10 million dollar grant does when given to a top down public system is strenghten management.
I would recommend that everyone look to those schools that actually look out for the student first.
I would recommend schools like the Waldorf Schools, Linda Christas, and the Carden schools, for example.
These schools are always denied public funding because they plan curriculum around kids rather than around the desks of highly paid administrators.
Let's get real folks.
Time has long ago run out on the one size fits all public school system that is literally killing America.
Thely Strom
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