I have been bothered lately by the nattering nabobs of negativism. You know the ones. They are education experts who have never sullied themselves by actually working with students in a classroom. If they did spend a few years teaching, they might actually learn something.
I serve on the State Investment Board, and regularly attend education conferences on institutional investing. I am never shy about what I do, and while at a session this summer, education reform came up as an informal topic of discussion at dinner. I held my own as I pointed out the flaws in the logic my tablemates were using as they attempted to “fix” something they were unfamiliar with. After about 20 minutes into the discussion, a fellow from New York joined the discussion. He related how he wanted to do something to make a difference, so he was granted a sabbatical from his employer and spent two years teaching English in a high school. He said his biggest shock was how dedicated and hard-working the teachers were, how much they really cared, and the lengths they would go to in order to provide the best education possible for the students. He had expected to find dedicated teachers, but assumed they were a minority. Instead, dedication, teamwork and quality were the norm, and the less than stellar teachers — he called them coasters — were a tiny minority. He said maybe two out of 90 teachers at his school fit this category. He agreed with me that the real education world was not what was described in the media and if we really wanted to improve public education, we would provide the resources and leave the task to the teachers.
The sticking point is that people are looking for excuses to avoid paying for what they say they want — a quality education for all students.
That is the real hurdle — the resources, also known as funds, or the money. There is lots of big talk about rewards and bonuses, but never a whisper about how to fund them. The only talk about funding is how much to cut, while at the same time increasing requirements and, as a distraction, criticizing those who give their all for their students. And through it all, dedicated educators, both certificated and classified, continue to do more with less.
About Me
- Mike Ragan
- I would not have considered college if not for a high school counselor in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated with a degree in engineering and physics then worked all over the country as an engineer. With my wife who was teaching overseas, I studied psychology and education and received my teaching certificate at Heritage College in Toppenish then completed my student teaching while earning my Masters in Counseling Psychology from Washington State University. I became active in my association soon after I began teaching science in Kennewick 13 years ago. I took office as the WEA vice president July 2007. P.S. My favorite book is Hero Mama by Karen Spears Zacharias.
2 comments:
Amen!
Mike: It's nice to hear such comments from someone back east. Particularly when it comes from someone "outside the circle", but with valid experience. I've often suspected that the situation back east wasn't like our experiences here in the west.
From my perspective, as a moderate Republican who's active in the union, there are a number of causes for the lack of funding.
1) There are people who see funding education as also funding liberal unions. I know it sounds harsh, but I think some of them object to expanding educational funding because some of the money will find its way into union coffers.
2) There are people who want to make school funding a user fee, so that only those with kids in public schools are paying for public schools. Again, it sounds harsh, but many of them have no interest in improving public education. They merely wish to separate their education tax dollars from the general funds and then ask to have those funds returned to them in the form of vouchers.
3) There are people who believe government has enough money and that the problem is inappropriate allocation of funds. They do not seek so much to improve education as demand greater efficiency from government.
4) There are people who will never be able to separate increased educational funding from increased teachers' pay. We must be sensitive to their concerns, because salaries make up the bulk of M & O funds, so their concern is valid. We will always be seen as having ulterior motives.
5) There is also the factor that our public system may never be able to come up with all of the funds we seek. Governments must balance resources with demands and, as you and I well know, there has been a huge increase in demands over the last three decades. That is the primary reason for the decline in % of the state budget committed to education.
No matter what the causes, increasing educational funding, even in good times, faces a serious uphill battle.
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