In teaching experience is now a liability. Those who know least are experts.

[madfloridian]

The Nation has an article in the new issue. It is called Teachers Are Not the Enemy.

And it points out the most amazing thing...

It’s hard to think of another field in which experience is considered a liability and those who know the least about the nuts and bolts of an enterprise are embraced as experts.

That is so true. There's a reason for such madness. The billionaires who are now the "experts" have the money and power to get things done their way.

In ordinary times there would be a political group fighting back against them, but these are not ordinary times.

Teachers Aren't the Enemy

Public school teachers and their unions are under a sustained assault that is still unfolding. In 2010 Michelle Rhee, former Washington, DC, schools chancellor, announced the creation of a multimillion-dollar lobbying organization for the explicit purpose of undermining teachers unions. She has charged that “bad teachers” are the primary cause of the problems that beset America’s schools. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has asserted that effective teachers need no experience. Romanticizing the young, energetic, passionate (read: cheap) teacher, he has made eliminating seniority preferences in layoffs (aka, last in, first out—or LIFO) his pet cause (it has been stymied for the time being by the state legislature).

They mention the demeaning tactics of NJ's Chris Christie. Of course there are too many to cover in one article right now.

The attack has diverse roots, and comes not only from Republicans. Groups like Democrats for Education Reform have dedicated substantial resources to undermining teachers unions. With Race to the Top, the Obama administration has put its weight behind a reform agenda featuring charter schools, which employ mostly nonunion labor, as its centerpiece. A disturbing bipartisan consensus is emerging that favors a market model for public schools that would abandon America’s historic commitment to providing education to all children as a civil right. This model would make opportunities available largely to those motivated and able to leave local schools; treat parents as consumers and children as disposable commodities that can be judged by their test scores; and unravel collective bargaining agreements so that experienced teachers can be replaced with fungible itinerant workers who have little training, less experience and no long-term commitment to the profession.

None of the reforms get to the real problems.

None of the reforms on the table address the inequality and opportunity gaps that plague our schools. Raging debates over LIFO, seniority, teacher evaluation and test-based school closings do little to improve schools and much to distract from the real challenges. Moreover, because current reforms have been designed to promote school choice and weaken the unions, they have been exacerbating the challenges rather than fixing them.

The article mentions that teachers are fighting back. My personal fear is that it is not enough and that it is too late. I hope I am wrong.

[notadmblnd]

1. those with the least experience are using the latest methods and strategies

And I don't believe for one minute these latest methods and strategies are going to do our kids a lick of good. But, to me it makes sense that the powers that be want to get rid of the real teachers and replace them with those that are going to indoctrinate our children into the new way of life they want for us.

[RKP5637]

3. Exactly!!! The 'new' school model = indoctrination of youth to the new agenda. n/t

[JHB]

4. Funny how all these people used to complain about "fads" in education...

Wasn't that "Why Johnny Can't Read"?

[RKP5637]

2. With great wealth, corporations, politicians and government united as the

new United States, I share the same personal fear, "that it is not enough and that it is too late. I hope I am wrong."

People in the US have had it too good over the years. I think many are far too casual about the future of the US. They think all will just continue on, which is soooo far from the truth. Many are just not 'street-smart' about control and dominance of citizens while they just merrily cruise along thinking all will be OK. Many citizens don't know SH** and naively cruise along.

[DrDan]

5. let's not forget the lack of support from the top

An educational roundtable in Miami couple months ago - 14 invited - 1 teacher and no one from the local union.

Easy to figure out the pov of our President.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/florida-teacher-tells-obama-yo.html

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. In the new world of teaching, education isn't the goal. Production is.

It isn't about opening the mind, it's about producing trained workers eager to join the rat-race at the lowest wages possible and imbue them with the desire to buy everything at the highest price.

[Igel]

7. "those who know the least ... are embraced as experts"

That is so 1990s.

The place I worked for was chronically running in the red. It would soon go out of business (I left before that happened).

What did the owner do? Hired a consultant. The consultant had gotten his MBA, had promptly worked in some advisory firm before being adjunct faculty somewhere and then, in his early 30s, setting up shop as a consultant.

Had he actually run a business? No.

Did he know anything about the business my employer was in? No.

He had a decent track record. Well, at least he said he did. Nobody ever checked.

So my boss hired one of those who knew the least, and embraced him as an expert.

Eh. The VP embezzled more than this expert's fee, so it's not like it made a big different.

[madfloridian]

8. Every other time you click The Nation link....

it takes you to sign-up page. If you click it again, you should be able to see the article. I don't think it is subscription only.