Don't Assume, Google!!!

Start to Google the so-called experts that you read about in education.  It's fun!!!  I started at the top.  I Googled the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and I found out that he has no real teaching experience.  Of the last nine Secretaries, only two were teachers.  Most people assume that people at the top who make decisions for millions of students have the experience to back it up.  We assume they are the experts, that is how they got the job!

Next, I Googled the NYS Board of Regents.  Surely, they would all be experienced teachers.  They are very learned people but only five were in education.  Of those five, three were classroom teachers, but two of them taught in private schools.  Only one had public school experience.  Mayor Bloomberg was harshly ctiticized for appointing Cathy Black to head the largest school district in America.  She had no experience in the field of education.  He later appointed a person who taught two whole years in kindergarten, and he was praised for his appointment!  Joel Kline, his first appointee to the position, was a lawyer who never taught a day in public school.

Finally, I wanted to attend an educational conference sponsored by the NY Times.  They listed a dozen prominent  people who would be sharing their ideas on how to fix public eduation.  I Googled all the members and, much to my surprise, most had no real teaching experience and those that did spent only a few years doing the job.  Most were lawyers, scientists, business executives, college professors, you know, people that we respect in society.  Absent was the lowly public school classroom teachers.  After all, what would they know about fixing the system?  They are the problem!!!

Education is too important to leave the decision making in the hands of teachers.  This is the attitude that has prevailed in this country.  You must have several letters after your name, or you must be a successful business person, or you must be a real professional, like a doctor or lawyer, to have any gravitas in education.  If you are an experienced classroom teacher in the public school, you have no credentials.  College professors get the respect because they are learned  experts but who do they teach?  They teach the top students in our country and most of the time, they pontificate through lectures which is the worst way to learn.

So how is this working for us?  It's not.  How about trying something innovative and let the lowly classroom teacher have some say in policy making?  Let's reward innovation among successful public schools and those lowly teachers who know what works.  That would make too much sense.  Wake up, America!