Saturday, March 6, 2010

I love teachers and learning; not bureaucrats…

Teaching is a calling and the people that do it well are a special breed. So why do we shackle them by creating schools through a government bureaucracy? Why do we expect teachers to be able to teach under such oppressing circumstances? Why do we trust our most precious gift to our children, learning, to two establishments that have nothing to do with education; unions and government?

Unions teach our kids that we believe mediocrity is more important than merit, and government encumbers the teaching process with rules that focus on so many things unnecessary to an effective education. Education is a passion we must teach our children to embrace. We do that by teaching kids to love learning. We need teachers to be able to be creative in the process of teaching. Teachers need to be set free to do the things that get kids interested in learning. And they don’t need bureaucrats second guessing them. Parents do that quite nicely, thank you.

Public schools in the cities of our country are a disgrace as so many things the government bureaucracy controls. It is not a teacher problem; it is a bureaucratic and control problem. We need to address it or we will watch generations of children continue to be left out of the American Dream.

Education is not simply a building, books, or classes. It is the key to a successful life. Why would any sane nation leave such an important responsibility to the government and unions? Teachers will be paid according to results and have nothing to fear being separated from a union structure that keeps the focus off the children, and on the work rules that impede flexibility and creativity. People are willing to pay for a quality service. But as long as teaching is tied to government and unions, it will be mediocre, and generations of children remain at risk.

I want to support our teachers and great educational practices. In my opinion that means allowing teachers and schools to be creative in the way they teach our kids. That means providing a smart and simple funding process and getting unions and bureaucracy out of the classroom. That’s the type of education I can get passionate about. Education reform is critical to the future of every child and family in this state and country. The only way to improve it is to get government and unions out of it, and parents and teachers back in control of it…

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