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A new generation of extraordinary teachers
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“U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan appealed Friday for a new generation of extraordinary teachers, calling education the civil rights cause of our time.” Associated Press, October 9, 2009.
This is another indication that the Federal Government does not really have a plan for education reform. The faith in classroom superheroes is badly misguided, and only cover the lack of new ideas. Teaching is a mass profession, and it should work for a person with average abilities. And if it does not, we must look into the systemic problems, such as a lack of economic incentives for students to learn.
Equating the problems with education to civil rights is also a bad idea. The Civil Right movements were aimed against legal and extra-legal discrimination; they were aimed against specific practices. When it is not clear what the solutions might be, the civil rights analogy only adds confusion. The analogy invites such lame ideas as calling for a bunch of upper-class young people to volunteer and save the souls of the inner-city youth – for a couple of years, and on the taxpayer’s dime – and then feel good about themselves for the rest of their successful lives. And then tell their children – oh yes, I was a part of the civil rights struggle for education.
This all does not look serious at all. We need to look deep into the economic and social conditions of education, and recognize that the old model just is not working anymore. My personal bias is towards monetization of learning, but there are other genuinely new ideas worth considering. Hoping for extraordinary teachers and calling this a civil rights issue is just another way of avoiding the problem.
