It's About the Students, Stupid!

The recent controversy over whether public school teachers can wear political buttons in the classroom highlights a significant obstacle to improving our schools: teachers' unions would rather dig in their heels in a fight over something trivial than actively work to improve learning in the classroom.

Should a school district seek to ban politicking within school hallways, you can bet the unions will be engaged and active. But when it comes to educating students and improving schools, the unions can be reliably found in opposition to innovative and common-sense reforms.

Think about it. When was the last time a teachers' union sued to demand higher academic standards? When has a teachers' union ever demanded more accountability in our classrooms?

And you can bet -- any time performance pay or tenure for those teachers who bring out the best in our students is brought up, the unions howl with anger and threaten to strike.

They forget; it's not about unions or anything else. It's about our students and making sure they get the best education possible. Our students are the ones who will suffer by staying in failing schools.

The statistics are staggering:

• Out of 30 developed countries, America's 15-year-olds rank 25th in math; 24th in problem-solving; and 21st in science.

• While the U.S. once had the best high school graduation rate in the world, it has now slipped to 20th.

• As recently as 1998, the U.S. ranked first in percentage of 25-34 year olds with at least a bachelor's degree, but by 2006 it had dropped to 10th.

• Even America's top math students rank 25th out of 30 countries when compared with top students elsewhere in the world.

We know we can do better. We have to do better. But to do that, we need to keep the focus on where it needs to be -- putting quality teachers in every classroom so our students can reach their full potential.

Whatever the election-year arguments some may make about wearing political paraphernalia in the classroom, we should all agree that our students would be better served if the teachers' unions devoted the same energy to reducing the drop out rate, raising math and science achievement and ensuring those who do graduate from high school are truly prepared for college

In education, it shouldn't be about the petty complaints of one group or another. It's about the students, stupid!

Comments

[jamie461]

I agree completely with this column. I am not a teacher, but have friends who are long-time teachers in the Birmingham city schools here in Alabama. Those who stay and work hard on behalf of their students have my deep admiration, because the pay and working conditions are generally terrible. But the union protects those who have no business being educators. My friends know teachers with tenure who have come to work drunk and could not be fired because of union rules. If they can get them out of the classroom, it's usually into some new job in the already-bloated bureaucracy.

I really think that education is becoming under-valued due in large part to its politicization. This country absolutely must put a premium on education and make sure that our children know from early on that we know they can and will succeed -- and give them the tools to do so.

[nee]

Isn't there also a problem with wearing political buttons on campus because most schools are also polling places?

[aofh]

We are a society that elected an inarticulate man President because we could relate to him: he was one of us, the kind of guy you felt you could sit in a bar and have a beer with. Our "educated media" dispised his opponent because he acted like he was the smartest person in the room. Our political elite complains that one of the candidates is an eloquent speaker.

Do we really value education in this country? Or do we value not being too smart? And if the latter, are our schools failing, or are they reflecting what we really value? Seems to me that if we, as a society, really valued education it would reflect in our behavior. We certainly have the resources (much more than just money) to provide excellent education to our children and adults. What we lack is the will to do so.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

.....teachers' unions would rather dig in their heels in a fight over something trivial than actively work to improve learning in the classroom -- not that I've actually spent any time with union representatives in a variety of school districts to test my assertions.

.... when it comes to educating students and improving schools, the unions can be reliably found in opposition to innovative and common-sense reforms -- at least that's my feeling, based upon no actual research.

.....when has a teachers' union ever demanded more accountability in our classrooms? I wouldn't know, because I haven't bothered to find out.

[Melissa]

The unions in the public schools are ridiculas. There are teachers in the schools that need to be fired and are protected by the union. NYC have teachers they are paying to stay out of the classrooms!

[TurgidCaterwauling]

And you would know about all unions in all public schools how?

[jcwtts1]

Spoken by someone who has never taught. Here's the deal with under performing schools.... class size. In the suburban district where I grew up I never had a class with more than 18 kids in it. Teaching in Philadelphia I never had a class with fewer than 34. When I went to school classes were leveled. AP, Level 1 level 2 level 3. Because parents don't want there kids labeled, all classes are mainstreamed. That means, when teaching 7th and 8th graders I had about 8 kids reading at the college level and about 8 kids as non readers and all the rest somewhere in between. Give me all the non readers or all the college readers but the mixed grouping made it very difficult to teach. But hey, it's the unions fault. If people really thought it was the students stupid then class sizes would be about 12-15, which is what it is in private schools that cost about 25,000 a year. I'm all for giving every kid that. Once you do then complain about the unions.

J

[research]

around the world, the countries with the strongest teachers unions have the best educations.

The teacher union seems quite concerned with the students education:
http://www.aft.org/about/resolutions/2006/adolescent_literacy.htm

[cylindar]

Yes, and hopefully your message will be heard by everyone.

[KSMullins]

Let's stop blaming the teachers. You were right the first time...it's the students. Not all people are equal. We all know this and yet somehow teachers are supposed to magically make all students equally successful.

How about we start measuring parents. All education begins with parents and the importance they either do or do not place on their children's education. Failing schools are most often in the very areas of this country that need federal funding the most. Why throw money at schools that are doing great. It makes no sense does it?

Look, teachers have a tough job and some years they will have a lot of bright kids and the next years, a bunch of kids who just don't make the grade. Should they or the school be penalized because the kids are stupid??

[RAND7044]

Don't know if you ever step foot in a classroom to teach, but you obviously don't know what the hell your talking about. Are there bad teachers? For sure. Are there bad lawyers, cops, plumbers, doctors, etc? Of course. The problem with our education system does not begin with the teachers. Performance pay is a complete joke. Students are not widgets. You plug in A and get out B. Every student is different. So how in hell do you propose to judge wether that child has been taught properly. Tests? Some children don't test well as others. Grades? Some children do better on the test than they actually do in class. ( That would be yours truly). If you want have a real discussion about education reform then the first thing that must be address is funding. Second would be class size. Many teachers are in classes with 20 plus students. Lastly, the one topic no one ever wants to touch. Behavior, respect and personal responsibilty. These children come with attitudes and levels of disrespect that would be found outrageous any where else in the world.

[RPLinNYC]

Well put.

[MarciL]

The problem with schools is how they are funded. They are funded with property taxes, based on the value of the houses in the school district. So, no matter what we do, schools in rich neighborhoods will always be better funded. The rich people running this country set it up that way on purpose. Nothing will change until we stand up and demand that it be changed.

[julianne]

I think of one of the prerequistes many taxpayers would like to see before shoveling more of their dollars on a clinically devolving education base, is that many of the students and their families stop being perennially pregnant. High school seems to have become a place where girls learn to have babies.

[joeinvt]

Why stop single out teachers? Let's fulfill Ronald Reagan's vision of a country without those pesky unions? After all, shouldn't auto workers striking for better gas mileage instead of health care benefits for their families? Why aren't coal miners always pushing for improved disability benefits instead of just being more careful on the job?

[Nommo]

An excellent question and insight. Forty year, minimally, too late, but never too late at any rate. The idea is to stop wasting entire generations.

[vew]

Yes, we need to hold teachers and administrators accountable for their students. Yes, the rate of high school graduation in this country is horrible. But the blame should be on many heads- not just teacher unions. In fact, some of the southern states like Texas don't allow unions (right to work laws in combination with making teachers state employees who can't strike) and those states have terrible graduation rates and poor quality schools. I've recently retired from over 30 years in public education and I've come to believe that the whole idea of what a school is and should accomplish needs to be completely redone. We're still using a model that was developed in the early 20th century and is doesn't meet the needs of today's students. Also testing student's to death isn't the answer- it just stops teaching for thinking. So stop harping on unions and start thinking creatively and doing research into what makes a successful school and a successful student.

[BlueAsh]

An excellent article!

I don't see the author bashing unions as much as demanding that the unions take on harder battles to improve our education. Sure, it's easy to rally people to bargain for higher pay; it is much harder to rally members to take a hard look at themselves and demand better performance. The teachers here in Ohio take a couple of days off each quarter as "teacher records day" --presumably to enter grades into the systems and yet there is no time set aside for teachers to take continuing education classes -- let alone any standards of training (much less, testing) the teachers.

Perhaps the unions should not be faulted for the poor quality of our teachers; yet, it is the unions that people -- parents, concerned citizens, or politicians -- must deal with in order to put in place any measure to improve the quality of our teachers. To that extent, the unions do bear responsibilities for not being on the front line of improving our education by improving the quality of our teachers.