Eugene Robinson: Standing up for teachers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-standing-up-for-teachers/2012/09/17/ad3ee650-00fd-11e2-b257-e1c2b3548a4a_story.html
Teachers are heroes, not villains, and its time to stop demonizing them.
It has become fashionable to blame all of societys manifold sins and wickedness on teachers unions, as if it were possible to separate these supposedly evil organizations from the dedicated public servants who belong to them. News flash: Collective bargaining is not the problem, and taking that right away from teachers will not fix the schools.
It is true that teachers in Chicago have dug in their heels against Mayor Rahm Emanuels demands for reform, some of which are not unreasonable. Id dig in, too, if I were constantly being lectured by self-righteous crusaders whose knowledge of the inner-city schools crisis comes from a Hollywood movie. . .
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The brie-and-chablis reform movement would have us believe that most of the teachers in low-income, low-performing schools are incompetent and, by extension, that most of the teachers in upper-crust schools, where students perform well, are paragons of pedagogical virtue.
But some of the most dedicated and talented teachers Ive ever met were working in failing inner-city schools. And yes, in award-winning schools where, as in Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average, Ive met some unimaginative hacks who should never be allowed near a classroom . . ..