Blog Post Number 14

This week I was tasked with responding to an article by Joel Klein.

Pick from the best:

For this section of his article Mr.Klein starts by saying that one of the biggest problems with teachers is that we don't start hiring from the top of the teaching class. Instead, he says that we just hire any teacher that applies. He says that by doing this we can help deal with the problem better.

My Response:

 This is my opinion. This isn't a good idea at all. Anyone can follow directions or even pass a few tests and get a diploma. A high score on a test does not mean that you should teach. I can score highly on a fiction paper but that doesn't mean I should be a writer.

His approach to dealing with this issue is very simplistic but I don't think he understands how truly disastrous it would be to try to hire on the teachers at the top of class. Teachers in general aren't paid well at all in the first place so doing that would only serve to even further discourage people from even entering the profession in the first place.

Seniority distraction:
His argument for this is that seniority is inherently bad because it can cause some teachers to become almost impossible to fire. He proposes that there be a way to have their performance monitored.

My Response:
This is my opinion. I agree with him on this. I think that tenure allows for educators to become complacent. This doesn't mean that we do away with it though. It is there for a reason. This is job security for many people who are already in a low paying profession. I think there needs to be a review on renewing the tenure for teachers every seven years. This way it is often enough to oust bad teachers as well as reward new ones.

Radical Change:
He proposes having teachers govern themselves. This way we can better address our own problems.

My Response:
This is my opinion. That won't work because of how people are intrinsically. The teachers aren't paid enough and they aren't given respect in general American society to want to try to police themselves. It would only end up worse off.






Here is the link to article Teaching our children can be a profession: Column