It Simply Must Be Said -- A View of American Public Education from the Trenches of Teaching

The other morning there was an article on the front page of the New York Times decrying the sad state of American education (this is news?). Among the quoted federal administrators, state administrators, county and district administrators (all obviously immediately available for this sort of thing), one superintendent rued the fact that he must fire 1000 of his staff this year, 700 of whom are teachers. Had the reporter read Hank Warren's book prior to the interview, he might have asked a few more follow-up questions, such as "How many administrators are out the door?" and "Of those remaining administrators, how many will be relieving this catastrophic shortage by pitching in and teaching at least one class during the up-coming year?"
Although Warren is the last to say there is one problem and one quick fix, the crux of the matter is the huge chasm between policy makers and those forced to do the implementation. Consider just this one issue: as a society we fervently wish to educate all of our children as equally and respectfully as possible; as individuals we fervently sue anyone and anything we deem depriving us of that equality and respect. Taken together, these two factors can drive every school budget right over the top. It is hard to see how merit pay for teachers (if anyone ever figures out a quantifiable way to measure that) could address this problem and numerous others.
Warren writes so well, his credibility is so incontestable, and the guy is so funny that even when one is not entirely sold on his position, it gives one pause. And further pause, when you reflect that with all the hoop-la over American education, this is probably the first time that you've ever actually heard directly from that endangered species, the American public school teacher. 

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