First who is Eli Broad and why should we care. Mr. Broad is
to education policies to what the Koch brothers are to extreme right wing
policies. He donates millions to anti-teacher, anti-union and when you think
about it anti-kid organizations. He loves standardized tests, thinks anybody
could be a teacher and would probably try to drown public education in a bathtub
if he could. Several of Duval County’s former school board members, Nancy
Broner and Betty Burney are disciples of his too. Which helps to explain the
hole we are in.
He penned an anti teacher piece in the Las Angeles Times
that I will now debunk during the commercials of an Arrested Development
marathon.
Broad starts, If America's medical schools were failing to offer their students
the academic content and practical experience necessary to provide high-quality
healthcare, we would be outraged.
The main problem with that is teacher colleges aren’t doing
what he suggests. He sites a thoroughly debunked National Council on Teacher Quality study as an authority
about how well Teacher Colleges are doing. You might remember the study because
Florida State College wondered why they graded a program that they didn’t have.
Diane Ravitch wrote: Bear in mind: NCTQ is not a professional association; it is
not a research organization; it is not a think tank. It is an advocacy
organization that promotes alternative ways to become a teacher, that is,
alternative to going to an education school.
If you aren’t doing anything later lets meet for drinks and
form a think tank about string theory, our study will have as much validity as
the Councils.
Broad then complains how teachers don’t get training and
support, and this from the guy who funds Teach for America which offers their
non education majors just five weeks of training before placing hem in schools.
As for teacher support shouldn’t that come from the districts teachers work in?
I don’t know many colleges that once somebody graduates from them the college
tracks them down and supports them. Maybe it’s different in Billionaire school.
Broad then bashes college admissions standards for being to low.
Well since only 30 percent of American’s over the age of 25 have a college
degree and all public school teachers do I think that’s a moot point. But lets
make it a little mooter, hmm is that a word, anyhoo, only 10% of Americans have
an advanced college degree where 52% of Teachers do. This means if going to and
finishing college is a mark of excellence then teachers have excellence in
spades.
How we should follow the Finland and China model is his next
point. Arne Duncan says Finland, Singapore and Korea are the places to be. They
must have gotten their talking points from different anti-public school
meetings.
I can’t imagine many American’s wanting to emulate china, thanks
for the thought though. And like Duncan doesn’t like to admit, but Finland is
highly unionized, they don’t believe in standardized tests, they have multiple
tracks to graduation that serve more kids interests, they pay their teachers
well and they invest in education. Sure
they might recruit from the top third of their graduates but how can he dismiss
all those other factors, cognitive dissonance anyone? I guess he is in good,
err bad company because Arne, Rhee, Bush, Klein, Bloomberg, Chartrand and the
list goes on and on and…. The truth is those things are inconvenient to the
narrative he is trying to sell.
He thinks raising the bar for college admission is a first
important step, I say addressing poverty is a better one. Potatoes, potatoes I
guess, except poverty is the number one quantifiable measure for how a kid does
in school. The teacher’s class rank falls somewhat further down the list.
Next he suggests teachers develop content expertise by requiring
them to study math, science, English and other core subjects for three years,
and then provide top performers in each subject area with the training and
support they need to learn how to teach the content.
Forgive me but don’t history teachers study history and math
teachers study, you get it, his whole point is so laughable, and not arrested
Development laughable.
Gaining momentum he says, we would never allow a medical student
to perform surgery without participating in a high-quality residency program
and studying under the careful eye of an experienced physician. We shouldn't
force new teachers to enter the classroom without the same type of support and
training.
Unless they are Teach for America teachers then they are good to
go. Does anybody else feel his hypocrisy bleeding from his words or is it just
me?
He is right, sorry sit down before you read this next part, he is
right, every student in America deserves a great teacher (and informed
philanthropists), however demonizing the ones we have, marginalizing them,
forcing many to leave and by being an ignorant hypocrite who showers anti
teacher organizations with money is not the way to make sure that happens.
Back to my marathon.
To read his piece, click he
link: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-broad-teacher-prep-review-20130703,0,1984429.story
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