Whom do we want to teach our children?

To what lengths should we as a society go to protect our teachers and their responsibility to educate our children? The Center for Union Facts’s recent push to buy the resignation of the nation’s 10 worst teachers (AP, March 10, 2008) is a thinly veiled attempt to break unions, but it begs a very interesting question: Should we work so hard to protect teachers who are not doing their jobs? As we work to create the best possible education system for all, we may have to ask some uncomfortable questions. Without taking an honest, unflinching look at the problems of our current system, we can guarantee that we will fail to address some crucial issues. Shutting our eyes to ugliness won’t make it go away.

As with any other job, there are educators who do the bare minimum, and it is possible there are some who do even less. Ignoring malfeasance, let’s take a look at nonfeasance. What is the avenue for recourse against teachers who simply do not pass on the necessary skill sets and knowledge base to the children in their care? With or without unions it is difficult to remove the veteran teacher who is punching in and out every day, just getting one day closer to his pension. The school systems have standards that have to be met, but how are we holding teachers accountable? Whether because of lacking competence, motivation, communicative skills, or myriad other reasons, some teachers are failing their students. What justice can we give to these students? At the very least, we should make sure future generations don’t suffer the same fate.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/10/62980mteacherunionstargeted_ap.html