How do we improve education?
It appears that Scott Walker is pretty much following the playbook from Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, the governor who proudly proclaims to "conduct government as a business." (1) And, actually, Daniels has seen his approval rating grow from under 40% to over 60% (1). One of his statements, "Today, 99 percent of Indiana teachers are rated “effective.” If that were true, 99 percent, not one-third, of our students would be passing those national tests," (2) sounds great, sounds hopeful. To use his "as a business" model, that means workers at Mercury Marine or Harley Davidson (he owns a Harley) don't make a good product or they wouldn't be in dire financial straits, needing bailouts via governnment incentives and worker concessions. (3)
So how is Indiana planning to get those excellent teachers? How is the Hoosier State going to appeal to those with enough ability, dedication, and intelligence to enter the teaching profession? An example from Indiana's Mount Vernon school district includes numerous teacher layoffs despite salaries frozen for the past four years (and a possibility of wage cuts for next year). (4,5) And this is in a state that already did away with collective bargaining for most of its public workers (Daniels could do so, and did, with a stroke of his pen in 2005). (6) That's the blueprint, I guess.
Can't you just see the best and the brightest flocking to become teachers (especially if, as happened in Wisconsin, they'd been called "slob," "lefty," "hippies," "thugs," and "greedy" by their government officials)?
Let me know how that's working for you, Indiana, okay?
(1) http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/10/why-the-gop-should-listen-to-mitch-daniels.html
(2) http://www.in.gov/gov/11stateofstate.htm
(3) http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-100917-harley-state-money,0,7161895.story
(4) http://indianaeconomicdigest.net/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=54031&TM=43284.98
(5) http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/02/locals-weigh-in-on-school-vouchers/
(6) http://www.npr.org/2011/02/28/134111630/indiana-gov-mitch-daniels-tough-on-budgets
No comments:
Post a Comment