Why Scapegoat Teachers?

10 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

1. 2old2tch says:

   September 11, 2012 at 7:13 pm

   Michael Paarlberg has taken the time to examine the CTU strike. Unfortunately, the British public seems as ambivalent as our own. I guess some people feel free to spew their vitriol from the relative anonymity of the internet. I sound like a real prig. I am guilty of sounding off about things I know little about. The difference is I know I don’t know much and don’t parade my ignorance in front of complete strangers. My family and friends indulge me.

   Reply
2. mike says:

   September 11, 2012 at 8:07 pm

   The comments there are about as Tea Partyish as those in the average US newspaper. Then again, I suppose it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since the UK educational system has increasingly become privatized in the last several years, much as the American system.

   Reply
3. Joe says:

   September 11, 2012 at 8:19 pm

   I made the mistake of reading a number of the reader comments, the usual teacher bashing. Some examples: teachers only work 9 months of the year (they are counting in the holidays plus summer), Chicago has the shortest school day of any school system in the US, the average salary is $74K, the teachers won’t accept a 16% increase in salary and on it goes. That 16% increase is spread over 4 years and I believe that whatever the percentage increase per year is (4%?/year), that 4% is spread out over the whole salary schedule, so one cohort of teachers might get a 2% raise, others 1% and a third cohort 1% for a total of 4% or do I have it all wrong? Are there any experts on the pay schedule thing? On the one hand, I’m sure that Obama wants the strike to be settled soon but on the other hand there is big corporate reformy money for Rahmbo to break the union. I sincerely hope the teachers win this one and don’t cave in.

   Reply
4. Alan says:

   September 11, 2012 at 8:26 pm

   In graduate school I studied the anthropological theories of Rene Girard, who wrote extensively about scapegoating behavior in Violence and the Sacred as well as in other works. He basically stated that human beings instinctively seek scapegoats during periods of crisis as a way of venting anxiety driven aggression and regaining communal cohesiveness as a result of unanimously designating a victim. The scapegoat must always be a marginalized, liminal figure on the fringe of society to be effectively used as such. I am astonished that teachers in particular and the middle class by extension have actually become marginalized to this extent.

   Reply
5. moosesnsquirrels says:

   September 11, 2012 at 9:07 pm

   Raymond Callahan’s analysis of the dynamics that forced a business-industrial model on American schools in the early part of the 20th century seems very relevant here.

   The 1% pick on the teachers, because they bet the unions or the Democrats would not stand up to their bullying. Decades of union bashing using a compliant press made the ground fertile for an incessant campaign of disinformation and outright lies to get the public fearful of “bad” schools that were full of “bad” teachers. With the heat on for the next unionized villain, the 1% didn’t have to worry about proving their case for charters and virtual schools–We’re in a crisis! We have act now! There is no alternative!
   And didn’t Milton Friedman prove that free markets always provide the best solution? Didn’t our 30 years of Reganomics demonstrate that business school graduates know best? Shouldn’t we let the likes of Steve Jobs, a man with no serious education at all, tell us what to do given Apple’s valuation?

   And decades of off-shoring jobs and closing factories made parents terrified for their the future of their children. But instead of demanding re-investment of the profits made by the likes of the Romneys and Bushes in shuttering American industry, and running a rigged casino on Wall Street, care of the Clintons and Democrats, people ate-up the old American fantasy of rags-to-riches wealth care of Horatio Alger; so they wanted low taxes for when they would be rich too. So, why demand higher taxes that would only slow the great party we’ve had for the past 20 years? Why admit that your children would need to find good jobs instead of living off of their investments like Mitt’s kids do? All of this was reinforceed by the “gospel of greed” coming out of many churches too; a gospel that insisted that the righteous are rewarded with riches now and later, and sinners and lazy get punished with poverty.

   Also, a close look at the real situation might get uncomfotable for parents. Perhaps they’d have to get serious about making sure their kids studied and the schools were well managed. That would take time away from making money, buying cheap crap at Walmart, and televised sports. School should be flexible and technology oriented, like the call centers where they work.

   And of course, we can’t blame the kids. We can’t ask them to make a committment to their education. Education should be entertaining, not hard work. The best teachers lecturing over the airwaves or wires will make learning easy–for a fee.

   That’s why.

   Reply
6. K. Spradlin says:

   September 11, 2012 at 9:52 pm

   My principal called me in today for a pep talk. He asked me why our reading scores aren’t higher. I told him the kids don’t read enough, and hardly read at all over the summer. He said that was an excuse and by becoming a better school we would fix that. He also pointed out to me I could be replaced by a TFAer. I pointed out to him that even in his hard scrabble narrative he put forth the effort to get an education. He then stated that he knew I had excelled despite growing up in foster care and orphanages, once again though, I, the student, put forth the effort. He reiterated the reformist creed that a great school would fix all ills anyway. I pointed out that over the summer several of us tutored and coached kids in numerous activities in the small rural school we work at out of love for the kids and the community. We can do that because we make enough to pay our bills and can afford to give our time, a TFA er likely wouldn’t have that luxury. I have been doing this for 15 years, I have a relationship with the parents and the community. My principal is all in on schools fixing all ills, I pity him in a way. I am not saying we will not do everything humanly possible, but we can’t fix everything either. Without help from parents and students education does not reach it’s full potential.

   Reply
   • Ang says:

     September 11, 2012 at 10:53 pm

     If that is your principal’s idea of a pep talk , I would hate to see a good old fashioned tongue lashing!
     What a creep!

     Reply
     • Kathy1 says:

       September 12, 2012 at 6:22 pm

       AMEN! So much for support and encouragement. So much for asking what he/she can do to help.

   • John Foster says:

     September 12, 2012 at 5:12 am

     TRANSLATION OF YOUR PRINCIPAL’S REMARKS: “I’m being judged almost entirely by the numbers your students attain on standardized tests. My career depends on those numbers being as high as possible. And so does yours. So, I don’t care HOW you do it…just get those numbers higher. Okay?

     What’s that? You wanted to talk about the actual content of their educations? You should know by now that such things don’t really count. Who cares? Now, hurry back to your class and start the test prep. And you’d better do it EXACTLY the way you were instructed! Understand?

     Reply
7. K. Spradlin says:

   September 12, 2012 at 11:27 pm

   That is precisely the message I got. I’m grateful for all the good people that remind me I still have my faculties about me. Today a few of our younger teachers with great potential got the same talk. One of them, a former golf pro, told the principal that he now needs a new 5th grade teacher, he will be done on Friday.

   Reply