State Commissioner Kevin Huffman persuaded the Tennessee State board of Education that teachers should not be paid more for advanced degrees.
The state board agreed that less education is better than more. Tennessee doesn’t want teachers to be too educated. They might ask too many questions.
Dumb is good in Tennessee.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Same thing happening in NC. After 25 years in teaching, I’m shocked and disgusted. I NEVER thought government could be so stupid, short-sighted and downright mean-spirited. I’m so glad I’m at the end of my career.
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Good for you. Please tell your story to everyone you meet.
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Thinking of the legislators who voted for this, I am reminded of H. L. Mencken’s descriptions of Bryan: “vulgar men, ignorant, bigoted, who “prefer the company of rustic ignoramuses,” “deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning.” But in this case the “childish theology” is a cartoon version of classical liberal economic theory.
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Hear, hear!
However, both Huffman and his former wife Michelle Rhee went to top tier universities, Swarthmore, Cornell, and Harvard. Somewhere in their educations things seem to have gone awry, and they became elitist, sending their own daughters to private schools, and damning teachers in public schools.
In LA this week, Deasy and the LAUSD School Board seems to have shown their disdain for teachers by not hiring back many who were fired over the past few years as a cost-cutting measure according to our legislators. However, they did enrich corporations who manufacture I-pads by purchasing $30 million worth for students in the huge district. This expensive technology will be used, according to our governor, to help students prepare for Common Core testing.
Where has creative teaching gotten lost in this corporate process?
Menken and Twain seem to reinforce the question , is it the goal of the refomers to keep students locked in to a system that denigrates critical thinking while repeatedly telling the big lie that independent use of tech to pass a standardized test is the best method of learning?
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“Top-tier schools” doesn’t mean better. I wish people would quit using those US News “ratings” as some kind of marker of intelligence.
There are many, many, many stupid people who went to Ivy League and other snob schools, and many, many, many smart people who went to the despised state schools or never went to college at all.
I get sick of the elitist attitudes.
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Over the years, I’ve had many colleagues and employees who went to Ivy League schools. Some were extraordinarily well educated. Some clearly managed to coast through, learning little. Many of the most learned people I know were educated in state schools.
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Dumb is spreading quickly to too many districts. It is not just at the national level, the state level or the local level. Dumb is also sitting on your school boards. Make it a priority to get involved with pro public school teacher candidates and their campaigns.
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Marcia: with all apologies to Steve Zimmer and some others, you hit the nail on the head:
“God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.” [Mark Twain]
I look forward to the day when Twain’s observation will seem irrelevant and perhaps even spiteful.
🙂
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So true! The top 1% want dumb, disempowered workers who don’t question authority and the status quo. Quite convenient for the greedy and the corps.
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Dumb is good enough at the Gates run USDOE….a fish rots from the head down.
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exactly, Linda
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Yes, beginning with Arne Dumbcan.
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Come on, isn’t Obama his supervisor?
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Exactly, Mom/speducator. Duncan is simply to toady–the functionary carrying out the plan.
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Amen!
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The oligarchs want trainers and overseers, not educators, in the classroom. This is becoming abundantly clear.
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Tennessee already has an image problem. Now, they look more ignorant than ever. Pathetic.
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Perhaps they should just try homeschooling. If teaching by trained educators is not valued, then perhaps Mr. Huffman should send out info on do it yourself. Tennessee can then produce a state of children who will be qualified to work in their home state. Our district in Illinois is also beginning to frown on advanced degrees because they cost too much. Continuing education creates teachers who are constantly learning which in turn creates students who benefit from that learning. Teachers who don’t do anything more that what is necessary to maintain their certificate, stagnate. That gets passed on to their students too!
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On a related note, the Chicago Tribune is showing contempt as well. Despite Darling-Hammond’s criticisms of the the NCTQ report published four days ago, today the paper ran an editorial stating:
“The NCTQ met fierce resistance from many education schools that refused to turn over materials to researchers. Hmm. Sounds like they have something to hide.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-edschool-20130622,0,2235261.story
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Mary Dooms: the citation from the Chicago Tribune was such a vicious parody of what edubullies say and write that I had to read the original.
Just to be sure. To verify. To confirm.
I am not sure anything critics of the education establishment could write would be more indicative of the sneering contempt of edufrauds than what you cited. If the NCTQ was the real deal, you don’t limit yourselves to casual reviews of hard copy and websites: you visit, you talk with, you observe, you use [here comes the meaningless part for so-called education reformers]
Sound human judgment based on extensive hard-won experience and in-depth formal education.
But, but, but, the edubullies might retort, look at all the numbers and stats the Chicago Tribute editorial uses from the NCTQ. Remember, as Dr. Steve Perry says, “Men lie and women lie but numbers don’t” [a pearl of wisdom extracted from the greatest numbers/stats person of this most innovative eduexcellent twenty first century, rapper Jay-Z].
Is it too much to ask that in the year 2013 we have to be reminded of good advice from a guy who’s been dead for over 170 years?
“Statistics are no substitute for judgment.” [Henry Clay]
Perhaps we could interest the Chicago Tribune editorial board in taking a lesson or two in American political and cultural history?
Or perhaps KrazyMathLady could squeeze a precious few seconds out of her busy schedule to give them some math pointers? No need to worry. Rumor has it she only uses her powers for good…
🙂
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They always do have something to hide.
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Mary, I hadn’t gotten to this latest attack on the part of the editorial staff at the Trib. I was still recovering from another editorial earlier this week. I feel physically ill after reading their vitriol. I keep getting the paper just to see what they will regurgitate next.
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Good birdcage lining or fish wrapping, 2old2tch!
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This makes no sense whatsoever!
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Eli BROAD are you proud of Kevin Huffman?
Shameful.
It will leave a negative image of that wonderful state in people’s minds for years. From The state that gave us William Sanders BS, ugg. Pity the good people of Tennessee.
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Huffman is exactly what Eli & Arne had in mind for the rest of us.
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I thought this was supposed to be all about the importance of education. Oh, I forgot profits now.
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So education is bad for education. That’s a new one.
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The NewSpeak reaches altogether new levels.
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Paying an additional 8,000 dollars per year for having a doctorate degree over what is paid for a masters, does seem like a somewhat excessive premium. The solution of 0 dollars seems absurd. A middle ground of several thousand dollars per year seems like a more rational solution.
Also, the pay bumps for the baseline teacher seem pretty lame. If they truly believe in the mantra of the value of teachers, they could at least give a 2K per year pay bump for 15 years. Start at 30K and max out at 60K. Any professional should be worth at least double once they are experienced than their first year on the job.
If there are problems in the pay system with fairness and equity, Huffman is doing a poor job of making any improvement, and thus missing the opportunity to increase people’s motivation.
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Okay…just realized Huffman is Michelle Rhee’s ex. Poor TN.
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Such a sad day for teachers in Tennessee. Hope next time they ill give more thought to who they vote for. This republican controlled legislature and governor have take away every right teachers have in Tennessee. Now it is show up, teach as long as we say with the results we want for whatever we want to pay or get out.
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Such a sad day for teachers in Tennessee. Hope next time they will give more thought to who they vote for. This republican controlled legislature and governor have taken away every right teachers have in Tennessee. Now it is show up, teach as long as we say with the results we want for whatever we want to pay or get out.
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Yep, more stupid decisions made by people who know little to NOTHING about education or, apparently, the cost of getting that education! Perhaps we should go back to the day when someone completed 8th grade they could begin teaching those younger than them. Shoot, I hope Kevin Huffman and the Tennessee State board of Education don’t read THAT idea!
The biggest reason I retired from teaching this year, after 22 years in primary education and earlier than I had anticipated, is due to all the asinine decisions politicians are making involving teachers and the education of children.
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Does the name Scopes ring a bell?
Sent from my iPhone
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If the purpose is to end public education- then Kevin has done a brilliant job paving the way.
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Please, they don’t want everyone dumb…just the masses, that way it will be easier to get their tax dollars away from them. We will all work and work and work, and they will reap and reap and reap, I believe it is called Indentured servitude.
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Earning advanced degrees in education hasn’t made sense for quite a while in my state (WI). Maybe that’s how it should be. They don’t, by themselves, make anyone a better teacher, so why should districts pay more for people who hold them?
I am much more concerned about what is happening on the other end of the salary continuum. People who enter teaching in almost any school district in WI (and I’d imagine other states are like this, too) will never earn any more than the pittance offered them because continually declining school funding and destroyed collective bargaining ensure that pay increases for years of experience (which DO make us better teachers) will be frozen forever.
When enough of the older staff retires/dies, we will reach a tipping point where the new teachers will demand a flat single salary structure, which school boards will happily grant and everyone will be left with a barely livable wage. Fewer and fewer people will go into education and the quality of teachers will gradually decline to the point where the public will readily concede that the system has to go and the privatizers will finally win the ultimate prize.
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I know there are many angry teachers commenting about this issue of not receiving pay raises when they obtain higher degrees. But let’s calm down a minute and look at the system issue. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT I USED TO WORK IN THE EDUCATION FIELD.
In almost all other fields of work, there is a hierarchy of positions, with different titles and levels of skill and education required. Usually a worker in one of those fields who obtains more education/certification/licensure/whatever then applies to move up the ranks to a position which is at a higher level, requires the higher degree, and pays the person more because the new position is at a higher level and requires the new degree. If a college professor of math goes back to school in his/her free time and obtains another advanced degree in, say, geology, does that mean that s/he should automatically get a raise? No, because their position did not require that additional degree for the performance of duties in that current job description. And their level in the job hierarchy has not changed. If a registered nurse goes back to school and obtains a masters degree in nursing with a specialty in pediatrics, but is still employed as a staff nurse in the local hospital, does that additional degree automatically mean s/he should be paid higher than the other nurses working in the exact same position doing the exact same job at the exact same time? No, because s/he is still doing the same job, which does not require the additional degree. Sure, that additional education might make him/her a better nurse, but s/he is still in the same position! HOWEVER, if that nurse wanted higher pay, better hours, a higher-level title, s/he could APPLY for a higher level position which would require the additional degree and knowledge. If a paraprofessional in your school went to evening school and after many years of hard work s/he obtained a masters degree in elementary education, but was still employed as a paraprofessional, would you want him/her paid what you as a teacher with a masters in education is being paid? No you wouldn’t, because s/he is not working as a teacher, s/he is working as a paraprofessional. S/he would be required to apply for a teaching position when one became open. If the school secretary finished an undergrad degree in business administration, would s/he be automatically entitled to more money than the other school secretary doing the exact same job? No. If I finish my undergraduate degree in chemistry, but I am still working as a pharmacy sales clerk, would you expect the pharmacy to double or triple my pay because I had a degree? NO! Because they would have to raise their prices to afford my salary, and pass the extra cost on to the customers. Why does getting additional education necessitate extra pay when the position and duties does not change? It shouldn’t!
Before you get angry, let me finish!
The problem with the education system in most areas is a flat hierarchical structure. You’re a teacher unless you apply to move up to an administrative role which requires additional or different training. Then you’re a junior-level administrator until you get more education and APPLY to be a principal, then a superintendent, etc. But very few move up that far. So the problem is at the main level, that of teacher. The system should have different levels for beginning teachers, then advanced teachers who are given more tasks that require the additional education, then master teachers that are required to have advanced degrees and who work with the most difficult students or most difficult assignments, and all these should be at different pay grades and have better titles as you move up. And all these should, like in all other walks of life, entail an application to get the higher level position which is significantly different in duties than the currently held position.
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Wasn’t that what the”dark ages” was all about. Keep the populous in the dark and the more learned can take them anywhere?
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i am a librarian in TN and horrified by the recent news.
as far as some of the comments above re: add’l ed/degrees being unnecessary take into consideration that one can NOT work as a school librarian in TN (and most other states that haven’t yet axed their library programs) without a B.S. and a M.S. in library science!
i’m not sure what will become of TN schools, i fear that it will be a mass exodus (i am currently looking into other options).
at the end of the day the biggest loser is the students, but our gov and the illustrious mr. huffman don’t care about that (i’m sure haslam’s kids were private schoolers and i believe mr. huffman’s child(ren) go to harpeth hall).
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How very sad! What kind of message does that send to children? It says, ” Education is NOT important!” How can that be the message that we want children to receive!? I am certain that we are the laughing stock of all other industrialized nations. We once were the world leaders but, that is soon to be a thing of the past as we will soon have a poorly educated majority in this country!
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We, Tennesseans, have a bunch of jack-asses in charge in Nashville!!
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amen!
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