Michelle Rhee versus teachers

Michelle Rhee has become famous in her own rite. The former director of all Washington D C Schools who now is considered an education expert has become the leading proponent of education reform.

I think that the call for education reform and social security reform have many similarities. They both do need corrections but the calls for a complete overhaul are overstated and unneccesary.

While some advocating for reform surely have the best at heart I believe that for some this is an opportunity to become a pundit, a seer or worse to use this crisis for their own gain and gratification.

Rhee in an interview recently stated that the policy of LIFO when used in the determination of which educators to layoff in budget cuts is harmful in three ways . In explaining these three ways she finally gave voice to a reason often denied but usually under the surface. Rhee stated that LIFO methods often have younger teachers who are quite successful removed when some older more tenured teachers on independent review are not as effective. She states that poorer school districts suffer more because with their budget constantly in flux they have a higher turnover rate which of course does not aid the students.

Notably however she also stated that in times of budget constraints districts could keep two younger teachers instead of one older tenured educator. Therein lies the rub. In days of constant budget cuts anyone who does not think that older, higher paid teachers would not have a target on their back is living in a dream world.

To prove this look to the world of business. How often have we seen older employees who are still doing a good job let go while younger employees are left safe. The fact is that while there are always some dynamic performers and we are thankful for that we also have a large range of effective employees or teachers in the middle. All things being equal from a business point of view an employer keeps the cheaper employee. Educators have been protected against this, through their union and yet many of the masses proclaim them as standing in the way of progress.

I challenge anyone who has worked ten to fifteen years in their job to feel good about giving up there seniority and being placed on an equal par with a new employee. No one would do this.

The masses or at least the commentators on the BDN website always point to teachers having benefits they should not. Of course their comments are not usually written well so one has to wonder what their belief in education has been. That sounds snobbish and perhaps it is but when educators become looked down upon then what does that mean of our society.

We proclaim teachers as being important and yet we do not support them when it comes to budgets, we do not support them when our children are in their classes, and we denigrate them every chance we get and begrudge them their benefits. Would you go the cheapest doctor you could find. You would not, still we constantly denigrate our teachers for the wages they earn.

Social Security correlates because while we know the program will be in trouble in the thirties, twenty or more years from now that is a lifetime away. Of course it should be corrected and fixed just as Reagan did in the eighties but those crying the loudest now are those that want to kill the program not save it.

Social Security can be fixed easily with small adjustments around the edges but we are mostly hearing from folks who want to make massive changes including privatizing it. Follow the money and trust me it leads to people who do not care about saving Social Security. Follow the money in education and a great deal of those proposing the biggest changes have never sent their children to public school.