Want better schools? Let teachers teach
Published December 4, 2015
Editorial by Rocky Mount Telegram, December 3, 2015.
In the 1980s, North Carolina lawmakers crusaded for better schools across the state with the much heralded BEP – Basic Education Plan.
In the 1990s, former Gov. Jim Hunt campaigned for early childhood education with a program called Smart Start.
In the 2000s, former President George W. Bush set a national example for education in No Child Left Behind. North Carolina, in the meantime, measured student achievement with a standardized testing program called ABCs. And former Gov. Mike Easley joined the early childhood education effort with More at Four.
A much rockier initiative – Common Core – took off this decade with bipartisan support and buy-in from governors and federal leaders all over the country ... only to disintegrate in the crossfire of conservatives and liberals alike.
Republican lawmakers in the N.C. General Assembly now say they’ll introduce their own program for evaluating state schools and educators in the near future.
But forgive us for breathing a weary sigh and a simple wish. Why not just let teachers teach?
The best of our teachers bring innovation and fun into classes that light up the minds of students every day of the school year. There is no substitute for that kind of engagement. It creates a genuine love for learning in kids. And it betters our communities in every way.
Yet, for four decades, politicians at all levels of government have insisted they know better than teachers how to make kids smarter. Enough of the catchy sound bites. Let our teachers teach.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/opinion/our-views/want-better-schools-let-teachers-teach-3057103
December 4, 2015 at 10:18 am
Richard L Bunce says:
First, Let Parents Choose... then the parents can decided whether the school system and it's teachers that they have chosen are meeting their expectations in the education of their children. Just throwing up our hands and letting traditional government schools do what they want with little accountability is not the answer.
December 4, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Carol Carter says:
A novel idea. Let teachers teach. Now it is make teachers test. No teacher can have personality. No teacher can encourage creativity. I fear for these Common Core Generations. I fear for us when they become the leaders of our state and nation. Let teachers teach.
