Lawmakers' patchwork rules hurting education
John Florez
We are "A Nation at Risk," warned the National Commission on Excellence in Education decades ago of our outdated education system; yet our lawmakers continue to ignore the warnings at the most critical time of our nation's history — the need to prepare our students to succeed in today's global economy. We need only to look at the financial crisis we are in for the failure of our national leaders, to see what ignoring does. Our state education policy and lawmakers tell us our education system is doing better and all they need is to make a few adjustments here and there, add more money, change school boards, add vouchers, more testing and better pay for teachers.
Now the latest idea is "merit pay" for teachers, with the assumption it will improve the education of our kids. Utah lawmakers gave one-time funding to pilot merit pay for teachers; and, even though legislators complain about the State School Board, they directed them to come up with a plan for implementing the program. True to form, the board did "pass the buck" to local school boards interested in the few dollars they would get if they came up with a plan for defining what constitutes teaching that merits more pay. Some districts chose not to participate, figuring it was more trouble than it was worth, and fearing possible wrath of some teachers and the union. What this exercise in futility shows is how slick some policymakers and bureaucrats are in avoiding blame — spreading the responsibility throughout government so thin that no one can be held accountable.
All the busy work and patchwork fixes lawmakers keep coming up with to improve education only compound the problem. They fail to understand that the most important element in education is the quality of the teachers and creating an environment in which they can practice their profession without all the regulations and second-guessing on how they should teach. Teaching is not only a profession, but an art; the ability to motivate, challenge and have students experience the passion for learning. That cannot be legislated; matter of fact, it's legislation that has killed education in today's schools. That's one reason education today is a road to nowhere.
Recent comments
I just looked at the requirements for the science bonus.
They…Anonymous | Oct. 13, 2008 at 10:04 p.m.
To anonymous 3:15
I didn't hear him/her say anything about math…Anonymous | Oct. 13, 2008 at 5:01 p.m.
To Anonymous at 12:23:
Our high schools have teachers who have…Anonymous | Oct. 13, 2008 at 3:15 p.m.
