Monday, May 26, 2014

Stop Blaming Teachers ... Submitted to NBEA

Those who scapegoat teachers may have much to gain, but students have much more to lose.


The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines scapegoat as one that bears the blame for others, or one that is the object of irrational hostility. Those of us in the education profession would define scapegoat this way: teacher.

Scapegoating teachers has become so popular with policymakers and politicians, the media, and even members of the public that it has blurred the reality of what’s really happening in education. What’s more, it’s eroding a noble profession and wreaking havoc on student learning.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our Nobel profession is eroding. This behavior scares the hell out of those who are considering majoring in education as a career. Using teachers as scapegoats is the new fad and and a distorted way to fix the problems plaguing urban schools. The real culprits deflect accountability. They are free and clear of any responsibility. And, their methods? Well, it's unpleasant and cruel. We can compare it to the veteran hospital who left patients who served and protected our country on a hidden waiting list to die despite the need for immediate care. Teachers serve, protect, and educate daily and our reward is a harsh consequence under Durkin, mayor, and SC who are very much to blame. Shame on them for such poor moral character. Our respect for them is in the toilet. We memorialize the loss of great teachers who were victims of circumstance and gave years of dedicated service to NBPS.

Anonymous said...

What the heck does Alfred Nobel have to do with education? Is there a Nobel Prize for teaching that I am unaware of?
Sorry, being a life long learner I naturally am inquisitive about things. Being an educator, I need to correct when I see an error (It should have read "Our noble profession..."). Also, I'm not so sure the analogy works. If you were going for a Memorial Day theme, then perhaps you could have used the returning Vietnam soldiers who returned to jeers and being spat on.
I apologize for post this; but it kind of takes away from our credibility as educators when we post things with grammatical or spelling errors.



Anonymous said...

Wait…..is it Mike again???

Anonymous said...

Screw grammatical errors and spelling errors you jerk,it's content that counts.

Anonymous said...

I am just going to throw this out there... most of us post on our mobil devices which auto correct the spelling and is difficult to check- get off of your high horse.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for having the cajones to finally approaching the spelling/grammar issue on this blog. I have been cringing for months. It is not just about content. We are educators and should present ourselves as such. It makes us look very unprofessional when we cannot spell or put a simple sentence together. So stop with the excuses about autocorrect and everything else. What happened before spell check? So, a) type when you are at a computer (not on a "mobil"(sic) device (mobile). b) Break down and buy a "learn to spell book", or at the very least c) ask someone to proofread your writing before you post it. How can you teach anything if you can't spell? You can call us "jerks" or tell us to "get off our high horses" but sometimes the truth hurts. I don't care what you teach. There is nothing worse than a teacher or an administrator who cannot spell or write (or speak) properly. It reflects badly on all of us. (For the record, I am not an English teacher.)

Anonymous said...

I apologize for my "finally approaching" error. I should have proofread my own work better. I am not expecting anyone to be perfect, but at least try to be more careful. I just feel they are always blaming us for everything, let's not give them any ammunition. I am sorry if I was self-righteous.