This is the final part of my three part review of his book (here are parts one and two). Once again, it’s an enjoyable read. I agree with him that our army doesn’t need to worry too much about a ground troops invasion but instead we need to figure out how to fight splinter cells (I have a plan, but it involves an old CIA agent by the name of Fisher).
The last part that I will discuss hits close to home for more reasons than just because I’m a public school teacher (but, just like Obama, I must admit that that will color my discussion).
Education = Opportunity
Obama recites an American mantra, that people can succeed in the United States if they have the proper education. He abhors the fact that college loan interest rates are going up. He also can’t stand the fact that a Maytag factory he visited laid off hundreds of workers but then when those workers tried to get more of an education, Maytag offered them a job again. If they took the job, they couldn’t finish the training. If they rejected the job, it negated their ability to qualify for the training.
These are all things that I think need to be changed. I agree with Obama.
To save the consumer money, he also suggests alternative fuel research (I am also a big fan).
…[W]e should end every single tax break the industry currently receives and demand that 1 percent of the oil companies with over $1 billion in quarterly profits go toward financing alternative energy research and the necessary infrastructure.
Once again it’s a government infringement on someone’s rights (I can almost guarantee the CEO of an oil company is probably not going to say, “You’re right! I should make less money and invest more into research that will put me out of business.” A government imposition of beliefs, much like the criticism of abortion legislation.)
Education. Science and technology. Energy. Investments in these three key areas would go a long way in making America more competitive.
And money towards apple pie.
It also means paying teachers what they’re worth. There’s no reason why an experienced, highly qualified, and effective teacher shouldn’t earn $100,000 annually at the peak of his or her career. Highly skilled teachers in such critical fields as math and science – as well as those willing to teach in the toughest urban schools – should be paid even more.
I will be ticked if science teachers make more than English teachers. (Once again, Ray Bradbury and the turning in the grave.) I graduated with credits in Calculus II and Calculus-based Physics I & II, as well as University Chemistry and Software Techniques, Intro to Programming, and a whole slew of labs. I thought about becoming a Physical Sciences high school teacher. For about a day. And then I realized that the teachers that I had the best connection with were my English teachers (although my high school Physics and Chemistry teachers were Greek demi-gods (actually, one was a Highlander)).
I went into English because that was how I could impact students’ lives the way I saw best. Would I be steered away when I could have made more money with science?
All veteran teachers making $100,000? I’m down with that. But then he talks about teacher accountability. That’s great! I actually think that No Child Left Behind has gotten more teachers thinking about common standards, common skills, that students leave the classroom with. Having test accountability also means that you can’t just stick the ELL student in the corner with a coloring page (I have seen it, but I won’t say where).
…[M]ost teachers can tell you with amazing consistency which teachers in their schools are really good, and which are really bad.
Wow. My first year teaching at the junior high level was met with raised eyebrows at best. All the faculty knew was that I didn’t have students in rows the whole time and that students read out loud, even though students aren’t good at reading out loud. (Perhaps they need, oh, this is a longshot…practice?) That was my first year. My fourth year I was the district Teacher of the Year. I know that I grew as a teacher, but I don’t think that I was too different of a teacher. People’s perspective and understanding of teaching switched.
But that first year, if we were under Obama’s style of payment, I would have been short-changed the peer evaluation money. Also, when you connect practice to money, teachers are tempted to teach to impress and not necessarily take risks in instructional strategies.
teachers can tell you with amazing consistency
Great. Salem 1692. Or was it the Jacobins? Who do you try to impress to save yourself? Who is whispering about who? Teachers gossip (which, I assume, other workers do). Teachers teach with differing personalities/styles that can still meet the standards. Do we have the parents grade you? Are they the educational/state standards experts?
Because I see it day in and day out, I believe that it would require many things about public education to be reformed to work.












