Virginia Teacher of the Year Tells Why He Resigned...very sad

I put this in Political Issues forum, because ultimately, that's what it it. As a veteran educator of 17 years, I have watched the government systematically destroy what was once a pretty darn good education system in the U.S.

Every year, our district invents new goals (such as “21st Century Skills”), measuring sticks (most recently a “Growth Calculator”), time-consuming documentation (see “SMART goals”), modified schedules (think block scheduling and an extended school day), and evaluations (look in our seventy-two page “Teacher Performance Plan”).

I’ve seen teachers cry over Standards of Learning scores. I’ve seen students cry over SOL scores. I’ve seen newspaper and TV reports sensationalize SOL scores. These are all indications of an unhealthy obsession with flawed standardized tests.

My heart goes out to this teacher and millions of my colleagues throughout the nation. I know that the vast majority of teachers in my district feel this way, but we are all at a loss for a fix, as there seems to be no stopping the governmental intrusion in our nations classrooms.

Please read the ARTICLE and share what you think.

Any other educators feel the same? What are your ideas for change for the better?

Teachers and the teaching profession are under immense attack in this country.

Underpaid, unappreciated, maligned by fools like Chris Christie, and worst blamed for the failing schools.

It’s clear this is a social problem stemming from peripheral issues that have NOTHING to do with teachers, but a society degenerating into materialism, selfishness, hedonism, poverty, and worst CHARTER SCHOOLS!

a reply to: Willtell

i agree. those who want to learn will find a way. public schools are horrible, if you want your kid to grow up right home school or find an alternative school where teachers aren't teaching seven different things at the same time to a class of 30 plus students in a social hell hole

You have to blame someone for the declining values and intellectual insight this society seems to be bringing forward. Teachers are the punch bags.

It has absolutely nothing to do with media and politics though, no, nothing. It's not like they set an arbitrarily high standard (one that's fabricated) and then lie to us about how easy it is to achieve. I made a thread on this, it's called 'managed perception'. These schools aren't being funded for the simple reason that the 'higher' society do not care about them - or you.

The higher class people, the one's capable of investing, do not because as the late George Carlin said "they don't want a public that can sit at home at night and understand how they're being taxed out the ass for a system that threw them overboard 60 years ago". It's NOT in their interest. Not at all.

Imagine what would happen if a truly brilliantly educated populace emerged? What then? They're going to be asking some VERY uncomfortable questions. Things like "Why is Tony Blair and Goerge Bush not in jail"? "Why do some people use artificial scarcity to drive prices up meaning the poor have to starve"? Things like that. But what REALLY and I mean REEEEEAAALLLLY scares this 'system' is when you ----understand---- their answers. No one looks at that.

Teachers are great at sniffing out bull. Their minds are shaped in such a way that detecting insincerity becomes a second nature. You HAVE to keep them busy with meaningless tasks or they'll impart that knowledge to their pupils, stress causes all kinds of problems and social interaction is one of them.

Ever listened to a debate on TV or the radio and though "I know NOTHING more than I did before this debate or any other debate they've had. In fact I can't remember a time when I heard something real, something tangible to hold on to"? You haven't because without perception management you can NOT change history. I keep brining people back to that fateful question that was asked to BOTH Bush and Kerry "You were both a memeber of skull and bones, what does that mean to America"? They BOTH answered "nothing because it's a secret"........ You just can't make it up, and after that answer -nothing - the interviewer did NOT mention it again. It shows the power the educated have over us. Long term retention. The ability to recall information in a pinch without internet. The ability to 'mould' gullible people.

To answer your question on what can we do to make it better......

We can stop lying to ourselves and stop acting like our society is anything but completely self destructive. We can take the lawmakers who are protecting an elite status quo and we can HANG them. Yes hang them. The future destruction will we see rests firmly on their heads. They've moulded our society and now they can't control it. Because we're all starting to reflect them. If you want to 'fix' this problem you get rid of EVERY person in all our governments and we come together as a people and figure this out. But it's not going to happen..... The solution I can see is.... Buy a gun and hide from the idiotic, violent, uneducted, selfish youths. They will see war, and it'll probably end us all....

Sorry to be so pessimistic but I don't see a light here, like the teacher who resigned it's too much. Save Jesus coming back, there's nothing I can think of. I don't say that to derail this thread I actually mean it.... It's a sad time.

a reply to: Joneselius

I agree, a service economy doesn`t require highly educated workers.There aren`t many manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and even fewer manufacturing jobs that require educated workers to do the job.
To put it bluntly the U.S. no longer has a need for a general populous that is educated beyond a basic education.
I believe that there are many within the government that feel that the money we are spending on education is a waste,
college educated burger flippers and Wal-Mart greeters is a waste of money.

I don`t know if this is a deliberate plan or if it is just a consequence of out sourcing so many jobs but the end result is the same, we have no use for an educated population.an uneducated population is certainly easier to control and mis-lead.

a reply to: Tardacus

They also wont ask what happened when 3/4 of them are incinerated before their very eyes, they'll simply pick up their work uniform and thank their overlords for not killing them.

It's a truly sad state of affairs but it is what it is. We can try to reach out to this generation but doing so only makes them more angry, they're not like the others. Nothing at all. We've had some pretty dark history, I know, but today just feels.....It feels wrong, on a deeper level. I think it's because it's more subtle....

a reply to: Willtell

You're absolutely correct. I couldn't have said it better! I think ultimately charter schools started with best of intentions (as a whole), but then just became money generating machines at the beck and call of every governmental dollar.

a reply to: neOrevolutionist

You cant fatten a pig by measuring it.

Year after year after year teachers are blamed for our screwedup society. Its BS. Teachers, and I should say MOST teachers want tio teach and they get pushed down these political paths where they have to APPEASE the latest flavor of the month.

1. Tear Down the Hoops
Our teachers spend far too much time jumping through hoops.

Every year, our district invents new goals (such as “21st Century Skills”), measuring sticks (most recently a “Growth Calculator”), time-consuming documentation (see “SMART goals”), modified schedules (think block scheduling and an extended school day), and evaluations (look in our seventy-two page “Teacher Performance Plan”).

As a district, we pretend these are strategic adjustments. They are not. The growth calculator was essentially brought forward out of thin air, SMART goals are a weak attempt to prove we’re actually doing something in the classroom, etc. Bad teachers can game any system; good teachers can lose their focus trying to take new requirements seriously.

These hoops have distracted me from our priority (students). I’ve concluded it’s no longer possible to do all things well. We need to tear down these hoops and succeed clearly on simple metrics that matter.

Over the past six years, I can’t remember a time where something was taken off my plate. Expectations continue to increase and we play along until we invent new hoops.

Always more demands!! When proven good teachers feel they need to move on, it should raise a ruckus.

a reply to: Joneselius

Yep...complacency and apathy have taken us over as a whole...there are individuals trying to change the system...but alas it seems a pebble in the ocean. Bread and Circus for us all....and most eat it up and enjoy the show!

I think he's being a little disingenuous here.

I doubt he's going to cease being a teacher, he's merely going to cease being a publicly funded teacher. If his resume is as impressive as he claims, a private school, with less accountability, will snatch him up quickly, if he didn't have the job before he quit.

But what do I know, 80% of my extended family are employed educators at various levels within the system.

a reply to: steamiron

Very well said...unfortunately most administrations are happy when these non-compliant teachers leave, because then they can hire the brain-washed new teachers who have been taught that this is what education is now and to be good little robots and do as you are programmed. Should raise a ruckus, but rarely does...that's why I was glad to see this article get some attention.

a reply to: TheArrow

Possibly, however he may not have the opportunity in his particular community with finding employment in a private education (which I'm sure you know, tends to pay much less in general)...but to have been in a situation where he was having an affect on these students and being fed up with the system enough to abandon it is still a sad state of affairs in my opinion.

I totally agree with you. In the UK when the students started to succeed our govs said that things were being made too easy and that standards had dropped. They promptly brought in new legislation and guidelines for education without the involvement of teachers and to the detriment of students and learning. (IMHO)
Why couldn't they have seen that actually teachers were doing their job and that students were learning?
Then we were told that the same students didn't have enough Math, English and IT skills (core/basic skills) that jobs required.
So we have now to prove that we integrate these core skills into every lesson (regardless of subject) and have to be seen to show learning during a lesson.
We even have a private company as the govs inspectors of schools.
I'm not in any way comparing myself to the 'Teacher of the year' but I will also be leaving teaching this summer and I will be very sad about it. But it isn't the job I signed up to do anymore.
I will miss education very much.

originally posted by: neOrevolutionist
a reply to: TheArrow

Possibly, however he may not have the opportunity in his particular community with finding employment in a private education (which I'm sure you know, tends to pay much less in general)...but to have been in a situation where he was having an affect on these students and being fed up with the system enough to abandon it is still a sad state of affairs in my opinion.

It really depends. The private school tag includes such a large umbrella that getting accurate numbers is hard, but when state certified teachers switch to the private sector, they tend to make about the same, if only a little less, with far less responsibilities, and often times less students.

I agree, it is sad, and I think he would have left anyway, but politicizing it was a good idea. It went from merely him deciding to leave to a larger discussion on the subject of education. It's something that needs to be addressed.

OP, I agree with your disappointment. Our education system has gone to the dogs, which are the federal government. Teachers are held slave to federal standards which are idiotic to say the least. Federal interference in education is indoctrination. And although it's unconstitutional for the federal government to dictate the educational curriculum, they claim that states have the option of not participating in federal government programs, but what they don't advertise is that they will still collect federal tax from those states. A state which refuses to participate in federal education subsidies stands to lose up to 10 % of their funding for general education. It's extortion.

I lived in UK during '92 - '95 and was embarrassed by the difference between our basic education systems. Students in the UK that had completed A-levels at 18 years old were on a par with or ahead of US students who had completed 4-year degree programs at university at 22 years old. And what's even sadder is our expenditures on education are higher than virtually any other country in the world.

Common Core is the death of us.

a reply to: supamoto

I so sorry to hear that you're leaving...sounds like you are, most likely, a great teacher. It also sounds exactly the same is happening on two continents, and I'm sure there are more, sadly.

Best of luck in your new endeavors and may you continue to educate, whether or not you are in an education profession.

a reply to: Tardacus

I agree with you...Ultimately, this may be about control...sheep are easier to herd.

a reply to: lynxpilot

Your last sentence speaks the biggest truth. This common core is the devil in disguise and the states are really held at the mercy of it's funding. No child left behind was the snowball at the top of the hill and C.C. is the behemoth rolling swiftly toward the bottom ready to destroy our future of an educated society.

Personally, I'm getting my kids out of institutionalized education while the getting is good. A child's primary concern in life shouldn't be passing a test.

a reply to: muchmadness

Amen...wish I could do the same!