Why?
What are the implications of ending teacher tenure?
Who is behind "Ending Teacher Tenure"?
Where did it begin?
When did the movement to end teacher tenure begin?
How does one sort through the arguments both for and against teacher tenure?
There may be valid reasons for limiting teacher tenure, just as there may be valid reasons for limiting the tenure of the judgeship, say a judgeship on the U.S. Supreme Court ... but ...
Beyond removing a crabby old dinosaur who is behind the time in how and what to teach, is there an intention to strike out against teachers' unions and an intention to remove older, more highly-paid teachers to move in cheaper, younger teachers who will work for less?
The name Michelle Rhee always seems to ring an alarm bell.
Remember her?
She was chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools from 2007 to 2010.... In 2007 the D.C. board of education was stripped of its decision-making powers and turned into an advisory body, and the new office of chancellor was created—so that changes in the public school system could be made without waiting for the approval of an often argumentative board. Newly-elected D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty quickly offered Rhee the job of chancellor; she accepted after being promised mayoral backing for whatever changes she wanted to make. Critics noted that Rhee had no experience running a school system, and had not even been a principal. She had been highly recommended to Fenty, however, by the chancellor of the New York public schools.[
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The debacle over the public school situation in DC is still a very hot topic and difficult to sort out. Nevertheless, Rhee has had a very close association with the use of "standardized tests," lack of accountability and transparency, a testing scandal, school vouchers, and her political associations are troubling:
According to The New York Times abolishing teacher tenure is a main objective Rhee and the group. Within weeks of its founding, Rhee and Students First had advised the governors of Florida, Nevada and New Jersey on abolishing teacher tenure and other issues related to public education reform. In 2010-2011, Rhee served on the transition team of Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott.
She has also been a visible figure in the national media, appearing on television shows, radio programs, and the documentary film Waiting for Superman. In May 2011, Rhee spoke in favor of school choice alongside the Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker at an event hosted by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice education organization founded and funded by Betsy DeVos.
I sign an inordinate number of petitions as I plug through my daily e-mail on foggy, prior-to-the-coffee-kicking-in mornings, probably a bit too much uncritically, but inevitably, when I work my way through the petitions of one organization, Change.First I think it is, I run across a petition against teacher tenure which I refuse to sign.
Today, I received directly from Michelle Rhee herself a petition for money and support for StudentsFirst.org.
The concept sounds great but its goal is troubling:
The American public education system is losing its capability to prepare our children for the modern workforce.
http://www.studentsfirst.org/...
The use of scare tactics is also troubling:
Only 69 percent of teen-agers complete high school in four years, only 40 percent of young people hold an associate’s or higher college degree and fully half of U.S. employers report a gap between their needs and the skills of their workforce.
As our students fall further behind, the economic downturn is forcing states and local governments to make even deeper cuts to education.
Dropouts, economic downturns, budget cuts and budget shortfalls, etc.
Nice way to direct our attention away from the costs of War Policy and the Redistribution of Wealth to the Very Wealthy, yes?
Yet, is it valid to boot out crabby old teachers and ... um, one must take note of the exceedingly young and energetic Rhee's first encounter with difficult youngsters:
Inspired by a PBS special that she saw when she was a senior in college, Rhee signed up with Teach for America, went through their brief training period in how to teach, then worked for three years as a teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. She was assigned to one of the lowest-performing schools, in a neighborhood that reminded her parents of a war zone. She had difficulty controlling her classroom the first year. She has said the stress gave her hives, and that she once put small pieces of masking tape on the children's mouths so they would be quiet on the way to the lunchroom. Rhee told Washingtonian magazine that she was demoralized by her first year of teaching, but said to herself, "I’m not going to let eight-year-old kids run me out of town" ...
Wikipedia Ibid.
Masking tape and school vouchers and ending teacher tenure. Interesting.
And ... the goal of American education, to prepare students for the workforce... Isn't that a bit 1984?