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Obama: A Better Education Plan For American Students

12 March 2009 4 Comments

President Obama has unveiled some of his plans to prop up our failing education system. Within that plan he endorsed merit pay for teachers who show positive results in educating our students. I have long been a proponent of merit pay. For years teacher’s unions railed against it. Now it seems they are embracing the concept. It can be a win-win issue.

Those teachers who have a true “calling” for this profession should be rewarded. Automatic pay increases or bonuses do not equate with an impetus for creative and effective teaching. We need to weed though teachers who simply put in time within the classroom and those teachers who want to become effective instruments of change and challenge to our students. Teachers who raise the bar and help our students want to learn not only benefit the students, but our society as well. Statistics have shown that we have fallen far short of the mark in math and reading. Too many students have been shuffled through the system only to graduate with what is tantamount to illiterate skills. The teachers win with merit pays as their efforts are recognized, and the students win because they will be better-equipped to seek jobs or higher education. We as a society also win as our country regains its stature in knowledgeable citizens.

No Child Left Behind was a terribly under-funded program. If we can invest in failing banks and corporations, surely we can make investments in our students and in our education system which will actually give dividends to American society.

One addendum: Parents also need to invest and actively take part in their children’s education. If student-learning is not reinforced in the home, it is doomed to fail. It is incumbent upon parents to show an active interest in their children’s education. Enforce homework being done, talk to teachers and be active, not passive participants in the process. President Obama has called upon Americans to raise standards on their own. No longer should schools be babysitters for our children. Parents have been part of the problem. They must now be part of the solution.

4 Comments »

choopixie said:

It’s great that President Obama is doing something positive about education. It’s not just the teachers alone: the school, state, government, and parents should also be accountable. It’s pretty tough for even good teachers to effectively teach kids when there isn’t enough funding to pay for materials. Oftentimes, it comes out of the teacher’s pockets. Yes, our education needs a total re-vamped because our children deserve a better education, but the responsibility should not rest solely on the teachers’ shoulders.

Thanks for writing about it

# 13 March 2009 at 2:33 am

Paul Johnson said:

Dear Cherlock,

How are we going to decide who is a good teacher? Are the Principals just going to hand out this money to those they like? Or maybe we should test the students so the money can be given to affluent schools at the expense of the inner city. The whole idea is unworkable.

Also, in general the teachers are dedicated professionals who are doing there best under difficult circumstances. The problem is many students do not want, nor value, an education. How can you make them learn? Disruption of the classroom and failure is a wonderful option in America. The kids know the welfare state will subsidize them indefinitely.

# 16 March 2009 at 7:43 pm

admin (author) said:

Dear Paul,
Obama’s plan is entirely workable. Even students can separate the good teachers from the bad. As students (and certainly you were one), we all knew who the good teachers were. Sometimes we avoided their classes because they were “tough” and grades were not simply doled out on candy trays.

Under Bush’s No Child Left Behind, students were taught how to take a test for measuring the school’s ability to implement such test. They were not adequately taught the fundamentals of education.

Inner city schools need proper funding for basic building structures, as well as materials for the classroom. I taught in inner-city schools and was appalled by the discrepancy as compared to suburban schools. These students, all of them, are our investment in America. I still pay taxes to the school district, even though my children are no longer in them. The resolution, however, is that every child has some sort of potential which good teachers can bring to the fore.

# 17 March 2009 at 8:50 am

Paul Johnson said:

Dear Cherlock,

Yes…I knew who the good teachers were. I also have no faith that any government system would get the money to those teachers. It is also unnecesary as the vast majority of teachers are good and do a good job.

Yes…we cannot afford to waste any brains that we need for the technology race that has already developed. That is also irrelevant. It is stupid to throw money where no problem exists.

The problem is the STUDENTS! The ones that fail largely do so because on lack of motivation. This may not be entirely their fault. The inner cities abound in social problems. A child cannot learn if his mind is elsewhere. Get the fathers to stay with the families and the outlook will change. Continue to subsidize male family abandonment and dysfunctional families and there will never be any educational achievement. To Obama’s minor credit, he has given some minimal lip service to this concept.

# 17 March 2009 at 2:01 pm