How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
The market is in full meltdown, unemployment is hovering below 10% (with real unemployment well over 15%), and the economy is stalled; and yet some perhaps well-meaning people are wondering what has happened to the nation’s prosperity. Similarly, as the nation’s children return to their public schools we are confounded by reports that last year’s test scores improved not at all—despite all the “investment” made in public education—and that the number of students actually flourishing at an “advanced” level is shockingly low. We are usually less critical of the nation’s schools than the nation’s politics, since, after all, good suburban parents are utterly convinced that their children attend the last “good public school” in the nation. Yet we might learn more about both the nation’s politics and its schools if we see the ways in which they are similar—even in the most affluent suburban schools in the country. More to the point, your children’s teachers are a lot like President Barack Obama. Let us count the ways.
First of all, we don’t know much about the intellectual backgrounds of either Barack Obama or your children’s teachers—though we should, if education is to mean anything. To this date, our president has not shown anyone his academic transcripts from college. Your children’s teachers also say very little about what they studied as undergraduates. A little investigation into the collegiate studies of either Barack Obama or your children’s teachers would show their backgrounds to be alarmingly similar. (Hint: Neither was based on the philosophy of human nature and government shared by the Founding Fathers.)
Second, and related to the first point, since Barack Obama’s education did not concern what it should have, he is not faithful to his “text,” that text being the Constitution of the United States and the principles on which this nation was founded. Similarly, since your children’s teachers’ education did not concern what it should have, they are not faithful to their “texts,” those texts being English grammar, mathematics, American history, and the principles on which this nation was founded.
Third, since Barack Obama is not a servant of the Constitution, how does he govern? Well, he gives Americans projects to do. Remember the shovel-ready projects of the various stimuli? Similarly, since your children’s teachers do not know much about history or science or math, they give their classes lots of fun projects to do, too, which the children bring home to make sure that no space goes uncovered on the family refrigerator. On this account, though, we must give the edge to your children’s teachers, since we clearly see the mountains of projects coming home from school (which are later transferred to the attic) but we have seen far fewer federal stimulus projects. It could be that those are being saved for 2012, an election year.
Fourth, part and parcel of the love of projects, they must always be group projects. The idea of a person working on his own is disturbing to Barack Obama, as it is wholly disturbing to your children’s teachers. You will never hear President Obama (so unlike President Reagan) speak of an individual thriving by own his intelligence and enterprise. Instead, he speaks of “the middle class” or “the working class” or “the disadvantaged,” or some other social designation. In the same vein, your children’s teachers have very little to say about your children as individuals. Indeed, one of the most common evaluation criteria is “works well in groups,” and the harshest thing to say about a child is that he “does not relate well with peers,” i. e. hates group projects.
Fifth, related to the previous characteristic, both Barack Obama and your children’s teachers have a profound distrust of high achievers. They also believe that achievement comes to the achiever by magic or luck. As everyone should know, the president, when times are tough (as they have been since January of 2009) tells us that times aren’t nearly so tough for “the rich.” He never considers how they became rich in the first place nor how others might become rich by emulating the ambition and habits of the rich. But he says the rich must contribute “their fair share.” Just so, your children’s teachers distrust the intelligent and the knowing. The precocious child who reads books on his own and wants to talk about those books in class is patronized for wanting to bring so quaint a thing as books into the classroom and then “redirected” to some group project. The rule is that only one high achiever can be in a single group so the less inventive or industrious students can partake of his initiative and make the same grade as he. The achiever may be assigned the word “gifted,” but that is just a designation to indicate that the gift comes miraculously from the ether, not from hard work or learning at home. The achiever is really a nuisance to teachers because he is the one who exposes the mistakes they make on their tests or in saying wrong things in class. Still, Barack Obama must tolerate the rich to some degree, as teachers are forced to put up with high achievers in the classroom. The president needs the rich for their tax revenue; teachers need the bright and studious for their standardized test scores.
Sixth, Barack Obama and your children’s teachers love to play the “care” card. That is, they explain their actions to be the result of caring so much about those for whom they are responsible. The president gave us Obamacare because he cares so much for this big group called the uninsured. Teachers do the things they do, so they tell us, because they care so much for the students. Of course, these forms of caring are selective. We never hear that the president “cares” about Americans’ tradition of self-government. Nor do we hear from teachers that they are proud their students have memorized all the presidents of the United States or have mastered the use of the gerund. But they “care,” by golly, and isn’t that enough? Admittedly, we have to give the edge once again to your children’s teachers. The president does not really seem to care. He has yet to shed a tear in office. He’s no Bill Clinton.
Seventh, Barack Obama shifts ground constantly on his degree of responsibility for the course of human events. If anything goes right, anything at all, no matter how remote from his agenda and public record, he takes credit for it. “Jobs saved” was only the most egregious example. But if anything goes wrong, such as the high unemployment rate or a downgrade in America’s credit rating almost three years after President Bush left office, it’s not his fault. Likewise, it’s hard to tell for what exactly teachers are held responsible. “If you can read this, thank a teacher” implored the old bumper-sticker. Anything young people do must be credited to their experience in public schools since “teachers change the world,” according to the self-aggrandizing signs teachers hang in their classrooms. Yet if the nation’s test scores reveal that students can barely read, if the person working at the grocery store or the fast-food drive-thru cannot make change without a computer, if ISI shows yet again that today’s Americans have no civic literacy whatsoever—well, you can’t blame that on teachers. “They’re doing every thing they can!” It’s because of television, or climate change, or the schools not receiving enough “support” (i.e. money). That Barack Obama has been in office for three years we are supposed to overlook. That your children’s teachers have students in their classroom for over one thousand hours per year is supposed to account for nothing.
Finally, both Barack Obama and your children’s teachers claim to be about the hardest working people in the universe, though both seem to take, from the perspective of the average hard-working American, a lot of vacation time.
These similarities between Barack Obama and your children’s teachers are more than humorous or coincidental. The nation’s economy and sense of self-government is failing because of Barack Obama’s philosophy of government. The nation’s schools (to include those in the suburbs) are failing because of the teachers’ philosophy of education. That is simply because the two philosophies are one and the same.
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Dec '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Mr. Moore - welcome to Ricochet. But....
I'm afraid your paint brush is a little too wide to convince me. Are there bad teachers, bad schools in this country? Most certainly. Are there good teachers, good schools? Most certainly. This post whips out a brush that is about 50 miles wide and 1/2 inch deep. You also start it out with probably the biggest fallacy on the right side of the political aisle when it comes to education - that test scores should be constantly improving. Why? Are your kids smarter than you are? How does it make sense that this year's crop of kids are smarter than last years? Yes, the overall bar needs to be raised, but just looking at my own children, I in no way expect my 17 year old to pull the same scores that my 21 year old did. They're completely different animals.
Sorry if this sounds a little testy, but I know a lot of dedicated teachers who work very hard - and most of these are conservatives. I tire of the relentless whipping of these people.
Jun '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
I'm just glad I went to school before they started doing everything in "groups." That just allows the lazy and the disinterested (like myself) to have somebody else complete their assignments for them. Now, if they could just take tests in groups, all those unpleasant achievement statistics could go away.
Sep '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Just make sure he doesn't get tenure.
Sep '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
While some teachers will rise against the tide threatening to swamp us all in a sea of putrid mediocrity, Sol Stern and others at City Journal have relentlessly documented the intellectual wasteland that education schools have become all across North America.
And if your child's history teacher managed to survive the loonie tune Howard Zinnoholics in the History departments of his university, the education school stepped in with the help of state authorities to make sure that no "social studies" teacher need have sullied themselves with any history in all their years in the ivory tower.
Armageddon. Its not just for bible thumping Evangelicals anymore.
Aug '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Okay, we figured out the home-schooling thing long ago with a child that didn't "play well with others" . Now I'm looking for guidance in the"home-governing thing".
Doesn't have anything to do with 10th amendment perchance ?
Sep '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Thank you for your service to our country. After reading your bio I am perplexed by your post. You are clearly a patriot, better educated and more knowledgeable than I and yet if your post has a purpose, other than feeding red meat to Obama and public education haters, it escapes me. The two people who are currently most active in advocating for universal school choice, vouchers and criticizing education unions are Rhee and Klein, two democrats. The best I can tell is the most radical GOP education reform currently being considered in the House is doing away with a portion of Bush’s No Child Left Behind farce.
I don’t think you believe Obama’s governing philosophy begins to explain why,” The nation’s economy and sense of self-governance is failing.” Beyond a doubt he has made thing worse but the problems run much deeper. Your post is clever but, I think, not up to Corps standards. I look forward to your coming posts.
Jun '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
The Great Adventure!: Mr. Moore - welcome to Ricochet. But....
I'm afraid your paint brush is a little too wide to convince me. Are there bad teachers, bad schools in this country? Most certainly. Are there good teachers, good schools? Most certainly. This post whips out a brush that is about 50 miles wide and 1/2 inch deep.
Agree.
Many school districts, by the way, now require a dual degree --- you can't get hired in my town unless you hold a BA or BS in addition to the degree in education. We've had our kids in both private and public schools and I've seen excellent and slacker teachers in both.
I see tenure as the biggest problem in education. Dedicated and entusiastic techers know they don't need it. In my experience, they are more angry about the dead wood being protected than anyone.
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
From what I can tell from the original comments--if I am not misreading them--there is still a lot of doubt (even among richochet readers) about the plain truth that the public schools--to include the suburban public schools--are in terrible shape. I can write further on this theme, but for now I would encourage readers to take this "test" I like to give.
Reread chapters 2 and 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Today you would probably recognize those pages as a satire on progressive education--a very funny satire. Now reflect back to how you read the book in school. How did the teacher discuss it? In fact, what lessons or profit was drawn from the novel other than "racism is bad"? The fact is, that even in the schools that still assign good books, very little intellectually (or morally) is going on in these classes--even in the most suburban and conservative districts in the country. I was just training a group of charter school teachers who had gone through the standard ed programs. You can't believe how cheated they felt when we did this little experiment. They know because they've been there.
Sep '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Terrence,
I agree completely with what you say. Have you ever read David Mulroy's The War Against Grammar?
Chilling.
Dec '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Terrence O. Moore, Guest Contributor:
Reread chapters 2 and 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Today you would probably recognize those pages as a satire on progressive education--a very funny satire. Now reflect back to how you read the book in school. How did the teacher discuss it? In fact, what lessons or profit was drawn from the novel other than "racism is bad"?
There's a difficulty with that - my elementary through high school education took place in Canada, and To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't on the curriculum. Presumably because Canada didn't have a racism problem (we'll continue to ignore the indigenous population).
As I said previously, that post probably sounded a little testy, but my primary point is that you're over-generalizing. In the high school my kids attended and attend, there are definitely some teachers of the dead-weight variety. We also have some superlative educators. There are 3 teachers who gave up or retired from law careers to teach. I suppose I see your original post as being akin to saying that all Marines in Vietnam were drug addicts because there was a drug problem with some troops over there.
Sep '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
I assumed most everyone was aware that all public and a good many private schools were in terrible shape. Children brought up in homes that read and value education receive there education at home. Schools serve to occupy their time, degrde their morals and perhaps impart some socialization skills.
Jun '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Why are you limiting your criticism to public schools? This is where your argument fails.
Private school teachers are, for the most part, educated in the same colleges and earn the same education degrees and are trained in the same education methods as public school teachers. They teach from the same dumbed-down, politically correct texbooks as the public schools.
In my experience, the arts offerings at the public schools vastly exceed the offerings (and teaching caliber) of the privates. This alone makes up for a slightly larger number of teacher appointments explained by nepotism & political connections. Many on Ricochet have had different experiences, but I also have found the publics to be more responsive to criticism, as the power is not concentrated in a small group of administrators and board members. Privates know they can simply tell you to take a hike. Publics know that the taxpayers have power.
Mar '11
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
StickerShock
Why are you limiting your criticism to public schools? This is where your argument fails.
Private school teachers are, for the most part, educated in the same colleges and earn the same education degrees and are trained in the same education methods as public school teachers. They teach from the same dumbed-down, politically correct texbooks as the public schools.
· Aug 16 at 7:57am
If this is true, then it's a really sad development. It used to be that private school teachers had the advantage of not being required to obtain the hollow education degrees the public school monopoly demanded of its "educators." Thus, private schools teachers spent their college careers actually studying the subjects they were hired to teach.
Apr '11
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
If I'm correct, Terrence isn't criticizing individual teachers as much as the state of education in America? The way that general education is taught in universities? I have to agree with him entirely there.
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
The big difference between the two? We can fire Barack Obama. We can't fire a bad teacher.
Dec '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Hmmm. If that is the case, why did he title it "Your Children's Teachers"?
Jun '10
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
Basil Fawlty
StickerShock
Private school teachers are, for the most part, educated in the same colleges and earn the same education degrees and are trained in the same education methods as public school teachers. They teach from the same dumbed-down, politically correct texbooks as the public schools.
· Aug 16 at 7:57am
If this is true, then it's a really sad development. It used to be that private school teachers had the advantage of not being required to obtain the hollow education degrees the public school monopoly demanded of its "educators." Thus, private schools teachers spent their college careers actually studying the subjects they were hired to teach. · Aug 16 at 8:51am
It is true. Private schools insist their staff is comprised of certified teachers because it gives parents assurance (arguably bogus) that some qualification for teaching has been met. Experts in a subject aren't necessarily good teachers.
Many public schools require a degree to be earned in the subject a teacher will be teaching. And while there are legitimate reasons to call today's education degree "hollow," there has to be some type of teacher training. I like the idea of alternate route certification.
Feb '11
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
I would like to second much of Mr. Moore's comments. Over the weekend I finished my Masters of Ed., at a small public university in Pennsylvania, and now I want to sue for fraud. Why did I do this? In order to teach in this state (including most private schools) you must have state certification. My two honors degrees, History & English Lit., gained at the same time, at a far better school, count for nothing. Most of the students in my classes, which included undergraduates were horribly ignorant of all traditional branches of learning. Almost every class reading-list including Howard Zinn, John Dewey, or various multicultural nut-jobs, and other progressive luminaries. Almost all assignments, were "projects", and these were group projects. There were very few exams, and the level of discourse and expectation were minimal. This school graduates 90 to 100 teachers per term. I chose the school solely because of its location and cost, plus I had no idea how bad it would actually be on the inside. Most of the professors had not published or been in a classroom in 10 to 20 years, about 1/2 had never taught.
Feb '11
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
The classes were largely a waste of my time, and if it had not have been for my wife, I'd have quit after the first semester. Working as a substitute in the local schools increased my anger and frustration. Those who have been out of school or have not had children in school over the last ten years have no idea of how bad it is - students know little math, can read, but can not understand what they read, and are abysmal at other subjects. There are bright exceptions, a teacher here, a building there, a program over yonder; but they are few and far between. However, teachers are only one part of the problem. Parents, government agencies, and various educational bureaucracies, local administrations, and the children themselves, all have a hand in the mess that is public education.
Improving teacher quality is but one small step forward. Parents should demand competence in an academic field, and should push for changing how individuals are licensed to teach - if at all. The unions still have a far too powerful a hand in far too many states. Many families send their children to school with no social, cognitive, or moral training.
Feb '11
Re: How Your Children's Teachers Are Like Barack Obama
The problems are legion. I see that Mr. Moore's background is in classical education, as well as his service to our country. There is a solution to many of our educational woes, but how do we move those reforms into the public schools.
I intend to do so one teacher and one child at a time.
Conservatives must enter the teaching profession, as well as become active in local school and state educational issues, even if you home school, have no children etc.
It is critical, for the children of the nation, who do not have committed parents, we cannot allow the establishment to prevent them from having an education. We cannot force one upon them, but we must do better to repair the system where and when we can for the sake of the republic.