This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Turner Report featured on Huffington Post
My criticism of public teachers (for the horrendous job they have done in educating today's politicians) is feattured on the Huffington Post.
9 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I'm sorry, Randy. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Nobody should be subject to the Huffington Post. With sympathy.
Randy the problem is that you act like all teachers are good. A few teachers are great, many are good, many are average and some are terrible. A real life situation took place in the Joplin district a few years ago. An old teacher who was a former department head showed signs of dementia. Because she had tenure the process to remove her from the classroom would take longer than the time to her retirement. The administration solution was to assign her to a "co-teaching" position with a good teacher who was forced to teach both classes while the bad teacher did little or nothing for much higher pay. This terrible thing happened because of teacher tenure and victimized the students, the other teacher and taxpayers. This is an actual situation. Thank God the politicians don't listen to rhetoric like yours that would continue to protect bad teachers and victimize good ones as well as taxpayers.
Mr Turner, Remarkable article about the reality of teachers and the art of teaching in a world so crowded with so many desperate for a quick, "feel good" fix to complex challenges. I do hope more with a useful platform speak more emphatically to what well may be the next big national economic crisis: private "schools" pillaging of enormous amounts of federal taxpayers monies. In quite a few instances significantly more "school" monies spent on marketing then education.
Randy: I loved the post until the last sentence. The facts spoke so beautifully for themselves. Just wondering if name-calling, while it absolutely feels good in the short term - doesn't just prove both sides to be mean-spirited (sigh). It's in anger that it is most difficult to walk our own talk, but it is also what we get to point to with integrity.
Thanks for your insights, though - I've shared it on Twitter. HG
Hildy, thanks for sharing my article. It is much appreciated.As for the ending, I do understand how you feel and I share those feelings, but in this particular case, I felt that instead of just mounting a defense of teachers, I needed to draw the readers' attention with the idea that it was going to be an attack and then offer a big payoff at the end.
9 comments:
I'm sorry, Randy. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Nobody should be subject to the Huffington Post. With sympathy.
Congrats, Randy!
-pp
Thanks.
Keep up the good work! You contribute greatly in keeping real journalism alive in SW Missouri.
Randy the problem is that you act like all teachers are good. A few teachers are great, many are good, many are average and some are terrible. A real life situation took place in the Joplin district a few years ago. An old teacher who was a former department head showed signs of dementia. Because she had tenure the process to remove her from the classroom would take longer than the time to her retirement. The administration solution was to assign her to a "co-teaching" position with a good teacher who was forced to teach both classes while the bad teacher did little or nothing for much higher pay. This terrible thing happened because of teacher tenure and victimized the students, the other teacher and taxpayers. This is an actual situation. Thank God the politicians don't listen to rhetoric like yours that would continue to protect bad teachers and victimize good ones as well as taxpayers.
Mr Turner,
Remarkable article about the reality of teachers and the art of teaching in a world so crowded with so many desperate for a quick, "feel good" fix to complex challenges.
I do hope more with a useful platform speak more emphatically to what well may be the next big national economic crisis: private "schools" pillaging of enormous amounts of federal taxpayers monies. In quite a few instances significantly more "school" monies spent on marketing then education.
The students of today must be smarter than the teachers of today to face the challenges of tomorrow.
How's that all going to work out?
Randy:
I loved the post until the last sentence. The facts spoke so beautifully for themselves. Just wondering if name-calling, while it absolutely feels good in the short term - doesn't just prove both sides to be mean-spirited (sigh). It's in anger that it is most difficult to walk our own talk, but it is also what we get to point to with integrity.
Thanks for your insights, though - I've shared it on Twitter.
HG
Hildy, thanks for sharing my article. It is much appreciated.As for the ending, I do understand how you feel and I share those feelings, but in this particular case, I felt that instead of just mounting a defense of teachers, I needed to draw the readers' attention with the idea that it was going to be an attack and then offer a big payoff at the end.
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