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This is an interesting article from the Stimulist on what is wrong with education. Keep in mind this article is completely anecdotal, but it still remains a compelling read. I have quoted some of the more intriguing passages below.

What is interesting about this article is that it seems to supports what Obama is proposing to do about teacher pay… perhaps not directly but some of the authors complaints would be addressed by the proposed de-emphasis on tenure and seniority, and a stronger emphasis on merit. The question that this raises of course is “How do you effectively measure merit?” And of course the consequences could be tragic if the answer to that question is not carefully thought out. But that is a conversation for another time and place. First we must identify the problem, and the argument below is a compelling one. Enjoy.

It’s easy to blame inner-city kids for the problems with inner-city schools. They come from dysfunctional homes, people tell themselves, have careless parents and bad attitudes. They are doomed from the start. But the children I see starting kindergarten at my school in the South Bronx are just as bright and inquisitive as the ones at the elite private school a few blocks away. The problem isn’t the kids. The system is the problem.

Understaffed, disorganized, and chaotic, most inner-city schools are obstacle courses only the most resilient student can overcome.

I offer this viewpoint as a newly “excessed” teacher, which means that due to budget cuts and an antiquated seniority system, I have essentially been let go by my school. In my three years of teaching, I have helped non-readers in September to become chapter book-readers in May, and only three of my 72 students have ever failed either the state math or language arts exams. I am the kind of teacher who gives up her lunch period to provide extra help to students, stays late to talk to parents, and walks into the school each morning with a smile. Next year, I will be replaced by a “veteran teacher” who has been pushing papers for the past four years, is outwardly upset about being “forced back into the classroom,” and has a reputation for skirting responsibility (i.e., failing to tutor students who she has been assigned to tutor).

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Who loses there? Well, good teachers are out of a job. But far more important, the students become lame ducks, stuck in a school with teachers who don’t want to be there and in a system that doesn’t think they’re worth as much as the ones up the block.

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The problem is systemic. The problem is fixable. And our kids deserve a solution.

Check out The Stimulist for the full article