Their visions are so far removed from the reality of what practicing teachers know to be actual classroom conditions that they have lost credibility as leaders. Expecting to catapult ALL students over impossibly high standards doesn t help anyone except those control freaks who want to control all aspects of our society. Fear can be destructive. A fear-laden environment may not be good for teaching and learning. Instead of working harder and smarter, old teachers mumble about getting out and young ones simply leave.
Most teachers come to the profession for the intrinsic rewards.
The restructuring specialists and paradigm shifters are in the process of mangling and crushing those rewards. When critics cause teachers to feel like dangerous, inadequate employees who are harming students and undermining society, they will need an abundance of attractive, external rewards in the form of salary, benefits, stock options and office perks to convince teachers to stay. And then puzzled critics will complain that teachers are in it for the money. Those who want to destroy public education are acting like the sorcerer s apprentice. They can do considerable damage without having a clue about how to repair it.