Is The Message

I heard today that a group will be offering and award of $10,000 to the worst teachers in the U.S. if the resign from teaching. The group is a straightforward anti-union group, but the idea really irritated me. On the first level it is simply mean spirited. They structure the rules only to humiliate their targets.

Each finalist will be offered $10,000 in cash if he or she agrees permanently to resign or retire from any and all careers in education… (and) signs a release agreeing to have his or her name and the reasons for his or her winning a Top Ten Worst Union-Protected Teacher award published by the Center for Union Facts.

This contest is a malevolent straw man whose outcome is pre-determined. The mighty Center for Union Facts will identify 10 poor souls. These teachers will be grossly offended, and not agree to the degrading terms. More evidence proving whatever cock-eyed point this group is trying to prove with no hope of ameliorating the situation. The only outcome will be hostility and resentment.

That attitude is certainly despicable, but it does open an interesting discussion. What makes a teacher bad or good for that matter? The first step is agreeing on the purpose of education. The smartest people in the world have been wrestling with this for all of recorded history. Are we trying to supply a superior workforce? Are we arming youth with the tools to enjoy a fulfilling life? Are we making sure that the brightest are empowered and trained to lead? Maybe we are conditioning individuals to facilitate the productivity of existing social institutions.

Pitting these and many other missions against each other, even an idealistic or fictional education system achieves one effectively at a time. In most cases, full pursuit of one purpose is opposed to the others and partial pursuit would yield partial success (at best). Best or worst teacher monikers are meaningless without first choosing the primary goal of education beneath which the praise or scorn is delivered.

Even then, the efficacy of any instructor or administrator can only be estimated in real time. True proof would take years to materialize. If the mission of the education system is to supply a workforce, you have to evaluate the workforce and regress back those performing well versus not performing well. If the system is supposed to be providing the tools for a fulfilling life, it may take that long to validate the quality of instruction as a child.

And then, when we do identify these good and bad teachers, good and bad missions, good and bad education, why not take a small portion of the hatred and divisiveness expressed by The Center for Union Facts and bring guidance and help to the teachers and, more importantly, to the students.

Still, we could probably pick a few bad apples, but how do they know what they can do to improve if we don’t agree on the reason for institutional education in the first place.