Their stances on education

As an English teacher, rhetoric is important to me. 

On the issue of education, the choice of words on the candidates' campaign sites are reflections of their attitudes.  Obama makes me feel valued, and McCain makes me feel insignificant in the educational process. I'm a freakin' teacher, and, when I read his positions, I feel insignificant in the educational process. That's significant.

McCain's site:

"John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process."

 A teacher is the single most important element in a classroom. In studies of student achievement, we find that teachers are the most constant, noticeable influence on student achievement. An effective teacher will produce successful students. Period. What about focusing on empowering (rather than limiting) the effective teachers? How about we give teachers the resources they need to succeed rather than looking for ways to punish the schools when they are not successful?

"No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others."

All hail Bush's education policies. Maybe they are out there, but I do not know of one teacher who thinks No Child Left Behind has helped our schools. McCain seems to think the one-size-fits-all NCLB is great. 

"The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes."

Maybe I'm crazy and narrow minded (since I work in a public school), but I think the government's role in education is supporting and empowering public schools. Parents should have the right to make educational choices for their children, but government funds should not support home and private schools. What does the word "private" mean to you?

Obama's site:

 On NCLB, "Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them."

Amen. After many years of going up, this last year,  at the high school where I teach, test scores went down.  Test scores changed the campus climate. The teachers are now discouraged and the administrators are on a rampage. We shouldn't be so focused on the damned multiple choice tests. Instead, we should focus on guiding students on a journey of learning to learn, individualizing their learning goals and outcomes. We should be focused on our dropout rates and our college-bound rates. Unfortunately, we're just sad about and obsessed with a test that is incapable of truly measuring student achievement. The English Language Arts test doesn't even have a writing assessment because writing can't be measured by bubbles. And we're so upset about it? Really? Nobody seems to be noticing how well our kids are doing on the California High School Exit Exam (that actually has a written portion and tests the same material using less esoteric language).

Obama also includes a section on his site about recruiting, preparing, retaining, and rewarding America's teachers. McCain has a sentence or two about teachers, mostly focusing on getting rid of uninspired teachers. Among Obama's standout plans:

Recruiting: "Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location."

Retention: "To support our teachers, Obama's plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices."

Rewarding: "Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well."

Obama understands that effective teachers should be valued and retained. Obviously. He also, in a surprisingly innovative philosophy, thinks teachers should be involved in the process of making education policies. It's as if he believes effective teachers might actually know what works in their classrooms. There may be a few teachers who are not complete idiots trying to run the education system to the ground. 

McCain seems to think we're all out to get him.

 

That said, this year, I've been making plans for my "next career." Maybe, instead, I'll stick around to see what changes(do or don't) take place.

Update: Jake pointed me to this video of Obama talking about education. Check it out. I appreciate the acknowledgment that teachers work ridiculously hard. Yes, he's a politician, so his job is to get me to believe him, but I believe that he understands a little bit about what it means to be an educator.