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04/20/2005: "Problem with Eduwonk"
It's a great site, but I'm always slightly annoyed by his/her perspective on teaching. If you read enough articles, the author seems to suggest that the solutions, whether via TFA or charter schools or superhero teachers, can be found within teachers and teachers alone. Great, let's get people to work twelve hours a day, let's grind them up only to watch them depart after a few years, HAVING AFFECTED NO STRUCTURAL CHANGE.
Nome sain?
Finding superhero teachers won't work. To improve the overall quality of education, we need to find ways to humanize teaching and to make teacher success a genuine possibility. Consider the structural inequalities aligned against most teachers- crap buildings, troglodyte unions, inept admins- as well as the students- poor health care, bad nutrition, substandard housing- and it becomes clear that individuals will not solve the problems alone.