Just finished an amazing documentary film that my friend Dawn Cleaves encouraged me to watch and now I remember why so many others did as well when it came out. Being able to watch it right here, just by clicking a link certainly made it a much more accessible. In a just under two hours, the film explains exactly what needs to be done to fix the American Educational System. And surprise, surprise, it can be done in any school, any district and in any area. Basically it comes down to us, the taxpayers, parents and community members having the guts to demand that our lawmakers dismantle the Bureaucratic Machine that will not let us get rid of tenured, poor-performing teachers and administrators to make way for and reward great teachers that care, want to teach and make a difference in our kids lives. This also requires big changes that have to happen with the Teacher Unions. Because they have become one of the largest national political lobbies, their bottomless pockets of influence can get whatever they want done and has made them practically untouchable and unchangeable. And because they are so ingrained in fighting for the rights of any teacher, they have lost sight of whats really important and will continue to defend the rights of terrible teachers to earn tenure and then collect a check for life, regardless if they could care less about the kids they are teaching. The Unions should instead be fighting for better pay and resources for the teachers that care about our kids and want to make a difference in the classroom. Watching this also encourages me to look more into the possibilities being discussed in this whole Dallas Home Rule business. I admit, big change and leaps of faith like this scare the hell out of me also but is the system we have now working? If we were able to keep politics out of it and design a new system that is free of the grips of the current machine and we could borrow from new designs that have been proven to work, than I believe its worth looking into. But from what were hearing so far the politics, rules and secrecy involved in setting it up, leave a lot to be desired. But thats for another discussion. If you havent seen this documentary, definitely try to find the time to watch it when you can. It will certainly make you think, hey it made babble all this didnt it?
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 07:06:52 +0000