Blaming women for societys problems is as old as the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden, or Pandora and her box of woes, or every medieval witch hunt spurred on by crop failure or plague outbreak. Contemporary education reformers have launched a similar witch hunt to root out rotten apples (Time Magazine cover) from a profession still more than 75 percent female. No similar reform movement targets doctors (65 percent male) for our nations spiraling obesity epidemic. Americas dentists (78 percent male) are not held responsible for their patients tooth decay. Law enforcement officers (80 percent male) are not blamed for crime statistics. Nor are engineers (78 percent male) held accountable for the crumbling U.S. infrastructure. More insidious than the blame, however, is a national narrative that denies teachers a voice in the discussion. The opinions of those with no teaching experience, no pedagogical knowledge, and no training in the cognitive development of children are consistently accepted as having more value than those of experts in the field. When promoting stories about public education, the media can be depended upon to consult and quote business executives, but rarely practicing teachers.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:32:19 +0000
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