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Jonathan Altar wrote in a recent Newsweek piece, that one out of 10 of our public school teachers should be fired. I laughed my head off (LMHO) as I read his prepared text as a favored writer for the magazine. Altar is a regular on MSNBC's Keith Olberman Program. Altar hasn't got a clue about what public education needs and doesn't need. McCain and the Republican Party think, doing away with public education is the key to our "floundering" society, while Walmart has been donating money for charter schools for years. Their notion about what is right for our kids, couldn't be "wronger."
The nonsense about needing to fire teachers! This is absurd. I have a Republican cousin who bragged about getting out of the Airforce and on the teaching gravy train. Kiss him goodbye after the teacher training program. He couldn't hack the rigors and reality of teaching, ... anywhere. Fact, our colleges do a great job of preparing teachers to teach.
We had a new music teacher come straight out of college. She was awesome. As a new teacher, she welcomed discipline and would straighten the kids out, the minute they came into her charge, ... even if the kids' regular teacher was present. It was amazing to watch her in action, and that is what good teacher preparation programs do. Don't listen to the Altars who claim one out of 10 teachers need to be fired; the man knows nothing about which he writes, when it comes to education.
Charter schools, a fad I wouldn't bet my kids on. Let's face it, a charter school is no better than a new, untrained teacher candidate. As parents, we should want what is best for our students. This means elective subjects can be just as important as those non-electives. My own four kids would never been happy without Thespians, video production, music, Home and Family Science (Home Economics,) the school marching band, and even their own "pick-up bands." Can you imagine my youngest son, working up a band using members of a charter school! In fact, whenever his band would perform, dozens of students would actually make a mosh-pit. And, by the way, all of my kids were gifted, in some area, and as parents, it was our duty to find those gifted areas and make sure our children's needs were met.
The problem with public schools, is that we have lots a parents who do not know how to be educationally supportive. We also have students who come to school with brains damaged by their environment and society. But many of them "come around" when they are around students and parents who come to school ready to take advantage of everything that is possible through their public school. How many students wouldn't survive without their sports? I shudder to think about a school without athletics.
