Educational Overhaul

An interesting, and sad, fact excerpted from "TC Faculty:  America Can't Wait for 'Superman'":

Rebell, Professor of Law and Education, agreed that teaching should be more professionalized and teachers paid more. He praised Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools, who is shown in the film losing a battle with the local union when she proposed that some teachers give up seniority and tenure rights for a year in exchange for the opportunity to win performance-based bonuses. Rebell noted that, after the film was finished, Rhee succeeded in negotiating a contract that would give individual teachers who relinquish some job protections the opportunity to earn more than $100,000—far more than they make now.
Rebell praised the move, saying teachers have historically been poorly paid because theirs was one of the few professional paths open to women. But now that women have higher-paying options, school systems need to pay more for talent. “This country needs to make some fundamental decisions,” he said. “If we want quality teachers, first we have to pay them.”

I had no idea that this was why teachers made such little money.  I have always wondered why teaching is so under-valued, but it had never dawned on me that it's because historically it has been a predominantly female career path.  It's remarkable exactly how many facets of our social structures are permeated by institutionalized sexism (not to mention racism and other isms). 

Revolting.

Also revolting?  The other day I was at a brunch and one of my friends was explaining how most people didn't know some well-known fact, and how surprised he was that so-and-so didn't know, and someone else responded, yeah but he's a teacher.  And then the first person was like, yeah, that's true.

Yeah, but he's a teacher?-- What does that even mean?  That teachers are at the bottom of the totem pole of intelligence? 

I absolutely believe that the quality of a teacher affects the quality of an education, but how can one ignore that the structures of the educational system itself also impact the classroom?  Our entire educational system is in need of an overhaul.  The way teachers are trained; the pedagogical approaches they are to employ(so direct that students are regarded merely as empty receptacles to be filled, or so indirect that they have to discover everything for themselves and the teacher merely lays out the settings of the experiment); the remuneration for challenging work; and the understood purpose of the education itself.  We simply cannot keep raising generations of human beings who view their education as a means of obtaining a lucrative job, or any kind of job at all, so that they can provide for themselves and for their family.

This is reasonable, but this is not enough.

When did we stop thinking about all of the latent potentialities within each human being? When will we acknowledge that it's not enough only to care for your immediate circle's needs?

Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value; education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.  -Baha'u'llah   

What's more, the way the current system is going, even that basic purpose of an education will prove harder and harder to accomplish.