The Problem with Our Schools

Why are our schools bad and getting worse?

1. Bullies seek power. That is, they seek situations in which they can exercise power over others. This should be self-evident.
2. As a general rule, people enjoy doing what they are good at. They do not enjoy doing what they are not good at. This should also be self-evident.
3. By its nature, teaching as a job is going to attract bullies. It offers the chance to micromanage the lives of a room full of powerless victims. Not to mention sexual issues.
4. As we do not acknowledge this problem, we have no structures in place to prevent it. A huge proportion of teachers are natural bullies.
5. Once they are in the teaching field, bullies will gravitate to administration. This gives greater power, so greater opportunity for their favourite pastime. This is a general problem in all organizations, but is worse in teaching because the initial pool of bullies is much larger.
6. Bad teachers will also be more likely to gravitate to administration, for reason 2, above.
7. Therefore, educational administration will be primarily composed of the worst teachers and the worst bullies.
8. We currently evaluate teaching quality at the elementary and high school level entirely or almost entirely by classroom observations.
9. Those doing the classroom observations are these administrators.
10. We know from many studies that classroom observations are not, in fact, objectively valid measures of teaching quality. What happens, inevitably, is just what common sense would suggest: evaluators reward those teaching the same way they would.
11. The sole advantage of classroom observations are that they give total control, which is to say, total power, to the administrator. That they are used everywhere is a measure of how bad our problem is with bullies in administration.
12. Given this system, we have the worst teachers evaluating all others, rewarding them for teaching badly, and punishing them for teaching well.
13. Bullying behavior will also be encouraged and rewarded.
14. Because they care about what they do, and about the students, the best teachers will be the most easily bullied.
15. Given this system, over time, the teaching quality will inevitably get worse and worse, as even marginally good teachers are thrown out of the schools.

How do we fix this?

1. Fire them all. Harsh, but necessary.
2. Hire all new teachers, avoiding anyone who has previously taught in the public schools or attended ed school. 
3. Have teacher performance evaluated by surveys of parents and students. 
4. Have all administrators elected, either by the teachers or by the local parents.

How do we fix this?

1. Fire them all.

2. Hire all new teachers, avoiding anyone who has previously taught in the public schools or attended ed school.

3. Have their performance evaluated by surveys of parents and students.



4. Have all administrators elected, either by the teachers or by the local parents.