AFT's Weingarten: No Child Left Behind Was Doomed By Its Flaws

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers. What do we expect from her? That's right a comment biased in favor of pouring more money into a failing model of education, as much as possible going to teachers. The concept that learning should take place within the walls of a building in large groups of diverse nature led by a single person is faulty and has proven unsuccessful in all of its history. More or the same for more money is not the answer.

We can take much of the money out of the equation by making schools virtual. Children can meet in libraries, view video presentations by excellent teachers, be coached by adults not necessarily educated to be teachers, use the internet to pursue self-determined subjects and learn how to become self-motivated self-directed lifetime learners. Content is a failed learning objective. Knowledge is forever changing very rapidly so that today's content can become obsolete or irrelevant quickly. However, creative thinking, critical thinking, problem solving skills, and a love of learning can prepare children for an exit from poverty and ignorance. Many other venues outside of education-purposed schools will make better learning environments in the 21at century.

We have, by underpaying and undervaluing teachers during the history of education, created a subclass of professionals inadequately prepared and poorly performing in institutions that are likewise underfunded and undervalued. Teachers have by excluding those from other professions from teaching in schools helped to seal their own fate and perception as members of a cult with its own rituals that it proclaims to be the knowledge and skills necessary to teaching. Then they fail so miserably at the task.

The best way out of the situation is to replace much of the function of teachers, purveyors of knowledge, with technology-driven access to knowledge. Then make use of the top of the teacher pool to broadcast teaching lessons over that technology. The idea that we must have one human teacher for every set of students five days a week five hours a day is faulty. We need excellence in knowledge presentation and access without charge to students. Then we need social learning situations with learning coaches who help students learn how to learn not what to learn. However, these social learning situations need not take place every day in regimentation as stated by Weingarten.

The demands of the 21at century will require re-engineering of education from a time limited enterprise into a timeless lifetime duty to self. Unlimited access to knowledge combined with excellent presentations, lectures, forums, etc. will replace brick and mortar schools. Teaching will become a profession like others where high quality will be rewarded highly. Administrators, boards, and other costly non-teaching roles will become useless. Creative and critical thinking will be the skills of choice required to self-learn from a plethora of venues and sources.

Jim Tallcott 11:43PM February 15, 2010