In too many situations, the extremes dominate the debate and make everything seem like a binary world. Education reform is one of them. On one side we have the people that blame teachers and think we can make drastic improvements if we weaken the teachers unions. On the other side we have people who think teacher reforms will do nothing and more funding is the only solution.
Who represents the reasonable middle (or slightly left of middle)? I think unions should give ground. I think tenure is unnecessary and keeps ineffective teachers in the classroom. And I kind of think teacher pay should be more flexible than simple arithmetic based on experience (although experience is definitely important).
But I also think you get what you pay for. If we want big gains in education, we need to spend more money. We need to decrease class sizes and spend more on extras (art, music, drama, second languages, etc), after school programs, and teacher development.
Unfortunately, it seems that neither side is giving ground. And worse, the side that is winning is blaming teachers (and maybe getting some contract changes - maybe) while allowing budgets to get cut. I worry for our future.
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