Basic State Politician Summary

 

Salary:  +$18,000 or better.

 

Some people are probably wondering why I include Legislators as Educators.  These people are responsible for the basic funding and functionality of the school system.  However, as I read over Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA), I cannot help but wonder why the state feels that it has to legislate anything involving education.  Much of the legislation is vague except for the punishment of children and the establishment of protection for teachers.  I agree with many people that the state needs to regulate education in the sense that a first grade education in Sneedville, TN needs to equal a first grade education in Memphis, TN.  But the legislature has left so many items involving education purposefully vague.

 

             The argument about the creation of standards needs to be addressed at the state level.  For example, legislating that a First Grade education will include:

1. The ability to count to 100.

2. The ability to add and subtract two column numbers.

3. The ability to read simple sentences (noun-verb.)

4. The ability to spell using basic rules of spelling.

5. The ability to identify eight colors (red, yellow, blue, orange, purple, green, black, and white.)

6. The ability to identify the articles a, an, and the.

7. The ability to distinguish between a noun and a verb.

 

This example list seems simplified, but the point is if a child can do these things, then he or she needs to go to the next level.  Moreover, if this is the standard for a first grader in Bugtustle, Tn, then this needs to be the standard for Nashville, TN.  I am not endorsing lowered standards.  I am promoting established standards.  If the child passes 1^st grade and 2^nd grade requirements in the time of one school year, then move the child into a 3^rd grade class at the beginning of the following year.

            

             Some would argue that moving fast learners into higher grades is detrimental to a child’s socialization?  (HUH!? No one sends there children to school for socialization!)  They argue that the exposure to older students would be improper for their level of maturity?  Ah!  That makes sense!  It is perfectly acceptable for a 1^st grade child to sit on a rambunctious bus with students ranging in grade from Kindergarten to Senior and discussing everything from matchbox cars to the best sexual position for a person in the back of a Volkswagon Beetle; but, it is unacceptable for a 2^nd grade child to be placed in an organized, respectful setting in the presence of a teacher just because the other children around that child may be one or two years older.

            

Why would a community want established standards?

            

A parent was concerned that her grade-school daughter was not performing up to standard.  She was willing to help her daughter, but the school would not detail to her what exactly was expected or was needed.  In accordance with TEA Code of Ethics, the teacher referred her to SYLVAN Learning Center (where there are professional educators working) rather than just giving the parent (which would have been assisting a non-educator) the information that she needed.

 

I was in a parent-teacher conference trying to get to the bottom of a problem and I questioned what was taught in the course.  The smart-alec teacher said, “You need to ask your son!”  Why could the teacher not answer the question?  Aside from that teacher’s incompetence was the fact that by declaring what knowledge needed to be learned in order to pass the course had been demonstrated in the cumulative final exam by my child. This goes back to standards.

 

If the state legislature is going to create standards for the schools, then the state needs to create gateway tests that establish a specific knowledge desired for passing any specific grade or course.

   

 

Why do states NOT want established standards?

 

The real question is why do people spend thousands of dollars running an ad campaign to take up a part-time job that only pays $18,100 a year?  Is it the desire to do what is right?  Is it the desire to be a valuable leader?  Or is it the right to earn lobbying money?  I know that my questions sound cynical but these are the people that we entrust to make decisions about education laws in this state.  We, as a voting public, may demand laws that establish standards for schools, education and teachers but once our vote is cast the UNIONS with their campaign contributions will have laws written that reflect their point of view.  Our only recourse as a community will be to elect new leadership (fire the old leadership.)  This round robin of hiring and firing is the way that poor-quality, outdated legislation stays in place. 

 

Do parents of publicly educated children give higher campaign contributions than teacher’s unions?  An established standard flies in the face of teachers unions.  How many lousy teachers (especially tenured teachers) have lost their licensure without being convicted of having sex with a minor/student?  Do the teachers unions make certain their teachers are competent?  By establishing standards, the state would take out the unionized side of education.  For example, if the state declared that a teacher who flunks 20% of his class loses his licensure, then the union would have not recourse but to not quit taking union dues from him or her.  Another example might be to use pre-course and gateway exams for exiting a course.  If a group of children show no improvement, then perhaps the teacher really bites at his or her profession.

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