Open Mic

I have been in public education for 12 years and I have seen the state ratchet up the accountability system every few years.  Schools are continually threatened with funding cuts yet we are required to teach every student that walk through the door - those that are wealthy, homeless, geniuses and severely mentally disabled are all expected to graduate at roughly the same rate with roughly the same experiences.  Twenty years ago, when I graduated from high school, we let kids go, we had drop-outs, and we did not provide a real education for mentally disabled students.  Fortunately, that has changed, but that requires more personnel to meet the needs of the students that need adults the most.  It scares me that Arlene Wohlgemuth is making recommendations based on her obvious ignorance of the human element involved in education.  We are doing more for all students now in education not just a select few, so it requires more money.  Additionally, you cannot run a school system the same way that you run a business.  Bill Hammond cannot begin to understand how important it is to have aides in a classroom with twenty-two five year olds, all at different developmental levels from vastly different home environments.  The student that already reads sits next to the student that has never held a book while the child that is fluent in Spanish cries for their family in a scary, lonely classroom.  Someone has to address those issues while the other 19 students are being taught to read, write, apply math skills, know Social Studies, Texas history and US history, understand Science concepts, and how to get along in society. Scott McCown and David Anthony really seemed to understand the public school dilemma while keeping in mind that we are dealing with people.  I read many statistics from Wohlgemuth and business ideas from Hammond, but I would be shocked if either person had shadowed a teacher for just one week.  As an administrator in a public school, I challenge all legislators to job shadow a teacher for one week - even one day.  Then go back to the drawing board and make recommendations and policies based on a real-world experience, not numbers, surveys, and hearsay.