Time for a 180 Degree Reversal on Education Policy

As economic conditions worsen for both the middle class and the poor many children are coming to school harboring extreme stress. They are fearful, tense, in the worst instances lacking sleep and nourishment, wondering if anyone can care for them

The LAST thing they need when they get to school is more pressure, and more stress.

We need to make schools places where they are nurtured, loved, supported and given confidence.

But to do that, we need to cut back radically on the testing, and hire teachers who have the right personality to nurture students and the freedom to respond to them individually.

Teacher temps fearful for their jobs- which is what current reforms are flooding our schools with- is exactly what we don't need.

If we are going to save this generation of children, the ENTIRE array of reforms which this administration and the last one have endorsed have to be discarded, to be replaced by child centered pedagogy and entirely new methods of identifying, recruiting, and supporting great teachers.

And we must cherish and empower those great teachers we still have.

It is time for a 180 Degree reversal on school policies

Get rid of Common Core
Drastically reduce testing
Stop closing schools on the basis of tests
Do everything possible to keep our best teachers
Find new teachers who love children and plan to stay in their jobs for life