I Support Obama, But He's Wrong on Education This Time

I support Barack Obama, but I feel that he is misguided as far as education is concerned. Charter schools are a big mistake, as they siphon the cream of the crop from the public schools.

Also, longer school days and longer school years will not help the students. The flat scores on NYC’s students’ NAEP and SAT scores has proven that. Everyone knows that after the lunch period, the students can no longer concentrate (which is why reading and math are usually taught in the morning). The longer days is also responsible for students acting up, as some spend as much as 10 hours in school, counting before school offerings, the dreaded extended day, the regular school day and afterschool programs.

Merit pay is also a mistake. It discourages collaboration between teachers, as nobody would want to help a colleague take their bonus away from them. It pits teachers against each other. Also, in states with merit pay in place, there are many reports of cheating and changing scores. In elementary schools, cluster teachers would not be eligible for merit pay. That is unfair.

The deck can be stacked against individual teachers as well. A principal could easily stack a teachers class with the lowest performing students, the learning disabled, and the emotionally disturbed while placing the best and brightest students in a crony’s class.

I urge the UFT, the AFT and the NEA to oppose charter schools, longer days, longer years, and merit pay.