Anyway, Jay, thanks for analysis.

Others have ably made the point that this is nothing more than unsophisticated rhetoric, and it is worth noting that when Randi challenged John Stoessel to do this a few years ago, a bunch of bureaucratic red tape prevented him from doing so. You know, the sort of red-tape that Randi’s group put in place and continues to support.

Take this down another level- let’s assume that Jay did spend a week teaching a class and found the system to be dysfunctional, the support indifferent to poor and the job very challenging. How then would it follow that Jay would desire to keep this lousy system as it is, with the exception of putting more money in to it?

Dang. A good thing the surgery business doesn’t work like that.

Or the commercial pilot business either.

Or pretty much any line of work other then teacher. And not just any teacher but public school teachers because as near as I can tell we don’t get the same self-pitying whining from private school teachers.

Or at least it did.

Lately the tactic’s been met with indifference because the credibility of experts is bedded in their ability to produce the required results.

It doesn’t matter if I know how to repair a faucet if it leaks after I’ve paid to have it repaired and it doesn’t matter if I know how to teach a classroom of kids if they don’t learn anything after the teacher’s cashed their paycheck. Getting the job done is the role of the professional, not making up excuses for why they didn’t get the job done and I don’t have to be better at their job then they are to criticize their shortcomings.

The advantage I did have was that my assignments let me look at the entire system for an extended period. Most of my fellow engineers there did not have that luxury.

And neither do most teachers. (Or union presidents!)

Take my good friend Deb Meier: Hugely important experience in changing one school. But not in seeing the educational needs of an entire nation, one that lives at the forefront of change in all sectors.

Researchers like Jay, however, have that luxury. That doensn’t make them immune from large errors. But the expereince of teaching full time for years is more likely to bias him toward the issues of a certain school, rather than a view of the entire nation.

I’m a Republican teacher who’s worked 10 years in the private sector and 20 in the classroom. My gut says these guys here are sucking on the private teat of corporate foundation money intended to solve real problems. If my guess is right they whore the system as much as the Ph.ds and Master Ed. pushing papers as mid-level district administrators and DOE employees.

I offer you my classroom. If you take up my offer I will do all I can to get you in. But this has to be much more real than a one day substitute. One year is ideal, but if you take the bait I’ll compromise somewhere in between. Maybe lets do it like Tony Danza did it. FIlm it so there’s some money in the deal for you.

Come on. Shut us all up once and for all – or are you chicken?

I’m sorry Matthew , Jay, Greg, what DO you do for a living?

Why are they so quick to marginalize anyone who doubts the status quo rather than actually explain why they think it is worth preserving? Fortunately people are starting to wake up and realize that there is more to the picture.