No Professor Left Behind

There are very few professions in America that have as little accountability as the teaching profession outside of private institutions. Private schools currently have a 9.8% firing rate, while teachers employed by the city or state that have achieved tenure enjoy a rate below half of one percent. No industry in the nation is even close to a number this low. While I applaud Obama’s desire to focus on education, simply throwing more cash at the issue will not improve it. Holding teachers accountable for their job performance, throughout their entire careers, is a huge step in the right direction.

A few years back, I decided, at age 29, to return to college to obtain the degree I never obtained. Being raised in a very religious atmosphere that went to great measures to downplay the importance of a college education, I was unaware once I left of the tremendous disadvantage I now had, and because of that disadvantage, combined with my interest in business and politics, I enrolled in community college. It was almost immediately that I realized the tremendous power and ability a good professor can have.

I can honestly say that had it not been for one professor, I would have dropped out within a month. Sitting in a roomful of 19-year-olds was somewhat humiliating as well as, in my opinion at the time, beneath me. Knowing little about college when I enrolled, I thought 4 years of political debate with fellow students and professors would be heaven. I had no real clue that years of prerequisites would be necessary, and sitting in math and basic writing classes that I viewed as a tremendous waste of time, especially when I also was self employed, I could think of the many, many additional, profitable activities I could be involved in.

More than anything else, two things stood out at me the first semester. First, that girls now routinely wore sweat pants to school, something I had rarely seen. That these sweatpants gave me something to read in the hallways was an added bonus. I no longer needed to wonder if her ass was “juicy,” it told me so right there. Amazing how long it would often take or how many times I could read just one word.

The second item was the huge, and I mean huge, disparity in the quality of teachers in just the 4 classes I was taking. On one hand, there were classes that were always filled with students; a class obviously looked forward to. These professors made what were often boring or difficult topics worth looking forward to. They were not always easy; in fact, I found that some of the easier professors often lost the interest of the students. It was the challenging ones, the professors that took the time to connect with their students, and then push them to think about the world differently. I am eternally thankful for one particular history professor that made a topic, one that initially I was not in love with, come alive, in part because of his enthusiasm for the topic, but also getting to know the students sitting before him.

In stark contrast were the very weak professors, where class size would gradually decline throughout the semester, and those that stuck it out were so overwhelmingly disillusioned that the quality of their education was non-existent. As I am not a trained teacher, I cannot pinpoint exactly what was wrong, however, What was evident was a complete lack of any connection with the students. This cannot be blamed on the topic; I had seen a class that hated algebra love the algebra professor, and do quite well. In fact, over time, I realized that this vast disparity in teacher quality existed within the same topic, as one English teacher was excellent, and in great demand, and another, with the same curriculum, was downright awful (and yes, I had her).

More than any other issue, this great disparity to teacher quality has motivated me to get involved in politics. That a professor or teacher on any level can achieve “tenure,” and have removed the greatest incentive to perform well that could exist, is simply wrong. If the typical worker in another industry can be fired for lack of performance, the standard at which we judge those teaching the next generation should be at least as high, beginning with the date of hire all the way to retirement. No job is as safe as that of a tenured teacher; even an elected official can be impeached. While there are certainly aspects of No Child Left Behind that can be argued against, that it at least takes some steps toward accountability should be applauded.

I cannot say I know where to begin to solve the problem, but that I will spend my political career working toward one. The power and influence that a teacher wields is significant, and no one should be applauded more than those that wield it well. But for those that don’t, something must be done. There must be a way to measure effectiveness, and a sound system to rectify a situation found lacking. I would have far less of an issue with throwing money at a system if it were not so broken.