NEA: Reg Weaver's 10 Commandments for Public Education

NEA President Reg Weaver has 10 Commandments for Public Education that he wants followed. Here are those commandments and my comments to them. I will follow up with my own "Commandments" about education.

Commandment Number One: Thou shalt not claim that a single piece of legislation can solve all of the problems facing public education — especially when it's underfunded by billions of dollars. We educators aren't stupid. We know the difference between real school reform and a law that's actually punishing and weakening public schools across the country, while claiming to do the opposite!

Hmmm! So accountability is bad, right? I don't think anyone ever claimed that NCLB was a panacea to all that is wrong with public education, but it did make everyone talk about achievement of all groups. I believe that schools that fail our students should be punished and if that weakens public education, so be it. The measure of success of public schools is not whether the schools are publicly funded but if the students are actually learning what they should.

Commandment Number Two: Thou shalt not determine a student's entire future based on one set of one-size-fits-all tests! There is a whole range of education techniques, innovations, and measurements that should be used together to make sure that each child can read, write, think critically, and be productive. We teachers know them — and thou shalt use them!

O.K. So the only people who should be assessing our students are teachers? How about the conflict of interest inherent in that? A student's entire future is not hitched to the outcome of one test, but that one test can certainly determine if the student is on the right education path. Admittedly, there is a wide range to educational tools to teach kids, but how will you know if those tools are working? Oh, yeah--assessments.

Commandment Number Three: Thou shalt not establish a set of standards without input from the teachers who are actually going to have to teach them! Or without giving them the help and the resources they need to meet them! Or without aligning them with the curriculum!

Weaver is actually on pretty solid ground here. Teachers should be consulted, but they should not have veto authority. The primary stakeholders in education are the kids and their parents, not teachers. But, the curriculum is the standard. If the curriculum is not designed to meet the necessary standard, the solution is not the change the standard, but to change the curriculum.

Commandment Number Four: Thou shalt not claim that children are America's top priority when 20 percent of our nation's children are born into poverty, 15 percent have no health insurance, and eight children are killed by gunfire every single day.

This is a choice non-sequiter and the pot calling the kettle black. If children are such a priority for the NEA, why then to do contracts limit the workday to 6.5 hours? Why do teachers' unions oppose almost any and all innovations in school managment of which they are not a part? If you want to correct these cited problems, then the NEA needs to make sure every kid gets a good education, for on that path is the solution to these problems. The NEA cannot claim that their top priority is children and then take steps to protect its members over the children's interest.

Commandment Number Five: Thou shalt not spend more money on prisons than on schools. The more great public schools we have, the fewer prisons we'll need. Educate, so that we don't have to incarcerate.

Can I see some numbers here!! This is a complete blanket statement with no support. The last figures I saw on education were somewhere upwards of $600 billion a year at the federal, state and local levels. I am not sure about much, but if we are spending that much on prisons, I would probably have a heart attack.

Commandment Number Six: Thou shalt not kid thyself that paying teachers and support staff a measly salary is in any way going to attract and retain the kind of folks we want working with our kids. Thou shalt support current and future teachers and support staff — not insult them.

Thou shalt not keep returning to this issue when you negotiate these terms every few years. I don't see Mr. Weaver living on that kind of a salary, nor do the NEA staff. No one seriously believes this not to be a problem. Stop making union membership or support a condition of employment in teh schools and you would save members several hundred, if not thousands of dollars each year.

Commandment Number Seven: Thou shalt honor education support professionals — the people who drive the buses, clean the hallways, serve the lunches, counsel the students, take the attendance, nurse the injured, assist in the classrooms, and run our nation's schools with dignity and dedication and grace. ESP stands for "extraordinarily spectacular people" — don't you ever forget it.

This gratuitious little statement is simply a sop to non-teaching professionals in the education system. He needed to get to ten commandments and couldn't afford to irritate non-teachers in the system. I don't anyone disrespects these people and if they do, they should be corrected immediately.

Commandment Number Eight: Thou shalt honor thy teachers, too, not bash them — especially when thou hast never walked a day in our shoes yourself. Thou shalt not claim that anybody can teach just because they have a pulse and a bachelor's degree.

When teachers earn respect, they get respect. When teachers don't do their job, abuse our children, they have neither earned nor deserve respect. When teachers' unions stop standing in the way of real reform efforts, then they too shall earn respect.

Commandment Number Nine: Thou shalt recognize that in order for a child to be well-educated and a school to succeed, everybody has got to be involved. Communities can't just send their kids off to kindergarten, then come back 12 years later and find a bunch of Einsteins! Public schools require just that — the public!

Mr. Weaver, please put your money where your mouth is!! When teachers and schools send mixed messages about the value of the community, how can anyone really be expected to support schools. Not 200 words early, you explicitly said that teachers know best!! Make up your mind. Either teachers know best or education is a community responsibility--you can't have both.

Commandment Number Ten: Thou shalt remember that our public schools are critical for homeland security. A free, safe, and democratic society requires a well-educated population. Public schools must not be demonized, privatized, or voucherized. Public schools must not be sold to the highest bidder. Instead, we've got to invest in them.

True, an educated citizenry is necessary for a democratic society. But public education is not the only way to achieve an educated citizenry. "Invest" in public schools--we are doing so, to the tune of $600 billion a year--and my investment is not paying off. Time to invest in different ideas as well. Any investment portfolio with only one option is not a wise investment. A free, safe and democratic society also means that the society has options--and public schools can be one option. But without choices, what do you have--oh yeah--a socialist society.

If there is enough money to bail out the airline industry…

If there is enough money to stage a multi-billion dollar war in Iraq...

...then there's certainly enough money to invest for great public schools!

So there you have it, my friends -- Reg's Ten Commandments that will make a truly extraordinary difference for children and public schools all across America!

And we have been doing all three, airline, war and education. Now if we could just figure out how to make the NEA a truly democratic organization, we may be on to something.