Education has been in the headlines fairly consistently for a long time. People talk about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its ties with standardized testing. People also talk about poorly performing schools and bad teachers. People are outraged that bad teachers have tenure (good ones have it too). Most of the blame regarding the poor state of education in our country is blamed on teachers. And honestly, our hands are tied. We must administer these tests, and therefore must do what we can to make sure our students are prepared for them. However, some students cannot speak or read english, or have a mental disability preventing them from doing as well as other students. And although teachers have been saying these things for a long time, no one listens. And people started listening today because Matt Damon started talking. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he's on our side, but he's saying exactly what teachers have been. Yet, the public listens to him because he's famous. Sigh. Maybe his words will spur change, because ours haven't.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/matt-damons-clear-headed-speech-to-teachers-rally/2011/07/30/gIQAG9Q6jI_blog.html
Soap-box side-note: Part of what is so frustrating about all of this is that everyone has had teachers invest in them and encourage them and challenge them. So why can't people listen to them?
