Letter to the President

Paul Karrer write a compelling letter to the President about education and mandates, urging  the President to rethink his current course of action. 

Karrer works with high risk students in a barrio in California.  He finds that achieving 100% with his students, in order to dodge the pressure of contract evaluations, is nearly impossible.  But, who has ever achieved 100% at anything consistently?  He sites gangs and crime as pressures on his kids that come from poverty.  He's stopped using the term parents because so many of his kids don't have parents.  Can he teach at a level that takes place in a classroom in a school form a wealthy suburban district?  Should he and his peers be held to the same standard?   What is he teaching about community responsibility and resilience that can not be tested for using a Scan-Tron?  

How do we apply a check to our educational system to see that its running effectively.  Could we use the system currently place?

1. Trust that the teacher hired is qualified.
2. Trust the the Principal that was hired to run his school and hire his teachers is doing his job.
3. Trust that the school district has in place monitoring systems to check the two above.
4. Monitor the district for the proper placement of Principals and oversight.

Its what would happen in a company.  You don't go after the line worker when the finished product is not up to the standards of the company.  You get management in check first!

What will be the effects of the process of a national campaign to point at the teachers in the classrooms when asking ourselves how can education be better and more in line with a global competition?