On Experts, Blame, and Bold Ideas

Abstract

It all began innocently enough. I turned on MSNBC's Morning Joe as I do every morning. Hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, its mix of news, bickering, and irreverence make it one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I'm accustomed to the screwball ideas so often presented by Joe and his guests, but this morning Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post, stunned me. She'd been talking to a real expert in education, I heard her say. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Oh, no, not I muttered as I scooped coffee into the pot. Not a real expert! I've lived long enough to know that whatever she said next would be uninformed and simplistic. After all, there is a self-appointed education expert on every street corner. All it takes to be an expert these days is a pulse, an opinion, and a blog. For example, only a few weeks ago, our national education expert was Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Her top qualifications were being a parent and having a bachelor's degree in political science. If I'd been fully functioning when I heard those words, I'd have snatched the remote off the counter and smashed the mute button. And if I hadn't been able to find the remote quickly enough, I'd have stuck my fingers in my ears or smashed the TV itself. no, in my morning daze, I stood there like a deer in headlights. There's $100 billion in the stimulus package for education, Huffington announced self-righteously. But absolutely no reform of tenure, pay, or real teacher accountability. I felt my eyes roll back in my head. This is the time to be bold! Huffington proclaimed. Leaning against the counter to steady myself, I heard myself say, So, let me get this right, Arianna. Of all the items in the stimulus package that should be explored for 'bold' change, education is the most worthy of comment. And the only things in education --in the wide, wide world of education--that need change are teacher tenure, pay, and As I spoke, I felt as if I were descending into the Sixth Circle of Hell. Huffington's call for such bold moves seems a bit like suggesting we fix our financial woes by requiring that banks stop giving out free suckers at the drive-up windows or holding tellers responsible for bank failures. It just doesn't make sense that the blame for education's shortcomings falls on the shoulders--and only on the shoulders--of teachers. Of all the actors in schools and schooling, of all the people in the hierarchy, are teachers the ones who should be singled out? They, who are never included in making decisions about how schools operate? let's consider Arianna's expert's ideas. Would her expert propose that schools too poor to maintain their rotting buildings receive funds to fix the gaping holes in the roof only if teachers agree to end tenure? Or that we should replace toilets that haven't worked for years only when teachers agree that their salaries will be determined by some fly-by-night merit pay system or some mysterious, ill-defined accountability? And if we do that, what will teachers be expected to give up next? Lunch breaks? That's about all they have left. And if they don't give in, will the public be told that children get wet when it rains because teachers are lazy, greedy, and irresponsible? As Huffington and her expert present the need for pay and the rest, they act as though these are proven cures--as though implementing them would guarantee success. And teachers and their unions are just being obstinate when they resist. If that were true, I promise you I'd be the first person in line demanding their implementation. But, of course, they aren't proven. I've honestly never met a classroom teacher who said she would teach better or work harder if she were paid more. …