UPDATE: Eduwonk / Writing in Education Part II, Blaming the Teachers

That bit about writing on education, inspired jointly by DailyWritingTips and Ginger, is getting quite a few views. Not many comments, though.

Ginger hasn’t responded here, but she threw up a post on her own site. It follows that modern, edgy blogpost structure that is, roughly:

1. ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!
2. Ok, content. Seriously. lol
3. Proof I went to college
4. Tired of serious stuff, time to swear
5. Save the world
6. Ok serious again
7. Seacrest out!

The following passage about blaming teachers calls for a response:

Eduwonk is not alone in its condescension towards teachers. Teachers are in the proverbial trenches everyday, struggling to balance tremendous pressure to raise test scores with the diverse learning needs of their students, but dumping on teachers is to ed policy wonks as golf is to accountants: an idle and unimpressive sport that is made out to be something greater.

Identifying deficiencies in a profession isn’t condescension. Along the same lines, the nobility of the profession [and teaching is noble] doesn’t excuse anyone from accountability. If good intentions mattered more than production, I’d perform open-heart surgery for free because, really, who can afford that? I’d pity my patients, though.

There is nothing sinister about blaming teachers when they deserve to be blamed [though I blame education schools 10x more often than the teacher-victims themselves, many of whom should never have had an opportunity in the profession]. But quitting at fingerpointing isn’t productive. Identifying a problem, then giving resources, strategies and all related support to the deficient so they might fix those problems is the only viable solution for curing many of the ills in the education world. I would ask that everyone differentiate the fingerpointers from those who identify and then solve.

I can’t in good faith respond seriously to a post that relies on profanity [f-bomb here, some more depravity there, including in the URL itself] while using the “keepin’ it real” excuse. If education professionals want to be treated as such – especially the younger ones – they need to act like it, anonymous or not.

Then again, even the edusphere might need its own Amanda Marcotte.

Actually, this article captures the baseness a bit better.