Amen! Agreed. I always like thinkers that challenge the unexamined life and its motivations. It gives you something to think about and just enough motivation to question why you are doing what you are doing-- and make a change.
> All that said, I grow tired of the arguments and articles
> of 'don't speak unless you've walked a thousand miles'
> which I felt as I read this article. Not all knowledge and
> understanding must derive from doing something to have a
> valid opinion. We need to treat teachers better and find
> better pay structures but I've found no harsher critics of
> teachers and our schools than the teachers I went to
> college with as they filter into the systems and find
> tired and broken systems in which they get no voice until
> they have 'tenure'.
I don't know that this article is so much about "not speaking bad about teachers", but about having compassion for teachers and talking about education with a little more humility for the institution that helped produce you. I would say this article is more of the "teachers don't write articles about how to __________ better, so don't let _______________ers tell teachers how to teach better" variety.
And I totally agree that most young teachers are completely overwhelmed by the ridiculous systems in which they are forced to teach. My only hope is that some of these young, inspiring teachers remain in the profession long enough to change the broken system (which might take a LONG time!). The unions are broken; for the most part, teachers are not.
You are not a teacher. And from your comments, you have not looked too much in the research about how to teach students.
Yes, certain things COULD be automated... at considerable expense to student achievement. One big thing they have found - remove the personal feedback and connection to students --> lose the motivation of students. If a teacher (the same teacher) isn't interacting with a student consistently at nearly every step of the learning process, the feedback doesn't stick and the student loses motivation.
It would be interesting to looking to the basic research behind the feedback-achievement connection and stereotype threat to start.
Hope that helps you address some of the problems with the automate/delegate solutions so often thrown at teachers.