There isn’t much enlightening to say about the unfolding Atlanta teacher cheating scandal, but its implications must be faced, as difficult as that is.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal revealed this week that award-winning gains by Atlanta students were based on widespread cheating by teachers and principals. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified 178 teachers and principals – 82 of whom have confessed – in the biggest cheating scandal in US history. Not the first one, however; there have been a lot of them recently, across the country. The media is pointing to the U.S. education system’s increasing dependence on standardized tests as “the problem.”
I see: the testing made them do it. It is, rather, time that the nation face the fact that the teaching profession is itself corrupt to the core, filled with individuals of dubious ethical standards, who can be guaranteed to pass their rotten ethical instincts on the students.
The report on the Atlanta Public Schools indicated a widespread conspiracy by teachers, principals and administrators to fix answers on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), punish whistle-blowers, and hide improprieties. And what is unusual about Atlanta? Nothing. If the teaching community there could support that extensive a conspiracy to steal education from students in order to keep their jobs, salaries and pensions, then the teaching community anywhere in the country could, and probably is, to a greater or lesser degree.
Signs of ethical rot are everywhere in education, from the frightening increase in incidents of teachers having sex with students, to the shocking number of high school graduates who know nothing about the nation, its history, or current events, to the teachers union protesters in Wisconsin using fake doctor’s notes to skip work. This is a profession that has lost its sense of purpose, diligence, pride and dedication. Not every teacher, no—of course not. But the blight is deep and getting deeper. Only the persistent state of denial by those who support public education for what it once was, and not what it is now, and the mind-numbing difficulty of repairing a system that is so inept and resistant to change keeps at bay the impulse to chuck it all and start from scratch.
If 178 principals and teachers in a major American metropolis could mutually agree to fabricate test results—without a single member of the educational community coming forward and saying “No! This is wrong!”—then it isn’t unethical individuals, but a culture devoid of ethics. If there were 178 professionals directly involved, another 350, or more, knew something was going on. Why Atlanta? Only because the conspiracies in the other cities haven’t been uncovered yet.
America is hiring self-centered, unprofessional, dishonest, cowardly cheats as teachers, and America’s parents are entrusting the socialization, training and education of their children to them. Don’t tell me this is a funding crisis. Give more money to the government to hire unethical teachers, and you just end up with more and richer unethical teachers. This is a long-developing crisis of ethical culture that the teaching profession has successfully deflected attention from by evoking the dedication of their better predecessors. How long is that strategy going to work, and how many children will be corrupted while we refuse to act on what we know to be true?
I admit it; I am angry about this, and about its consequences to our nation. The education profession has been governing itself like pipefitters, when it should be striving for the high ethical standards of professionals.
Ethics Alarms 
Great post, Jack. Have done some work in this arena, and have come to the conclusion that when it comes to the best, teaching isn’t a profession – it’s a CALLING.
Unfortunately, for too many, teaching is either attractive due to ideology or an easy pass through college. And it shouldn’t be. Teachers are typically better paid than much of the public thinks (especially when one considers time off and benefits, both of which are to-drool-for),
It IS a remarkably difficult profession for those who are actually committed to improving their own minds – and thence, those of the children in their charge. But great teachers, and there are fewer and fewer, understand the balance.
As a result of lax standards and union pressure, a frightening number of public school teachers are assigned to teach based on the fact that they’ve got a state teaching certificate, not because they know doodley squat about the subjects they’re assigned to teach. Math and science are most notable in this regard – in a shocking number of school districts,math and science teachers are only a lesson or two ahead of their students. None of that matters to a nation informed by a media that kowtows to teachers unions – especially when teachers’ strikes mean that we’ve actually gotta stay home and keep an eye on our own spawn.
This nation needs to adjust in such a manner that it pays good teachers what they’re worth – and they’re worth a LOT – and pays medicore teachers wages that incents them to either get better or split, and which sends bad teachers packin’, regardless of how long they’ve been on the job.
That starts with state legislatures taking a hard line on state employees – and their unions.
“. . . a frightening number of public school teachers are assigned to teach based on the fact that they’ve got a state teaching certificate, not because they know doodley squat about the subjects they’re assigned to teach. Math and science are most notable in this regard – in a shocking number of school districts,math and science teachers are only a lesson or two ahead of their students.”
Not that requiring advanced degrees in those subjects is the answer either, as I’ve heard others suggest in the past. It is possible to successfully teach while keeping only a lesson or two ahead of your students, provided you’re not a complete dunce. This of course also requires having a fair amount of general knowledge and does not work quite as well in the last years of high school, but if it couldn’t be done, homeschooling simply would not work.
The homeschoolers have a few other advantages which make up for the lack of specialized knowledge of every subject: smaller class sizes, invested parents, and invested teachers. If public schools could achieve the same combination, I think the kids would be fine. Unfortunately, there’s nothing the schools themselves can do about the parents; instead, our culture has to shape up. Smaller classes and invested teachers likely need to happen together. The former requires smarter use of funds, but how does one encourage the latter, especially when there are current problems such as teacher-student sex to worry about?
I think I’m old enough to be dead and gone from natural causes by the time the same thing happens to health care after a few years of control by government bureaucrats and their unions. That’s good because I’m sure it will be an even bigger disaster than government education. You think mass-production of ignorant, unethical people is bad? Just wait until those same ignorant, unethical people that are coming out of the schools start producing dead people.
Stop. You’re frightening me.
Jack, a number of educators spoke up, and they were silenced by their administrators. This is nothing to be surprised about; it’s the natural result when teachers are asked to do more and more every year, but struggle to get adequate funding. They’re asked to work with the most difficult students, with inadequate facilities and supplies.
The best teachers tend to move districts that pay the most, leaving big cities like Atlanta with largely mediocre educators. Every time test scores fall, politicians demand more testing, putting more pressure on teachers to perform – while withholding funding that could hire better teachers or upgrade facilities! It’s an untenable situation that forces people to make a survival choice.
Their choice to cheat is unethical, but it is also unethical to put people in a situation where they’re bound to fail! I don’t know where the idea that teachers have it easy comes from, all the teachers I’ve known put in extra hours at the beginning and end of every day, and take summer continuing education classes. Inner city teachers frequently face dangerous workplaces, and often have to help students dealing with community violence, abusive or disinterested parents, or untreated health issues.
On top of this, they have to teach students to pass tests that everyone knows are bullshit; they don’t measure knowledge, and studying to pass tests does nothing to promote learning. Everyone involved holds the system in contempt, but they have no choice but to participate, as politicians sell the electorate an easy answer in standardized testing.
Chris, I know very well how hard teaching is. But this kind of cheating by teachers is like the CIA using torture—I don’t want to hear the justification, you just don’t do it, and it is something ethical professionals won’t do. What was stopping a teacher from picking up the phone and calling the Atlanta papers, or the New York Times? Just conviction and priorities.
I pulled my kid out of school, but most people can’t homeschool their children. I decided I couldn’t trust the system. Should anyone?
“Every time test scores fall, politicians demand more testing, putting more pressure on teachers to perform – while withholding funding that could hire better teachers or upgrade facilities! It’s an untenable situation that forces people to make a survival choice.”
I’m sorry, but all I can say to this is “Welcome to the real world.” In ANY job anywhere, when you do poorly, it invites additional scrutiny of your performance from your boss/manager/supervisor. And of course they withhold funding. You don’t reward poor performance. Nor do the unions make it possible to “hire better teachers” if that means getting rid of the bad ones.
N o
E ducation
A nymore
–Dwayne
Hey, Jack, you softie you… where’s the botox?
A perspicacious comment, Jack, though not especially perspicuous.
You really are annoying.
I had the fortune to go to a very good magnet school with great teachers, but even we heard about similar scandals in the neighboring city of Norfolk. Teachers in that city’s school system got caught doing about the same thing.
I’m certainly not going to argue for this country’s broken, backward thinking on education. My mother retires next year after 30 years in Florida public schools, and I’m well-acquainted with the difference between good and bad teachers. (I’m also more optimistic than you about their relative populations.)
But you’re right; this is not about funding, and it’s not about testing. High schools like Brockton High School in Massachusetts excels in roughly the same scenario. This is about a culture where avoiding the blame is more important than solving the problem. Our national philosophy on education has turned to “you can’t be blamed for not learning if your parents are poor.” It’s not that you never cracked a book with your kid, or never took him to a museum; it’s that all the good teachers are at other schools, and the legislature won’t give any more money to your kids’ school. And no legislator on the planet who cares about re-election will ever say, “You know what? We could throw all the money in the world at your school; your kid doesn’t want to learn and it’s your fault.” The teachers and administration are the same way; there’s no way we could succeed without cheating, we’re an underfunded school full of bad students. Never mind that relatively cost-free models for school improvement are available for anyone who will take initiative; the important thing is that we don’t end up holding the bag on this one.
You’ve identified a major problem here: the unassailabl public opinion of educators has allowed their professional standards to nosedive. But it’s Problem #2, and it’s not particularly close.
I’d argue that the single greatest lesson that schoolchildren learn from their teachers is that of citizenship; a word once omnipresent on the seals of every high school and college in the country. And citizenship, in turn, is the combination of morals and patriotism. In today’s schools, though, morals have devolved into a matter of political correctness and patriotism is eschewed as “divisive”. Nor are teachers held to the standard of conduct necessary to instill a sense of citizenship to begin with… that all-important factor of leading by personal example. When teachers look like bums and are ignorant in the subjects they teach (except by approved rote) and have no sense of responsibility to their students, what is to be expected of them? And worse, what is to be expected of the students who become their lifelong ignorant victims?
“And citizenship, in turn, is the combination of morals and patriotism.”
Our country’s leaders absconded with their morals while on their way to the bank. So where does that leave the rest of us?
Patriotism? Don’t get me started, Steven. Tell you what… watch “Why We Fight” and then get back to me about patriotism.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436971/
Seen it, Jeffrey. All the way through. Too bad a lot of kids haven’t and likely never will. They don’t stress American history too much in the schools these days. Like patriotism, it’s “divisive”. So, instead, they provide ethnic histories… which are not??!
I think, Steven, that you and I came away from that film with quite different perspectives. Odd, that.
There are two films titled “Why We Fight”. One is Frank Capra’s response to “Triumph of the Will”; the other is Eugene Jarecki’s indictment of American foreign policy. The titles are not at all a coincidence.
You are right, Mr. Guy. My link, however, is to the documentary. I’m thinking Steven thought I was referring to Capra’s film. No wonder we came away with polar views. Thanks for the clarification. (So, Steven, I meant for you to watch “Eugene Jarecki’s indictment of American foreign policy”, for that is a very good description. Once you’ve seen it, let’s discuss patriotism, ok?)
Naturally, I was thinking of Frank Capra’s classic. Now… I’m supposed to waste my time watching a left wing propaganda fest of the same name- to “enlighten” myself as to how evil America is? I’ve been hearing all that noise since I was a teenager. I’ve never yet seen one of these “documentaries” that wasn’t the same old rant regurgitated all over again. My opinions on American foreign policies at any particular time or place are based on the facts of the matter as I can glean them and evaluated through experience. I don’t base them on philosophies that demand a “double think” on my part based on political expediency for someone else.
I’m sorry you feel that way, Steven. As far as left leaning docs go, it’s surprisingly well balanced. If you should decide to view it (link above), I’d love to talk with you.
Jeff, you’ve perked my curiosity. Unfortunately, I have to pass up a lot of things (including almost all videos) due to this old phonejack system my computer operates on. I hope to get that upgraded before long, but I’ve been a “lagging economic indicator” for the last few years!
Glad I perked you, Steven… 8) If you’re near a public library they may have a copy. I got mine from the local library.
Since after 2 years we decided that we couldn’t afford $50,000 a year for private school for our son, we tried — for two months — the local public school. He has been home schooled ever since.
The NEA and Teachers Unions have gone the way of all entrenched organizations — after a while their mission becomes secondary to their power and their survival. What’s the big difference between the Teamsters and the NEA these days? At a certain point in history they served an important, permanent and vital service: today they are political entities only, protecting their turf. As Eric Hoffer said, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” (Why else would NYC continue to warehouse AT FULL PAY thousands of teachers deemed “unfit for the classroom” because the Union won’t let them be fired? Sorry I bring this up too often: it is just beyond belief for me.)
In a northern Virginia public school my son was admonished for correcting the teachers’ grammar, and told stories about how it took half the class time to simply get kids to sit in their seats! This billion-dollar facility turns out kids in in BOTTOM 5 of all school in Virginia. And this is a wealthy area.
Now, the second part of my reply (stealing from an Amanpour reply earlier)…
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Well, goll-ee jee! I went to one of them high schools in Georgia, played football, and cain’t see any problem at all with what they do. My three sons goes to the same school as I did, and be fine. We’s all Democrates, and vote every time we get the chance!
Ain’t modrn skules outstanden?!
I have commented many times to people that the education establishment and politicians don’t know how to use standardized tests. Politicians want all the students at every school to be above average. Then, they want those scores to increase every year. The education people talk of their assessment plans (don’t ask what is in them) and continual improvement of every school (try mandating that you improve every year). If they used standardized tests the way I do, we might have a way out of the problem, and the problem isn’t the tests.
I give standardized tests to see how well I taught and how realistically I graded. The point is to make sure my grades aren’t out of line with the actual achievement of my students. This is one of the big points the educators miss. The point of education is to educate the students. They have forgotten that those grade things they assign are supposed to reflect the mastery of the subject each student achieved. It is telling that grades are normally not allowed as an assessment measurement by educational accreditation bodies.
Here is how you improve education. You make sure the standardized tests scores match the grades. You drop funding for any school that is out of line. If your students do poorly on the tests, you must flunk them. If they excel, you must pass them. If you want don’t want to actually teach students anything, by all means, but you won’t get to pass them either. This would force the administrators to tell the parents, sorry, little Jimmy better start doing his homework or he fails. No, we can’t pass him or the school district will lose funding and close.
Or they could always cheat.
One of my nephews aced every test but refused flatly to do ANY homework. New policy- he was FAILING EVERY class in 7th grade. He had the riot act read to him by many family members and finally got off his butt. Now his grades at homework match his test scores. But still, what kind of questions are on the BIG standardized test? No kidding: “What does a computer announcement “You’ve got mail!” indicate?” Which I’m surprised any of them even know anyway, since AOL is pretty much dead and they’re all only 12-13…