President Obama proposed his visions of education reform in a speech delivered on Tuesday/ march 10. He called for less restrictions on charter schools and the improvement of early childhood education. The president also mentioned his intentions to establish a pay system for teachers based on merit, something he promised during his campaign.
It's about time the federal government stepped in to make some changes in the nation's education. There are too many teachers out there that simply teach because that's what they have been doing for the past quarter century and many have lost their enthusiasm to educate! They continue on with their discontented lives and fail to truly inspire students to excel in their education. Unfortunately, these are the teachers that keep their jobs when it comes to cutting faculty during budget crisis' such as the one we're currently experiencing here in California! The fresh, young, and passionate teachers are the first to lose their jobs only because of their lack of seniority! However, I'm not insinuating that ALL teachers that have remained in their profession since the flippin' beginning of time have lost their passion to teach. I'm just pointing out that it occurs too often and that something MUST be done to remedy this issue.
Paying teachers based on their performance and effectiveness in educating sounds like a solid plan to me. Or perhaps teachers can have a vote confidence every so often? There needs to be some way to keep them accountable. We need to weed out all the ineffective teachers and award the ones who actually educate. With a few prominent teacher unions at his side and large chunk of that stimulus money dedicated to education, it is hopeful that President Obama will bring change to our fallen education system.
