Larry D. Lauer

The nation’s teachers have finally had enough! Current strikes in several states are gaining political momentum. Countless White Houses have tried to reform and improve public schools from Washington, and all have failed. Teachers know why. Really low salaries today encourage talented young students to choose other careers. Those already in the profession are paid too little to make ends meet. And in too many cases even those who make the sacrifice because they love students are not given the materials and system support necessary to do the job professionally.

Every experienced teacher and administrator knows that good and bad influences in the home, neighborhood, and from peers determine the preliminary steps that must be taken before academic success is possible. Therefore, in addition to possessing a love of helping young people, those who teach should come from the most talented among us, receive the best professional and broadest education possible… and be rewarded accordingly. In fact, meeting the most basic of our nation’s future needs will depend on top-notch public education.

Here is my take: The education of top professional teachers must include learning how to identify complicated family problems, uncover hidden student potentials and talents, and deal with threatening neighborhood influences. This knowledge is critical to producing early individual successes. And accomplishing all this requires taking solid courses in social work, psychology, and communication, as well as taking the best possible subject matter courses… preferably those taught by the most talented professors in the institution.

No-child-left-behind, universal common core, and required subject-matter testing were all invented in Washington. And they all failed because they did not address and remove the actual barriers to learning that many students and teachers face every day. Make no mistake, success in school has nothing to do with political ideology or forcing students to memorize subject matter. Rather, it requires the best educated, most talented, and well-compensated teachers working together with highly experienced colleagues… and supported by very strong funding.

The current secretary of education favors private school vouchers as her primary solution. But vouchers are too often a ticket to an unrealistic environment for poor and under performing students. And for good students, vouchers are simply a way to have tax payers foot the bill at a private or for-profit school.

Only well-funded public schools, with well-compensated top quality professional teachers, can meet the diverse and complex future needs of our nation. This is not rocket science. It’s simply common sense.