Stossel's, "Stupid..." Skewed but Sensible

I lived in the best baseball town in America, St. Louis, Missouri, for over thirty years.  That means I am a Cardinals fan.  Our strength has been in smart managers, great fielders, some extraordinary base runners and a few good hitters.  There is something about seeing Mark McGwyer or Albert Pujols tee up on a fast ball coming into their wheelhouse.  Every muscle in their body tenses, their feet drive into the ground like stone pillars.   Their swing is a full, strong arc that extends like a ballet dancer in its grace and beauty.  But the best part is the crack of the bat as it connects with the ball.  You can hear a home run.  It has a special sound, and when you hear it the question is not if the ball will leave the park, it is how far it will leave the park.    I mention this because, while there is no end of things I am not very good at, by virtue of natural talent, careful training, strict discipline, hard work and experience I can teach the same way these men can hit a ball.  It is the only thing I am really, really good at.  By God, I can teach. 

            Since this is my strong suit I watched John Stossel’s, program, “Stupid in America” this weekend with tremendous interest.  He got most of it right, and he did a great job of nailing the teacher’s unions for what they are: obstructionist defenders of incompetent teachers and low educational goals.  I would chide Stossel for not pointing out that there are more charter schools which fail than succeed; that more charter school students fail to meet state standards than out perform them; that too many charters take state money, sell a politically correct agenda to poor, uninformed parents and then fail to deliver.  But he did do a very good job of showing outstanding successes and how these innovative schools and dedicated teachers actually do win the day for good education.  He certainly showed the unions to be political entities which have good education at the bottom of their list of goals.  Unions are in place to increase their Political Action Committees and protect bad teachers.  Period. 

            That leaves some big questions about education remaining.  Let’s start with a very important fact.  Eighty percent of all children in this country will be educated in public schools.  We are the first and only country committed to a free public education for all of its citizens.  Our schools have always been the vehicle for upward mobility regardless of class.  We have good public schools and need more of them.  The greatness of this country depends on it.  But education has been under attack by the left and it is hurting all of us.

            The hardest job I have had in education has been to continuously raise the bar of academic success.  This is the success our students deserve.  It is also the success which they can ultimately achieve, if the adults around them recognize four things:

1.      The only thing our students are, “at risk” of is being underestimated.

2.      Our students don’t need, “less,” “slower,” or, “remedial.”  They need, “more,” “faster,” and, “enrichment” because they have more ground to make up.         

3.      You don’t make students more competitive in a free market economy by teaching them survival skills.  You make them more competitive by teaching them superlative skills so they have something unique to offer in the market place.

4.      Finally, you hit what you aim for!

Ultimately, we all need to teach our children to keep the faith.