Pop Quiz! How do we fix our Broken Education System

It is quite clear now that just as the health care system is a broken down institution, our education system needs to be overhauled, extensively. You may not hear debates and talks in either the senate or in the White House any time soon; but just like “The Big One” in California, its coming.

The March 15 edition of Newsweek, features a series of articles featuring some of the faults and possible fixes for our education system. The Very bold statement “we must fire bad teachers” resonates with me as a feasible way to reform our schools and get better results. At the same time it makes me wonder: How does one go about evaluating the effectiveness of a teacher based on student’s test results? As it is, not many credential programs offer out-of-the-box success strategies for the first year teacher.
What provisions if any would be made for “teachers in training”?

We have all heard horror stories of child molesting teachers, educators who sleep on the job and recently under qualified teachers who refuse to tend to their responsibilities as mentors and educators. But where in the labor market would these people fit if they were to be let-go? Often times, teachers have been at the same site for over 15 years, and throughout their tenure experienced varied degrees of success. If we were to follow the recommendation given by Newsweek, we would put even a bigger burden on all of the social programs such as welfare and unemployment. Realistically how can
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In a sense, the March 15 issue of Newsweek serves as a pink slip to the thousands of teachers who just don’t make the numbers on the tests. And I just don’t know how to feel about that.