Well, it was the first official set of sessions in the life of the 90th Representative Assembly. The Texas Caucus started off the morning, followed by the Republicans. The talk of the day was an early endorsement of President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
Here’s where I get in trouble. See, I don’t really see a current Republican who has any idea of how to fix public education. Most of the current crop of Republican candidates seem bound and determined to destroy public education. They figure it costs too much (or maybe they don’t want rich kids going to school with poor kids; after all, it might give those rich kids a desire to actually help their fellow Americans rather than crushing their throats on the way up the wealth ladder). The other problem is that President Obama and his odious Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have created Race to the Top, which did something no Republican, anti-teacher administration has been able to do, and that’s tie teacher evaluations directly to test scores. That’s right, an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of every public educator I know is the idea that their kids are more than test scores and that the effectiveness of a teacher has little, if anything, to do with how a kid scores on a standardized test. But President Obama, that savior of liberalism, that “friend of public education”, turned around and put together a program wherein 50% of a teacher’s annual evaluation is tied to standardized test scores. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
But I digress. The big problem I have is not with an Obama endorsement, per se. It’s with the fact that we’re doing it now, 16 months before Election Day 2012. And we’re doing it with no strings attached. It’s like sticking your hand in the mad dog’s cage and getting it bitten, just to give him a treat and stick your hand right back in his cage while he’s still foaming at the mouth. It also kills any kind of political viability we have as an organization. Is Barack Obama better for public education than Michelle Bachman, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, or Tim Pawlenty? Yes. Is he better than Sarah Palin or Rick Perry (assuming they’re even aware of how to spell public education)? Hell, yes. Is he better than Mitt Romney or Jon Hunstman? To quote the great Scooter, “Not so fast, my friend.” But, if we hand it over today, this week, this year, why do any of these people even need to consider whether or not teachers even matter in this election. The second problem is that every argument for endorsing now, right away, yesterday if possible, is directed to the heart. It was scary sitting in that room. That was the atmosphere they were trying to create: one of fear. Not constructive, let’s make things better, fear; but, doooommmeed fear. Not a single argument engaged the thinking processes of the brain. Not a single argument wanted you to think about it for more than a moment before the adrenaline kicked in and, out of being terrified, you would be willing to vote yes. We’re supposed to be better than that. We’re educators. We’re supposed to be the thinkers in this society. That’s the respect we demand from society. That’s the respect we demand from our school boards and our communities. And today (or Monday, rather, that’s when the actual vote takes place) we just frittered it away for no verifiable return. We handed over any power we may have had.
There’s got to be a smarter way than that.
I’m a fan of politics. Okay, that’s kind of like saying that Jeff Gordon drives a little fast, but you get the idea. Politics is one of the three passions I have in my life (my wife and teaching being the other two, and I’m not revealing an order to anybody). I have listened to the Tea Party engage everybody’s gut and nobody’s brain for the better part of three years now and I have been sickened with every time that they have argued that somebody needed to feel something about an issue rather than think something about an issue. The guys who wrote the Constitution did everything they could to wring emotion out of the process, because Madison and Hamilton and Franklin were aware that emotions make for bad law. The only way to make good law is to use those higher thinking capacities. Today, I saw an NEA that was dedicated not to the head, but to the bowel-squeezing, mouth-drying, eye-watering fears of a group of people who have put politics ahead of what’s best for our profession. Would we have ended up endorsing Barack Obama as the better candidate in 2012 anyway? I’m smart enough to say yes. And I probably even would have agreed to it then. This was just fear-mongering stupidity. And if that hurts anybody’s feelings, well that’s too bad. You used your feelings enough today anyway. Tomorrow (and for the rest of this assembly), let’s try using our brains and putting together smart policies. It will really help our members when they have to defend themselves to the stupid, anti-education, anti-teacher fools of the world if they don’t have to defend fear-based decisions made in haste.
I know, “tl; dr” (for those less net-lingo savvy, that means “too long; didn’t read”, basically the idiot admitting that he’s too dumb to understand the big words). Well, if you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to. Just don’t ask me questions about it without reading it first. And don’t assume things about me that you don’t know. That’s all I ask, a little civility and some basic intelligence. You know, the things we’ve always demanded from society and gotten up until recently.
So far as the rest of the show goes, well, tomorrow, we shall see. I’m looking forward to hearing what VP Joe Biden has to say. He’s not my favorite and I disagree with a bunch of his views, but I’m always entertained and always come away more enlightened when listening to different points of view (okay, sometimes that enlightenment is, “Wow, this guy’s an idiot”; but I’m sure that won’t be the enlightenment tomorrow). I might disagree with the Vice President, but he is a man I respect and his dedication to his country and to his position are things I admire.
I’ll plan on putting up more tomorrow night.
Until then, keep the faith and keep fighting the good fight.
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