Educational System

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/nyregion/18teacher.html

Politics need to be taken out of the educational equation. One reason our country's students are not doing as well as they should be doing is because there are far too many lazy teachers and spoiled kids, both of whom know exactly what they can get away with.

If a teacher actually DOES his or her job, and actually GRADES students based on their knowledge, suddenly a teacher gets in trouble with principals, administrators, other teachers. Why? If a kid gets all As and Bs on his report card, and one D...everyone is going to think that one teacher is being unfair. What is MORE likely is that the rest of the teachers are playing nice, keeping things safe, so that THEIR report cards are good. When that kid with the D goes home and complains to his parents, far too many parents come rushing to their beloved child's aid by immediately complaining to principals about this bad apple of a teacher. My parents certainly didn't do that: it was assumed that I could try harder, and this was true.

A lot of teachers won't give out worse than a C because they know this will keep everyone happy. Students are happy that they didn't get a D or an F; parents are happy that their children are succeeding in school; principals and administrators are happy that parents are happy and that their schools will have good statistics. BUT...there is one fatal flaw in all this happiness: Curricula are far too simple and students aren't really learning.