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"You can't fire the bad ones!" : and 18 other myths about teachers, teachers' unions, and public education

Author

Ayers, William, 1944- author.

Title

"You can't fire the bad ones!" : and 18 other myths about teachers, teachers' unions, and public education / William Ayers, Crystal Laura, and Rick Ayers.

Format

Book

Published

Boston : Beacon Press, [2018] ©2018

Description

241 pages ; 22 cm

Other contributors

Laura, Crystal T., author. Ayers, Rick, author.

Variant title

You cannot fire the bad ones!

Notes

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-240).

Contents

• Introduction: "Rotten apples"
• Myth 1: "Teachers' unions are the biggest obstacle to improving education today"
• Myth 2: "You can't fire the bad ones"
• Myth 3: "Teachers' unions represent a flock of 'go slow/status quo' sheep"
• Myth 4: "Good teaching is entirely color-blind"
• Myth 5: "Teachers have it easy"
• Myth 6: "High-stakes standardized tests improve student achievement and effectively detect inferior teachers"
• Myth 7: "While teachers and their unions use poverty as a convenient smokescreen for their own failures, it's become obvious that grit and merit can overcome every disadvantage"
• Myth 8: "Teachers are made more visible and accountable in charter schools, more competitive through voucher programs, and irrelevant with the advent of teacher-proof cyber schools"
• Myth 9: "Anyone can be a teacher"
• Myth 10: "Teachers follow popular fads and political correctness rather than teaching the basics"
• Myth 11: "Teacher activists are troublemakers"
• Myth 12: "Discipline is the first priority for every teacher, and it is especially essential for teachers in urban schools with large numbers of black students"
• Myth 13: "Teachers need to set high standards and drive kids hard"
• Myth 14: "Teachers are poorly served by the universally dreadful teacher-education programs currently available"
• Myth 15: "Too many bad teachers have created a public school system that is utterly broken, and the only solution is to wipe the slate clean and start over"
• Myth 16: "Teachers are unable to deal adequately with the disciplinary challenges posed by today's youth, and we need more police in our public school buildings to do the job and maintain law and order"
• Myth 17: "Teachers need to stick with teaching the great lessons of Western civilization in order to civilize youth and mold them into the good citizens of the future"
• Myth 18: "Teachers need to focus less on the arts, more on STEM"
• Myth 19: "The truly great teachers are heroes."

Summary

"Overturns common misconceptions about charter schools, school "choice," standardized tests, common core curriculum, and teacher evaluations. Teachers have always been devalued in the United States, but in recent years the pace and intensity of attacks by politicians, the media, and so-called education reformers have escalated sharply. Indeed, the "bad teacher" figure has come to dominate public discourse, obscuring the structural inequities that teachers and students face everyday. This book flips the script on enduring and popular myths about teachers, teachers unions, and education that inform policy discussions and choices. Some of these myths, such as "student scores on standardized tests should be used to evaluate teachers," have ushered in an era of high-stakes exam-centric classrooms. Other myths, such as "unions are good for teachers but bad for kids," have led to reduced protection and rights for teachers in public schools, making it harder for educators to serve their students. By unpacking these myths, and underscoring the necessity of strong and vital public schools as a common good, Ayers and Laura challenge readers - whether parents, community members, or policymakers - to rethink their own assumptions about teaching and education"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject headings

Public schools--United States. Teachers--United States. Teaching--United States. Education--United States. United States.

ISBN

9780807036662 (paperback) 0807036668 (paperback) 9780807036679 0807036676

Standard Identifier

40027854308