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By Root 327 0

now the politicians’ favorite punching bag. To listen to the likes of Chester Finn, a former assistant secretary of education in Bush the Elder’s administration, you’d think all that has crumbled in our society can be traced back to lax, lazy, and incompetent teachers. “If you put out a Ten-Most-Wanted list of who’s killing American education, I’m not sure who you would have higher on the list: the teachers’ union or the education school faculties,” Finn said.

Sure, there are a lot of teachers who suck, and they’d be better suited to making telemarketing calls for Amway. But the vast majority are dedicated educators who have chosen a profession that pays them less than what some of their students earn selling Ecstasy, and for that sacrifice we seek to punish them. I don’t know about you, but I want the people who have the direct attention of my child more hours a day than I do treated with tender loving care. Those are my kids they’re “preparing” for this world, so why on earth would I want to piss them off?

You would think society’s attitude would be something like this:

Teachers, thank you so much for devoting your life to my child. Is there ANYTHING I can do to help you? Is there ANYTHING you need? I am here for you. Why? Because you are helping my child—MY BABY—learn and grow. Not only will you be largely responsible for her ability to make a living, but your influence will greatly affect how she views the world, what she knows about other people in this world, and how she will feel about herself. I want her to believe she can attempt anything—that no doors are closed and that no dreams are too distant. I am entrusting the most valuable person in my life to you for seven hours each day. You, are thus, one of the most important people in my life! Thank you.

No, instead, this is what teachers hear:

• “You’ve got to wonder about teachers who claim to put the interests of children first—and then look to milk the System dry through wage hikes.” (New York Post, 12/26/00)

• “Estimates of the number of bad teachers range from 5 percent to 18 percent of the 2.6 million total.” (Michael Chapman, Investor’s Business Daily, 9/21/98)

• “Most education professionals belong to a closed community of devotees ... who follow popular philosophies rather than research on what works.” (Douglas Carminen, quoted in the Montreal Gazette, 1/6/01)

• “Teachers unions have gone to bat for felons and teachers who have had sex with students, as well as those who simply couldn’t teach.” (Peter Schweizen, National Review, 8/17/98)

What kind of priority do we place on education in America? Oh, it’s on the funding list—somewhere down between OSHA and meat inspectors. The person who cares for our child every day receives an average of $41,351 annually. A Congressman who cares only about which tobacco lobbyist is taking him to dinner tonight receives $145,100.

Considering the face-slapping society gives our teachers on a daily basis, is it any wonder so few choose the profession? The national teacher shortage is so big that some school systems are recruiting teachers outside the United States. Chicago recently recruited and hired teachers from twenty-eight foreign countries, including China, France, and Hungary. By the time the new term begins in New York City, seven thousand veteran teachers will have retired—and 60 percent of the new teachers hired to replace them are uncertified.

But here’s the kicker for me: 163 New York City schools opened the 2000-2001 school year without a principal! You heard right—school, with no one in charge. Apparently the mayor and the school board are experimenting with chaos theory—throw five hundred poor kids into a crumbling building, and watch nature take its course! In the city from which most of the wealth in the world is controlled, where there are more millionaires per square foot than there is gum on the sidewalk, we somehow can’t find the money to pay a starting teacher more than $31,900 a year. And we act surprised when we can’t get results.

And it’s not just teachers who have been neglected—American