04 May 2010

Quote of the Day

"In education, we blame educators for everything. You name an educator that's had to take a business course, that's had to take a management course, had to take a financial course. They don't have that. ... None of them have any expertise in those areas and we wonder why we're not successful.''

-- Gov. Joe Manchin, quoted by The Associated Press at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce round-table discussion on education in Washington, D.C.

3 comments:

Hoyt said...

He once said most West Virginians have a PhD in life, too.

clear eyes said...

Perhaps teachers don't understand capitalism because they are brainwashed by their union bosses, but what is the politicians excuse?

Anonymous said...

I can name an abundance of teachers who have had courses and/or practical experience in business, finance, accounting, etc.

In order to be a certified teacher you also have to have two B.S. degrees: one in your specialty and one in education.

What I can't name is a legislator who has an education degree, has knowlwdge in the innate child development and adolescent development psychology and physiology, or has any working knowledge of neoroscience.

Schools fail because legislators make the laws and have no knowledge of how to teach, how students learn, how to research (if they did know they would get rid of benchmark acuity testing, since it has proven in other districts to lower standardized test scores), or even handle a class of 36 adolescents.

If WV wants better schools, the legislators should look at Chicago Public Schools Turnaround Program.