5 reasons why Time Magazine’s Rotten Apples article is right about education

*Testing and teacher tenure – Ray Salazar’s take on a Time articl. He says there is more to it than a magazine cover. VL

By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino

Time’s November 3 issue began getting heat about a week ago when the cover blared, “It’s nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher.”  Union leaders and teacher bloggers ignited a backlash, which included an opinion piece by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten who wrote, “America’s teachers aren’t rotten apples . . . America’s teachers are national treasures, doing the most important job in our country—educating children for today’s democracy and tomorrow’s economy.”

Like all professions, education, unfortunately, includes people who do not belong in the classroom.  Sometimes it’s these individuals’ fault for going into teaching for the wrong reasons or because they misunderstand what good teachers do.  Someone recently told me, “You must get really sleepy sitting at your desk all day.”  He doesn’t get what I do.

Sometimes, it’s our profession’s fault from not defending and supporting promising teachers.

While I agree with the backlash against Time’s ill-founded cover, Haley Sweetland Edwards’s article reveals some truths about local and national education conversations.

1. Too many white non-educators care about education.

During a recent conversation with a white non-educator I asked what I’d thought for a long time: “When did white people start caring so much about public education?”  I got a good answer.

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