Blame Teachers

A volume in Studies in the Philosophy of EducationSeries Editor: John E. Petrovic, The University of AlabamaThere is a story going around about the public schools and the people who teach in them-a story about how awful our nation's teachers are and why we should blame teachers forthe poor state of our public schools. But is the story about teachers right or fair? Why do somany people point fingers at teachers and seem to resent them so much?Blame Teachers: The Emotional Reasons for Educational Reform examines why many people blame teachers forwhat they understand to be the poor state of our schools. Blame comes easily to many people when they read aboutpoor student performance and how protected teachers are by teachers' unions and tenure policies. And withblame comes resentment, and with resentment comes demands for all kinds of educational reform-calls for morestandardized testing, merit pay, charter schools, and all the rest. And we expect teachers to like and accept all thereforms being proposed.Conceiving educational reform out of blame and resentment aimed at teachers does no good for teachers, students, orschools. Blame Teachers outlines many of the strange and unacceptableassumptions about teaching and the purposes of education contained in theseeducational reforms. Intended for teachers, teacher education students, policymakersand the larger public, Blame Teachers suggests much better and moreproductive conversations we can have with teachers-conversations much morelikely to improve teaching and learning in classrooms. The book argues forconversations with teachers that don't begin or end with blame and resentment.