Art Teacher Loses Job, Obama Answers the Call!

Hello, my friends.  I would like to start off today by thanking each and every one of you for your thoughts, prayers, and wishes in the comments of my last diary.  I will start crying again if I stop to think about how much it meant to me, so let me soldier on.

Last night we stopped the random clicker at C-Span.  It was the perfect moment.  Barack Obama was speaking in Flint, Michigan at Kettering College. He spoke at some length about education.  He soothed my soul.

I absolutely adore the Flint Speech.  I can only imagine what it would be like to be student, faculty, or alumni at Kettering after yesterday.  

Watch the video here.

The writing was exactly my cup of tea.  The high percentage of juicy aphorisms reminded me a great deal of Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The speech was chock-full of inspiration.

And a big load of it was directly devoted to Education Reform.

Whether you're conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, practically every economist agrees that in this digital age, a highly-educated and skilled workforce will be the key not only to individual opportunity, but to the overall success of our economy as well.

This, to me, is the ultimate hook.  Tie a revived economy to a reformed education system?  Yes please.

And yet, despite this consensus, we continually fail to deliver. A few years ago, I visited a high school outside Chicago. The number one concern I heard from those students was that the school district couldn't afford to keep teachers for a full day, so school let out at 1:30 every afternoon. That cut out critical classes like science and labs. Imagine that – these kids wanted more school.

Word.  I know plenty of kids that are very much aware of the fact they are getting short-changed by the current system.  Each state and local district is different, but the consensus is bleak.

Senator McCain doesn't talk about education much.  But I don't accept the status quo.  It is morally unacceptable and economically untenable. It's time to make an historic commitment to education– a real commitment that will require new resources and new reforms.

"Morally unacceptable and economically untenable" for the win.  The speech was freaking Shakespeare with a campaign button.  Seriously, Barack Obama was spouting poetry in the guise of the perfect platform speech.  It was a beautiful thing.

What does it mean for my situation?  What does it mean for art, music, dance, and drama?

... it means reaching high standards, but not by relying on a single, high stakes standardized test that distorts how teachers teach.  Instead, we need to work with governors, educators and especially teachers to develop better assessment tools that effectively measure student achievement, and encourage the kinds of research, scientific investigation, and problem-solving that our children will need to compete.

I was getting goosebumps, listening to this, on the second day after my diary about the sad state of American education.  

We must challenge the system that prevents us from promoting and rewarding excellence in teaching. We cannot ask our teachers to perform the impossible – to teach poorly prepared children with inadequate resources, and then punish them when children perform poorly on a standardized test.  But if we give teachers the resources they need; if we pay them more, and give them time for professional development; if they are given ownership over the design of better assessment tools and a creative curricula; if we shape reforms with teachers rather than imposing changes on teachers, then it is fair to expect better results. Our children deserve no less.

Thank you, Senator Obama.  Your response to my plight was quick, decisive, and absolutely brilliant.  

With our nation's schools in your hands, we will have hope amidst the bleakest of times.  We can restore and rebuild the greatness of America from the inside of the classroom.

Yes we can.