Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Saturday, October 09, 2004

More advice for aspiring politicians

Since the Kerry campaign seems to have read my earlier post on how to save its bid for the Presidency (or ran out and hired Clinton's campaign team...whatever) here's some more unsolicited but deeply authenic political advice for those running for office.

Security isn't the real, big deal. Not really. Sure the media likes us to think that and all because stress sells papers but what it comes down to is the kids. If you want to get elected you've got to show people their kids will be better off down the road after you've had time to do your thing in the city commission, the state house, the Oval Office or wherever you might find yourself. Americans will pays taxes through the nose, go without luxuries like iPods and even drive fuel efficient cars if they can be convinced that their little ones will definitely be better off.

There are two basic places this is most important. Most immediately; schools. Then, long term job growth. Since the second one requires long term thinking, subtle, multiple point plans and studies by groups with acronyms you're not going to get too far with that in an election year. So you've got to look at education. Now everyone has a plan for education but what most of them don't understand is that their plan is pretty much stupid. Why? Well, most of them have never been teachers and have never worked in a school run by an administrator beholden to board of citizens elected on their popularity more than their credentials. So here's primer for the budding politician:

1) Teacher accountability is good, but only when accompanied by parent accountability. If Johnny's falling behind maybe we should look just as hard at Johnny's home life as we do at the teacher's lesson plans. I wonder what would happen if, when a child misbehaves in class, the parent had to serve detention along with the student?

2) Taking tenure away from teachers doesn't improve accountability. In states where that is done the kids figure out pretty quickly that the teacher has no protection and Mom and Dad will believe them over the total stranger in the building they drop their kid off in. Teachers have to pay their bills too and most are pretty good at the mental calculus. Pass all your kids and you keep your job. Everyone's happy, at least until Johnny gets to college or has to compete in the world marketplace. Protect your teachers and make the kids responsible for their bad behavior. See point 1 above. When a teacher is unprofessional, convene a hearing board and censure the educator just like the American Bar Association does with lawyers (see point 4 below).

3) Local tax support of schools is inequitable, plain and simple. Poor districts turn out poor students more often than rich districts. The idea is "no taxation without representation" not "all of our dollars stay here". The higher ed system in the US works because everyone in the state bears the cost of educating the students. In two-year college systems, those that run the best (California, New York, Georgia, Florida) are state supported, not local control. It's time that every kid got the same education.

4) Make teaching a profession rather than a sideline or a hobby. Require licensure and review of teachers. Put educators on twelve month contracts with year-round duties. Require advance degrees. Pay teachers like professionals. Look at the professions like law, medicine and engineereing and move education in the same direction. Starting pay should be $75,000 for a person with a Master's degree on a year-round gig. Ten months in the classroom, two months doing serious professional growth and development activities such as taking a college course, workign in a related job field or working on a strong curriculum development team. A lot can be paid for by discontinuing the external feeds into the schools via TV programming and paid consultants. Colleges do a lot with their professionally trained staff, so can your schools.

5) Create programs where kids give back to their communities either through existing civic organizations such as Boy Scouts or 4-H or those school based programs. Teach the kids to be good citizens.

6) Return physical education to all schools. We are teaching kids to live lives that are unbalanced; stop it.

7) All administrators have to have been teachers at the level they administer for at least five years. No more ed. admin. majors who spent one semester in a Kindergarten class running the local high school.

8) Give up the "No Child Left Behind" mantra. Kids are going to drop out for reasons beyond the school system's control. Instead of dumbing down the curriculum for everyone else just to keep some kids in school, let the students and their families who think they know better leave the system. Just be sure to provide an avenue for them to return when they find out that those who stayed in got the better jobs.

I hope this provides some insight into how to win your election. Should you get elected by using this advice I expect a cushy staffer position with afternoons off for long bike rides, I mean, brainstorming sessions.

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