Teachers Have Terrible Incentives

A majority of the teachers I've had have been pontificating, self-absorbed, and impervious to change- both in their curriculum and tolerance for new ideas. CNN posted an article today relaying school-improvement advice from top teachers but there was one quote that caught my eye:

"Two minds together can be more successful than one, says Zanetta Robinson, a Florida middle school English teacher.

This tells me that some of the shortcomings of many school systems arent necessarily effort or funding, but coordination problems. A quick learner on the football field who struggles in English may not get the proper diagnosis and attention to treatment for years while bad habits and apathy set in. Ultimately, public schools are due for a business model paradigm shift which ultimately means more private institutions need to step up. They are better equipped to handle the experimentation burden needed to discover best practices for educating in the 21st century.

Education reformed into an all-you-can-eat buffet

Since it may be years or even decades before our public school system evolves into a more autonomous, privatized operation, expanding elective choices for middle and high school students may be a stopgap in our sinking education system. More exposure for kids to find subjects they love and are good at seems like the most likely response to a society that changes so rapidly that the top jobs in the next 5 years dont even exist yet. That, and tell the government to stop wasting money.