Firing bad teachers good for students...

[avatar4321]

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/16717129.htm

What a concept. Seriously, who would have ever thought that a liberal like Steve Jobs would finally understand what us conservatives have been saying for decades: that firing bad teachers is good for the educational system.

[Hobbit]

I fully agree with that, and that's not the only thing. On the other side, the government has told you that all people possess the capacity to become rocket scientists, and the only reason there are any non-geniuses is a lack of education. In reality, there are bad students. You can't make bad students into geniuses. Comparing this to businesses, this would be like trying to build a house with balsa wood. Sure, the pieces of oak work out ok, but the whole house suffers because of the inclusion of shoddy materials, and it's especially idiotic when there's a perfectly good use for that wood. In the case of schools, the 'balsa wood' students could make excellent carpenters, electricians, or masons if the school counselors would explain to them that college isn't the only option for success.

But back to the tenure thing, John Stossel once made a flow chart of what it takes to fire a teacher in New York. The chart took four pages, and about 75% of the points on the chart had a "start again from scratch if..." clause. If the whole process goes smoothely, and you never have to start again from scratch, it takes 2 years.

[Abbey Marie]

Looks like Michael Dell is still drinking the Kool-Aid.