Thursday, April 14, 2011

It's for the children, except when it's not

The Tulsa World reported this week on the results of a survey taken by Tulsa teachers (and some principals and certified staff members).

There's nothing wrong with surveying teachers, of course, but did TPS also survey parents? I know TPS is planning to hold some public forums to solicit feedback from parents, which is good. But I'm wondering if TPS plans to survey parents in the same way they surveyed teachers. If anyone knows please leave a comment.

To me the most striking result of the survey was the response to this question: "Would you be willing to close your current school and move with your students to combine with another school if students had greater access to better educational opportunities?" One would hope nearly 100 percent of teachers would answer in the affirmative, what with education being "for the children" and all. Sadly, only 33 percent said yes, and 38 percent said it depends. And -- God bless them for their candor -- a full one in five just flat said no.

I don't mind telling you, there are many reasons my children are taught at home by their mother and me. But the primary reason is that, as a very wise man once said in another context, the hireling doesn't care for the sheep like the shepherd does.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

We were given surveys but they have not announced the results. The public forum's are getting rather heated as everyone battles to keep "their" school open. Dr. Ballard has stated that he believes the problem is the open transfer policy that Tulsa has. (can you say Anti-school choice). They are actually targeting schools that have too many "transfers in" cause they claim the neighborhood doesn't need them anymore. Regardless of the fact hundreds of kids parents choose to go to a certain school and provide transportation to that school. Dr. Ballard even changed the motto of the school district from "The district of choice" to "excellance and high expectations".