Who Will Win this Game: Politics or Education?

    It’s late in the 4^th quarter of the football game with less than two minutes to play, the score is tied, the opponents are anxiously waiting for the play to continue. The players in the trenches are ready. They have fought a hard battle thus far; bruised and battered, they are physically exhausted. They wipe the dirt and sweat from their eyes as the ball is hiked, amid the grunts and helmet hitting sounds, in a fraction of a second the referee’s whistle blows and a penalty is called! Both sides begin the finger pointing and trash talking, each blaming the other side for the penalty. The result of the call shocks them  both sides have been found guilty of the same infraction, “unsportsmanlike conduct!” The players in this game are the Politicians versus the Educators. Are both sides guilty of acting in a way that discourages progress in fixing the problems of public education? I will analyze this game being played to bring your attention to the real issues. The polticians control the purse strings and make the laws. However, is the tide changing? Moreover why? I will make an attempt in this book to be as objective as possible when presenting both sides playing in this game. I will become the color commentator for this game. It will be difficult for me considering I am a former classroom teacher who has experienced the failures of the system; I will try. In my first book, “My Life as a Public School Teacher: Leave No Teacher Behind”, I define the current system that is in place as a set of procedures, performed by individuals to thwart the success of the individual. Rules and regulations that leave no room for human connections and disregards the effects it has made upon the lives of people! The politicians have won the “money issue” part of this game but they are losing the “humanistic side”; I define the humanistic side as the education of our children, as well as the professional lives of our public school teachers and support personnel, the parents and caring administrators. Whenever I have listened to politicians speak about education, most are trash talking it!Whenever I listen to educators, they place blame on the federal and state governments for the lack of adequate funding for education. On the one hand, the politicians empathize with education and acknowledge the need to raise teacher’s salaries; on the other hand, they constantly lambaste the educational system!

    Which is it? This is what concerns me the about politics. The politicians are always talking out of the side of their mouths! That is why I question their “motives” for saying such negative things. I also question those school officials who are the “yes men and women” for the politicians. The same school officials agree with the politicians when they are face to face but, behind their backs it becomes a different story! At least I have guts to tell it like it is!  How else will change occur and improvements be made if the truth is not told? In this book, I tell the truth. That is my nature because I have a difficult time sugar coating important issues. I will write about these issues from the perspective of the major players in this game: the classroom teachers and support personnel. They are the players on the frontline of this game! Their voices are rarely ever heard and they are in the trenches battling every day and most feel, that to complain is an act of futility! They feel that no one will listen anyway and things will never change. I feel the tide is changing, out of necessity, panic and fear! Why?  Because the legislature is making a desperate attempt to find qualified teachers and support personnel to fill the nation’s classrooms and the panic button has been pushed. Our colleges and universities have been reporting a drop in enrollments in schools of education and teaching has been on the decline for many years. The nation is “panicking” because teacher shortages are becoming widespread, support personnel are leaving the profession for better paying jobs and less stress, and the nation is concerned that the public schools are not equipping our young people with the essential skills that are needed to compete in the global marketplace!

    I am using a football analogy to represent this game being played between education and politics, because of my interest in the game of football and in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in particular; more importantly, it is a game, a stratagem used by politicians to manipulate an issue or sometimes cover the truth. The competition is intense, each trying to get that winning edge. Yet who suffers as the game is being played: the children, the teachers, the support staff, parents and caring administrators? You know the answer. The real questions to consider are, will there ever be a solution to the on-going problems. What can we do about it? Will there ever be closure? Who will ultimately win the game? Stay tuned.