BAD TEACHER! How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture

Abstract

Is it the "evil" handiwork of the "noisy," mainstream media that fails or proves unable to get to the bottom of the problems steering our public education sector on the face? Surely the blame game affecting the public school sector and its performance varies; it depends on the country in focus. Was it not the Civil Rights Movement which provided fertile ground for the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education?

BAD TEACHER! How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture, by Kevin K. Kumashiro. New York: Teachers College Press, 2012, 104 pp., $14.93, paperback.

Ours is certainly a bad time for the public school system globally. "Who are those culpable for the abysmal failure of students in schools?" It is the oft-repeated question in discussion circles. Wait a minute; the world is inundated with a concocted answer, that, "Teachers are responsible for students' failure in schools." Is it the "evil" handiwork of the "noisy," mainstream media that fails or proves unable to get to the bottom of the problems steering our public education sector on the face? Or, can it be the refusal, to put it mildly, of various public officers and other elected officials to see the root cause and genesis of the crises affecting schools in our countries (Edet, 2013, p. 10). Does it help to put the blame squarely on the doorsteps of public teachers, at least not even exempting those who, the society has proven and tested, and are sincerely battling to salvage the perceived situation?

Years ago when I was teaching, before opting out of this "terrible" profession teachers rarely had a unified voice to push forward their agendas no matter how plausible, for fear they might be held by those who see them in contempt. (Ironically the general public also was part and parcel of the hands which pointed blame on teachers, and make no mistake; it is still a part in the blame game today!) Most of teachers hardly regard the "profession" as a profession because of the treatment meted out to them. When students do not perform well in schools it is the teachers who are hammered, "for failing to teach very well." Yet when it is a time to reform education (or for instance, bring in new textbooks or a teacher guide, and so forth, for use in schools) hardly do you see teachers consulted ahead by those who claim to speak on behalf of public schools. Surely the blame game affecting the public school sector and its performance varies; it depends on the country in focus. But generally what Kevin K. Kumashiro's thought-provoking book, BAD TEACHER! How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture seeks to provide readers with is a rare glimpse into the contemporary predicament of public education in America. By extension these same findings can apply to many countries; including ironically the democratic countries the world so cherished in the dawn of this century which is acclaimed to be the Age of Science and Technology.

In any determined, meaningful society students no doubt are the leaders of tomorrow and the school system is the catalyst or back with which they ride on to become leaders. The teachers' good reward is to see students passing tests which are being offered to them. But schooling has been narrowly defined to the axis of competition and nothing more. Kumashiro opens up with a fact that "politicians and pundits today seem to be unable to talk about educational reform in terms other than competitions" among and between students even though no society "really wants any of them to lose" (P-3).

This is the crux of the matter. What really is happening? Society tends to manipulate the rules and hence the reasons why the question of, 'who made the rules?' is not directed at the appropriate place. Many things are shrouded in our societies with secrecy including public policies that ought to be plain in the spirit of democracy but others are taking advantage. No one seems to care, what truly is occurring as 'consciousness' is shaped toward predesigned interest, remotely of a certain section of the society in which we live. This is precisely what is happening today with public education, according to Kumashiro. Calls are being made to reform public education along the line of 'higher test scores' which nowadays is the only alternative learning yardstick. The argument has been carried further as the author asserts as those who merit incentives in schools should be the teacher who 'raise their students' scores' and all the bad ones should be 'fired.' Yes, to the disdain of all they kept repeating, "Teachers should be fired!"

This leads to the problem associated with reliance on 'standardized tests' since the very aims of public education have been whittled down. In democracies, it is the idea of the founding fathers that provides precedent. In essence the learning environment should be given a free hand to do what is right and in the best interest of the majority. Kumashiro states that 'students learn more' in this context. So whose idea is the need to narrow the curriculum? Definitely, not the interest of the majority in America, since the author asserts that "current reforms are making even more substantial the differences between schools for the elite and schools for all others" (p. 10). The venture has been hijacked. It is difficult to identify those who decisively want genuine reform or desirous to address the malady in our schools. The perspective is to just put it to the teachers 'for all that is wrong' with public schools. If a question is to be asked here and Kumashiro has been helpful: why is it then that "dialogue on public education tends to focus on the schools for other people's children?" (p. 11). It is like the author is reminding readers of the age of segregation and double edge policies, albeit coming in different a color now, which hover on the heads of the same 'free' citizens.

Kumashiro draws attention to what he refers to as the 'venture philanthropies,' that are trying out such reforms the people cannot query. To achieve this they felt unions of teachers had to be silenced or made irrelevant so that the biggest roof on top of the teachers has to be removed, bared. Have they succeeded? Yes, this is what Kumashiro affirms in his book. This is the new 'common sense' in education; this is what pitifully many people take to be what 'real' schools look like.

The author moves on to what I will call the pitfalls of generalization; and, it brings us to the same issue again, of common sense. The teachers who are painstakingly working hard, amidst challenges and other systematic brick walls put in their path, to bring the best in American schools and elsewhere have been all lumped in together as 'bad'. It is the ongoing 'frame' and when those who change thinking pattern wants to succeed in a given scenario they narrow choices repeatedly and the propaganda fits in well with the people's psyche.

All that is happening is not by coincidence. Kumashiro reviews the narratives which assisted perfectly in installing clog in the wheels of public education since the beginning of the 1980s. Fail to see it as an interest group on the move and a person with such a view is doomed already. The author's analysis of the aftermath of September 11 vis-à-vis education reform which followed suit and all other restructuring efforts in the globalized world provides, in the author's observation, the best connection. 'A climate of fear was orchestrated,' adds Kumashiro (p. 25). Though despite this the 'world later learned that the Bush administration misled the public about the reasons to go to war, and with whom, and where' (p. 26). In fear much could be accomplished; and it works. I don't think any person will disagree with Kumashiro as it would not have been possible to carry on with the 'current reforms.' Critics may argue that must people fear everything and where is such fear?

Well, the climate of fear whether as Americans or not is with us right now. Ordinarily people would like to go back to basics from a 'failing educational system.' The other side of the coin, however is that 'by sticking to scripted curriculum' hands will be tight to release funding to revive the system but paves way for the same apostles of reform to create avenues for profit through the purchase of 'textbooks, worksheets, teacher guides, and other materials' as only certain ways are proven to be workable still with the absence of genuine logical research (p. 28); while the people remain shivering inside their cloaks as a result of the induced fear. This is what Kumashiro would like his readers to accept, and the clever reformers go to sleep in their homes with fat bank accounts. This is to the advantage of other groups in the larger society. Other have written courageously on how establishments are 'profiting from crisis and fear' (p. 29) and how disasters have been turned around as "exciting market opportunities." To cite an example, the public schools in New Orleans "were replaced as charter schools; an immediate effect after Katrina" (Klein, 2007, p. 6). So it is no surprise that individuals do not today question things or see the bigger picture as Kumashiro admonishes.

In an interview Kumashiro says that in the United States of America "public education is now a $500 to $600 billion enterprise" (Long, 2012). Public education gets large shares in nations' budgets even though some leaders, as education analysts in Africa are quoted saying, only seek to use high budget figures allocated to education to show to their citizens how much they care about their development. The author brings it in broader perspectives that only education "reflects and shapes our very ways of making sense of who we are and the world in which we live" (see web-link). The same is said by Kumashiro to be the rationale behind 'Indian boarding schools' in order to bring the natives closer to American democracy as if they and other racially disadvantaged citizens are not Americans already. (No wonder in Africa the French used an assimilation policy to integrate the natives to their ways.)

Unfortunately, "conservatives historically and neoconservatives have joined the call for curriculum standards" and countries have joined also in the bandwagon (p. 36). Public education around the world is battling, not only in America where Kumashiro centers the bulk of his argument, to salvage what remains of it, from faculties which are being confronted to seek funding elsewhere, to 'entire fields of study' often criticized for teaching students to critique foreign policies to the dislike of its promoters, education is getting it too bad for being contrary to the concept of free market economy. The author then criticizes those who say that "school systems will improve when structured like a marketplace" (p. 37). This reminds me of university unit in the UK currently fighting to stay afloat as it is threatened to be closed down for 'irrelevance.'

Such, of course, is the ideology of the neoliberals which is guiding educational reform as Kumashiro strongly declares. The easiest way to do so is through policies that reduce government regulation and it has to be through 'privatization of public services,' including public education "created worldwide by the International Monetary Fund, United States Treasury, World Bank, and World Trade Organization" (p. 38). One thing leads to another. It is the bane of the disastrous world in perpetual fear of the unknown. In a sense, education reform leads to economic reform and this has been used to shackle nations suffering from financial woes to either quickly get reformed or be cursed. The author discloses how this is done: "financial aid is tied to educational reform, when countries agree or are forced to deregulate their education sector, which narrowly and misleadingly kept defining the problems" (p. 43).

Kumashiro fùrther articulates the problem, of the 'fast track programs' purported to bypass the 'traditional route' in producing qualified teachers (p. 48). This is possibly the final death knell for public education and one of the best points of view put by the author to those who care. 'Why are Americans so compelled,' asks Kumashiro, 'to buy into these proposals?' (p. 59). It is by the way not an American problem as Kumashiro would like readers to believe; for, copycats are everywhere, in Africa and on many other continents.

The irony is "certain reforms are allowing certain individuals with neither scholarly nor practical expertise in education to exert significant influence over educational policy for communities and children other than their own" (p. 61 ). By implication when America falters or sneezes other countries cough or even fall ill. From a distance the affairs of the people are being planned by others. Arguably philanthropy is good but when it is connected to 'corporate practice' it naturally would become 'bad' as Kumashiro explains. It, in fact, extends to 'anti-social welfare' because of the 'funding priorities' linked to it. Education as the victim will ordinarily dance to the tune of the corporate interest. The danger is seen more by the author through the prism of dishing out to the public, 'cadre of students' coupled with a "generations of scholars in research that makes conservative ideology accessible, among others" (p. 65). Above all, the last bastion of basic welfare, public education will be gone, off the people's track and accessibility thereby widening the social gap. So it is met with budget cuts and all other fiscal policy realignments going on.

To some, there is good in present day 'vocal' philanthropy. Why would the likes of Kumashiro then be scornful toward it? But "he who pays the piper", wise men say, "dictates the tune." As a common knowledge, it pays the "landscape of philanthropy to give back" to the community (p. 69). Even here Kumashiro dismisses it out rightly. Intended as it is, these so-called philanthropies only mean good to and for themselves, as they "directly and substantially impact public policy be it during the time of the Republicans or Democrats" (p. 70).

Kumashiro points again that "America's children are in dire need of leaders who can see the bigger picture and see beyond the dominant frames to find viable alternatives" (p. 77). This is where my view differs with Kumashiro. How do we feel safe if there are injustices in any part of the world? It is the children of the world that are in dire need of good leaders. To use the logic of Martin Luther King, injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

BAD TEACHER! comes down to where reforms are leading schools in America. How is the American [and the global] public school system going to be reclaimed? Is it that easy to reclaim public education? Kumashiro offers candid suggestions not far from the reach of serious citizens. He opines that the current state should be the rule rather than the exception. The author concludes that there is need to articulate 'a better vision.' To him, more importantly "advocates of public education must react to issues collectively and hence the necessity to build a broader movement for educational reform" (p. 84). Not yet done, Kumashiro stresses the need to organize a 'movement' through identifying honest allies from among the people. It is not however excusable or enough whether or not "elected leaders are constrained by the very structures of law-making and political life" (p. 85). To cynics, such 'piecemeal revisionism' will not change the situation. We, the people, know otherwise. History is a good teacher. Was it not the Civil Rights Movement which provided fertile ground for the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education? Far from the shores of America other continents are still seeing the influences of the hard work of those who laid down their lives for others to be truly free. Beyond a doubt, when public consciousness is raised seeing the bigger will be easier; no one can stop change. The hurdle always seems overwhelming as the author himself confesses "but let people start somewhere"; he emphasizes (p. 89).

Kumashiro indisputably presents to America and the world a frank glimpse of the crises in the public education. Every page of the book contains extraordinary analysis. BAD TEACHER! is, simply put, a book that must be read by all those who are concerned with the fate of children globally. It is a convincing study for all and in my assessment an honest book, with a universal appeal, which exposes the political manipulation in which we live.

References

References

Edet, B. (2013, March 2). Tales of ghost, unqualified teachers in Nigerian public schools. Weekly Trust, p. 10. Retrieved from http://weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view= article&id= 11790:efcc-grants-administrative-bail-to-imogovtofficials&catid=41 :news &Itemid=30 (There has been a barrage of criticisms against teachers in Nigeria in recent years due to massive failure witnessed among students of secondary schools as indicated by both the West African Examination Council and National Examination Council-two bodies examining students to be admitted into universities and other tertiary institutions of learning. "Ghost" in the story's title refers to non-existing teachers whose names are on the payrolls of various governments as discovered by states after verification exercises conducted)

Emergency rescue for primary education. (2013, March 1). [Editorial], Daily Trust, p. 72. Retrieved from http://allafrica.com/stories/201303020124.html (I felt the need to cite part of the editorial as it bedevils public education. It reads: "The pathetic state ofNigeria's education sector was painfully illustrated with the dismal performance of 1,300 Kaduna State teachers at a simple test. The teachers failed the test meant for pupils of primary four. It was a shocking eye-opener.")

Klein, N. (2007). The Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. New York: Picador.

Long, C. (2012, November 26). How blaming teachers short changes students. The National Education Today. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2012/! 1/26/stop-blaming-teachers/