Teacher Power Can Be the Force for Education. What Would That Look Like?

The current “system” of education does not work for the majority of students. The situation is worsening, battered by the pandemic that exposed the inner weakness of a structure and culture that does not support well-being and learning in the world in which we live. Many teachers are leaving the profession, or not showing up in the first place. Those teachers that remain are retreating to the one thing they can partially control—surviving as best they can behind the classroom door.

Our contention is that the centrality of teachers to the learning of all students has never been cultivated as a system quality. From the age of philosophers and tutors 2,500 years ago, through the one-room schoolhouses of the 1800 and 1900 hundreds, to the modern schools of today, teachers have been born to be alone with their students. Genetically and culturally, evolution has handed teachers a mixed message: Collaboration is good, but at the end of the day, you are on your own. Individualism is always the fallback.

Please help put parents in charge of their child’s education by forwarding this article to other parents, family, friends and voters.