Rhee-hauling Public Education System

YVONNE LEE
Editor in Chief

In these tough times, the only thing that seems as bleak as our country’s financial situation is our public education system as a whole. The United States spends more per student than most developed countries, so it seems a bit puzzling that students in the US lag behind their foreign peers. Internationally, our fifteen year-olds rank 24th in science and 25th in math. Oh, and that’s out of 30.
Clearly, there is something amiss with our education system; at this point, it doesn’t need to be prettied up with “initiatives” with inspiring names like No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top. Nor can it be solved by just throwing more money at it, which seems like the best solution to everything in this country. Perhaps to really resolve this issue, the system needs to be drastically altered, even completely overhauled. You can’t expect a tree to blossom when its roots are rotten.
Michelle Rhee hails from our nation’s capital where the biggest budget allocated to students (about $15,000) results in some of the lowest scores in the country and as Chancellor of Washington DC’s Public Schools, she has sought to radically change the face of public education in her district. Since becoming Chancellor, Rhee has fired more than 241 educators in an effort to dispose of “incapable” teachers. She attributes the problem to the lack of talented teachers and in order to encourage those “more qualified” candidates to come into a notoriously under-appreciated profession, she has proposed high paying salaries up to $140,000 a year.
Although the hefty paycheck would serve to attract good teachers, it would also attract those just seeking a good paying job. Teachers these days become educators because they enjoy connecting to students and providing them with an education. It certainly is not a job for the soul-less or dispassionate; teachers do not become teachers for the big bucks. If Rhee’s proposition is widely adopted that may not be true in a few years.
Despite the six-figure paycheck, Rhee’s proposal does not offer teachers tenure, certain benefits and stability guaranteed to teachers who have been with a school for a long period of time. Her teacher evaluation system, IMPACT would also hold more teachers accountable for student performance.
However, teachers simply cannot be evaluated on test scores alone. There are too many uncontrollable factors that affect student performance, including lack of parental support, difficult home environments, learning disabilities, or maybe just apathy. While Rhee’s no nonsense attitude is admirable and her approach hailed as revolutionary, one can’t help but imagine the potentially terrifying consequences if her proposal was widely adopted. More than ever, teachers would try to cater to the test, they would literally, have more to lose. While Rhee’s good intentions are obvious, placing even more emphasis on test scores and firing hundreds of educators does not seem to be a step in the right direction.
As this story was making it’s way to print, political tensions concerning Rhee’s appointer Mayor Fenty’s defeat in the Democratic primary led to Rhee’s resignation. Since she has been Chancellor for only five years, the effects of her actions haven’t been felt yet. Future test scores will speak for themselves. Despite her rather sudden departure there isn’t a chance Rhee will be keeping a low profile especially since she has instigated such radical changes in education.