that they don't agree with "mistakes".

Like this guy who is so brilliant, and who has all the resources in the world, doesn't check out who he appoints.

you are so right msongs.

Same with Vilsack, sec Agriculture,
same with Treasury appointments

That when faced with the choices of picking anyone he wanted, he chose the (mostly) right leaning, corporatists hacks that he did, all the apologists can barely muster anything beyond the usual "And who would Romney or McCain have picked?!?!"

And don't forget his original chief of staff Mr. Anti-Teachers/Anti-Union Rahm Emmanuel.

(I missed being tied for valedictorian by stupidly taking an optional typewriting class and getting a 'C') and I was at best a mediocre teacher during the time I taught low level college intro stuff as a grad student. 'Top student' doesn't transfer into 'top teacher' unless you actually get solid pedagogical instruction in being a teacher, as well, of course, as having the desire to help people learn how to learn. I had the desire, but no formal classes in education until, bizarrely, my much later BSN, which required a course on nursing education.

I was a "top student" in HS and college. It took me years to develop the skills required to be an effective teacher, however! I was still working on it even the year I retired.

If they think they can crank out perfect little teaching robots, they are so wrong.

Just like they clearly MADE him pick Arne Duncan to be in charge of Education.

Right? I mean any and all of his shitty decisions and opinions HAVE to be because Republicans made him, right?

I have sharp disagreements with Arne Duncan and with Barack Obama over education policy. But the sensationalist headline, "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BLAMES TEACHERS FOR A FAILED EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM" -- grossly distorts the true fundamental arguments over public education in the United States.

I believe there is value in "training" educators -- where "training" refers to having teachers complete a university level course of study in the art and science of education. I believe that teaching is a demanding profession and that professional educators deserve the same respect we afford to other highly-skilled professionals.

Teachers are treated like shit in school systems all over the country. They're treated more and more like hourly production workers and less and less like skilled professionals. School administrators continuously pile on more and more demands while reducing resources and the time available for teachers to focus on the primary task of educating students.

Quality education is time-consuming and expensive. I have occasionally had to prepare training sessions for certain technical subjects. It's not easy. Preparing for a half-day training takes me at least a full day of preparation.

Teachers are burdened ever more with unnecessary requirements for evaluation and testing. I blame NCLB but I also blame Arne Duncan -- who seems to essentially embrace the "free-market" ideology behind NCLB.

but I DO know that merely being competent in the subject one is required to teach is a far cry from one being an effective teacher. Teachers don't teach subjects, we teach students...and there's a HUGE different between the two.

IMHO, that's one of the things that's been wrong all along...too many teachers who in fact may know their subject matter but very little about how to impart that matter in meaningful, authentic, and adaptive ways so that students of various ability levels can be successful.

Yes, teachers absolutely do need to be competent in their subject matter but they also need training...in many areas..such as behavioral sciences, child psychology, classroom management, just to name a few. Training does not, nor has it ever, devalued teachers. It is simply a way to improve one's performance by increasing his/her skill level. Training for teachers is not the same as training for dogs and to compare one with the other could certainly be considered as a devaluation of teachers and the role they have in the future of our children.

Our students are rapidly changing due to many cultural and environmental influences...social issues, economic variants, technological advances. Teachers must keep up the pace and change with the student population in order to be successful and that requires ongoing training.

Will Obama trained teachers have better success rates than current teachers do? We'll have to see. But my guess is that as advances in education occur with each generation of teachers, we'll see more and more success.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/do-teachers-really-come-from-the-bottom-third-of-college-graduates/2011/12/07/gIQAg8HPdO_blog.html

Reasonable results, even if a bit schizophrenic. It looks at the claim, all the while saying that the claim, true or not, is really quite meaningless. (If it's meaningless, why spend most of the article dealing with it? Show it's irrelevant and move on.)

I'll stop there before I launch into a screed against poorly trained and irresponsible teachers.