Hillary Clinton Shows How We’ve Changed The Way We Talk About Teachers

[riversedge]

ThinkProgress ?@thinkprogress 14h14 hours ago

Hillary Clinton’s revolutionary promise to lift up the teaching profession
Great article. Sounds a lot like how Finland respects teachers--.


Education
Hillary Clinton Shows How We’ve Changed The Way We Talk About Teachers

by Casey Quinlan May 16, 2016 8:00 am

CREDIT: Cheryl Senter, AP




Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton at the NHDP annual Jefferson Jackson dinner in Manchester, N.H., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015.

During a speech for New York State United Teachers last month, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did more than offer a few vague platitudes about the selflessness of teachers. She vowed to launch a “national campaign” to improve the teaching profession.

“One of my main goals as president will be to launch a national campaign to modernize and elevate the profession of teaching. To reach out to encourage more talented young people to become teachers. To reach out and encourage more talented mid-career professionals to do the same,” Clinton said.

So far, Clinton’s statements on education have been fairly limited, in part thanks to the very few education-specific questions she has been asked during the Democratic debates. We do know that she has been supportive of Common Core state standards, saying they allow states to “organize your entire school system,” though she also advocates for “better and fewer tests,” called New York’s rollout of the standards “disastrous,” and said those tests shouldn’t be tied to New York teacher evaluations, according to an interview with Newsday. When it comes to early childhood education, Clinton has introduced a universal pre-K plan.

But her interest in bolstering the teaching profession by urging that states work on increasing teacher pay, improving recruitment, and provide more funding for public schools is the part of her education platform that represents a bigger change in how Democrats talk about teachers.


How we talk about teachers — and how it’s changing

Some of Clinton’s critics on the both the right and left have argued that the American Federation of Teachers endorsed her too early in the presidential campaign and it’s important to remember that not all teachers support Clinton.

But it’s important to recognize that, up until recently, Republicans and Democrats were taking a similar tone when talking about teachers. Instead of advocating for placing more trust in teachers, giving them more autonomy, paying them better salaries, and minimizing the extent to which test scores are tied to teacher evaluations, politicians were focused on holding teachers “accountable” — and that conversation rarely acknowledged the few resources teachers were provided in struggling public schools.

In the past few years, both Democratic and Republican politicians have been engaged in heated battles with teachers unions over issues like tying teacher evaluations to test scores. .......................

[Cha]

1. K&R.. Mahalo, rivers~

[riversedge]

4. Hi--

I am going to work in garden soon. It has been cold and rainy here--too much mud. Later I hope we all have good news from KY and Oregon. I really do not have hopes for OR. just my gut talking.

[Cha]

5. I don't count anything until everything is hatched.. I'm just grateful she's

already won.. so we don't have to worry about that.

But, it would be nice for her to make her goal sooner than later!

Have fun in the garden~

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Hillary has always been strong on education. She made many changes to the educational

system while she was First Lady of Arkansas. See the link below for some of her accomplishments:

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Hillary_Clinton_Education.htm

[riversedge]

3. Yes,--she has. Thanks for link to her website on education.

Have to admit that I have not read it in a while.

[SunSeeker]

6. Teachers, the vast majority of whom are women, know Hillary is their champion.

I believe a big reason school teachers are disrespected is because they are predominantly women, and women in this country still do not have equal standing with men.