Policymakers must heed teachers' views

Surreal! That seems to best describe Utah's education environment today. There are two different worlds playing out daily in schools — the policymakers' and that of the students. And there is a difference between the Legislature and the front-line teachers as to how to improve education.

Politicians seem unable to see that the world has changed exponentially and content to make incremental changes critical in educating students for the ever-changing world they will face. Politicians appear to listen to the professionals running the system rather than the teachers who care about creating an environment where learning can take place. They don't seem to see what is going on in today's schools.

Walk into many of today's classrooms and see that disconnect in real time: A teacher at the front of the class teaching the state-required "one size fits all" curriculum, in a crowded classroom, backpacks on the floor blocking the aisles, fingernails being filed, hair combed, paper wads being thrown and kids bugging the teacher and each other for attention and/or simply trying to keep the neurons from becoming atrophied.

There is a wide disparity in the schools that school policymakers attended designed for their era, and the era of today's children — a fast-changing world driven by technology, information and demographics. Now children come with skills honed on technology and the Internet and are able to access information; yet the schools relegate them to 15-pound textbooks that are outdated before they are published. They come overstimulated by the fast-paced world they live in and are then forced to sit still through irrelevant lessons the policymakers require. They spend time in the world of text messaging in order to escape from a stifling environment.

Politicians ought to listen to what the teachers think is needed to improve education. For starters, they want smaller class sizes and an environment that gives them the opportunity to do the most important thing: challenge and motivate students to learn. One wrote that after 30 years of teaching he has "...discouraged ... nieces and nephews from taking up the career. What a shame when there is so much possible with all these young minds." Another wrote that her school had a student teacher quit halfway through, frustrated because the students wouldn't work; phoning parents resulted in getting an earful, and the principal made little effort to back her up.

The following year, the school had an opening so they phoned her "...to see if she wouldn't try again at our school." The reply: "Thank you, if I ever came back it would be there, but never. I have a job now with great opportunities to grow and a great working environment."