I spent yesterday guest-lecturing at a reputable education school about the role of the federal government in education. These last-semester teaching candidates appeared bright and interested, yet I walked away feeling as if they knew far too little about the policy issues surrounding the profession they were about to enter. To be fair, I probably delved more deeply into the nuances of the ed policy landscape than their limited experience warranted. But about a quarter of the way into the talk, the professor politely interrupted me to ask the class if anyone knew who Arne Duncan was (whose name I had already mentioned several times at this point). None of the 84 pairs of hands in the auditorium went up. Cat or shyness got their tongue? Maybe. But blank stares abounded.
Now, I completely understand that these individuals are going to be classroom teachers--not the next generation of education policy wonks--but something about their unawareness illustrated a larger problem inherent in the teacher/policy divide. And that's this: Teachers often complain that policymakers are out of touch with what's happening in classrooms and they thrust upon them all manner of ridiculous federal, state, and local education statute. However, many teachers willingly check out of the policy debate. Then they claim they don't have a voice (or choose to have their voices represented by the status quo). But the truth is some don't follow even the most fundamental events and happenings in the ed policy sphere (with the exception of our loyal Flypaper teachers, of course). Like many citizens, they claim they have little time or interest in keeping up with "politics."
Of course we're all time-strapped. But I'd counter that educators (including future ones) should get to know a little about the man now charged with overseeing the spending of an estimated $100 billion dollars (!) for public education.
Starting with his name.
