Wow, a lot of experts on education here. There are a lot of myths out there about (U.S. K12) education, such as all these "bad teachers" that we can't ever fir

Wow, a lot of experts on education here. There are a lot of myths out there about (U.S. K12) education, such as all these "bad teachers" that we can't ever fire because of tenure, and how awful U.S. education is compared to other countries or compared to the U.S. in the 50s and 60s, and how charter schools or vouchers will solve all education's problems. There is actual data and research out there on all this, buried under all this opinion. Did you know for example that tenured teachers are twice as likely to lose their job as non-tenured teachers? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/teachers/the-myth-of-teacher-tenure.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/teachers/the-m... There is also a history behind all this. Before teacher tenure, teachers were regularly fired on the whim of principals or because of getting pregnant. See for example "Why Teacher Unions Are Good for Teachers—and the Public" http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/winter0607/ravitch.cfm http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/winter0607/ravitc... And see the book "50 Myths & Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/18/50-terrible-ideas-for-improving-schools/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/... As the authors state: "The mythical failure of public education has been created and perpetuated in large part by political and economic interests that stand to gain from the destruction of the traditional system." Once you get past the myths, I'd recommend doing a little reading on how people actually learn (it's not just dumping information on empty brains). See for example the book How People Learn (free, pdf): http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368 http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309070368 Or for the more impatient, watch this beginning of this video Minds of Our Own: http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html Or this even shorter video on the counter-intuitive nature of how people learn from videos (criticizing the Khan Academy videos): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVtCO84MDj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVtCO84MDj8 Teaching is an incredibly difficult job, because learning is incredibly complex. A single phrase or gesture can have an enormous positive or negative influence on learning. If you tried spending even one hour in a typical K12 classroom, most likely you'd be eaten alive. It may not seem like many K12 teachers are getting fired, partly because most teachers quit within 5 years.