Teachers are the best indicator.....blah, blah, blah

I just heard it again on NPR in a Beth Fertig report:

Someone she was interviewing said, "Teachers are the best indicator of whether a child will succeed or fail." No follow-up or questioning of whether there is any basis to this claim, other than the usual, "research shows." What research shows? I bet my pension that whatever research that shows Teachers are the best indicator of whether a child will succeed or fail can be countered by just as much research that shows that socio-economics is the best indicator of whether a child will succeed or fail. I guess I wasted my 15 minute conversation with Fertig last week trying to point out just how ridiculous this statement is.

Should we measure the success or the failure of the current state of investigative education reporting based on the quality of the individual reporters? I've heard plenty of excuses from reporters that there are staff cuts and the papers don't support investigative reporting.

Try this one out and fill in the blanks:

[Policemen, soldiers, doctors, lawyers, add your own] are the best indicators of whether a [crime victim, war, patient, defendant, add your own] will succeed or fail.

By the way, have you seen the stories on the Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was, aside from everything else, considered an incompetent doctor. He supposedly saw an average of one patient a week and his supervisors discussed how to get rid of him but did nothing because, as one supposedly said, "You know how hard it is to get rid of a doctor."

So where's the race to the top in the health care debate about removing bad doctors? It all goes to show that the blame the teacher mentality is all part of THE PLAN also [Obama Supports Demise of Public Option in Education] to undermine public education.

If you clicked on the link above to my posting on THE PLAN, make sure to go to Perimeter Primate's great post.