Since the Los Angeles Times story on evaluating teachers by test scores came out earlier this month, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, instead of repudiating putting these kinds of inaccurate assessments online, has been supporting it. In his stump speech, which he’s given a few times and published today in The New York Daily News, after he says why it’s good he immediately launches into what I think is a “red herring” (defined as “a deliberate attempt to change a subject or divert an argument”), and I’m tired of hearing it from him.
This is what he says:
What is especially interesting about the L.A. Times series is the reaction of some of the teachers quoted in it – and one particular quote haunts me. According to the newspaper, one of L.A.’s most effective teachers is Nancy Polacheck, a fourth-grade teacher with 38 years of experience. She said something that was utterly heartbreaking.
“In the past, if I were recognized, I would become an outcast,” she told the Times. “They’d say, ‘She’s trying to show off.'”
That shame of success has pervaded America’s educational culture for far too long. We must stop highlighting only ballplayers and rock stars and start highlighting teachers who are our true heroes and role models.
What in the world is he talking about? He claims that there’s a “shame of success” that is rampant among our nation’s teachers. What evidence does he have for that claim, other than a one line anecdote?
I certainly haven’t detected any envy or jealousy at our school for awards or public recognition given teachers. It’s not a perfect place, so I’m assume there may be a little on occasion, but, jeez, we’re professionals. It’s difficult for me to believe that my school is that unusual.
What about at your school — is there “shame of success” there?
Hello Mr. Ferlazzo. I’m Katlyn hurt. I am an elementary ed. major at the University of South Alabama. I am current taking edm 310, microcomputing systems and you are my assigned teacher. I will be commenting on two of your blogs and then posting a blog summarizing what I read and my comments. My blog will be posted September 12. Here are the links to my blog and my class blog:
http://hurtkatlynedm310.blogspot.com
Class blog:
http://edm310.blogspot.com
After I read your blog about the shame of success the first thing that came to mind was something my local radio station does every week. Every week the students of all the local school can submit their teacher for the teacher of the week. Once the teacher is selected it is announced over the radio, along with why he or she was selected, then that teacher gets a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Standing out positively as a teacher is a great thing. I have never heard of a teacher showing off. I do not understand where Arne Duncan gets this “shame of success” idea. I have moved a lot over the years and been to many schools and I have never once seen that as an issue. When a teacher was recognized all of the faculty and staff were very supportive. As you stated in your blog, teachers are professionals. Just because one teacher makes a comment about becoming an outcast does not mean that is true for all teachers. Duncan has some pretty poor evidence to come to this conclusion.
As an elementary teacher in an at risk school I haven’t really seen teachers balk at being praised when it happens, but I do see teachers trying to keep under the radar because we have been told so often that we are required to “do the program,” and some years our evaluations have been tied to following the program closely. Since there isn’t much about following a program that is going to get you noticed, most praise comes from doing things that are NOT part of the program – so teachers don’t talk about the powerful “other things” they do in fear they will be stopped and / or reprimanded. That hasn’t happened much, but it has happened enough and there are enough stories about it in our school district that teachers stay low. It’s also part of the reason, I think, that teachers shy away from social apps on the web.
I get the point he is trying to make in the excerpt you quote, and agree that it is an issue. Personally, I lament teachers’ reliance on folklore pedagogy rather than research-based practices. However, I agree with you that he does not provide compelling proof of a problem. We shouldn’t be surprised though, because Arne Duncan works in politics where logical fallacies are a way of life–an implement for sowing the fields of reform.
I had the opportunity to hear Arne Duncan speak in person at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this fall and it was more of the same: broad statements about sweeping reforms with little evidence (and I would have been surprised to hear otherwise).
To me, this is simply more proof that I need to effectively teach my students critical thinking skills so that they can learn to identify such logical fallacies and analyze arguments for their weaknesses and merits. Just don’t get upset about politicians being politicians (and yes, that’s precisely what the Secretary of Education is).
I can understand what Mr. Duncan is alluding to…it is the attempt to maintain the “status quo”. I work in a Midwest community college and was told by an administrator to stop teaching the “way” I do as it makes the other instructors look “bad”. This happened several years ago, but I have never forgotten it. I am an adjunct instructor and it appears somehow I was threatening the full time instructors. I left teaching for 5 years due to that experience and have since returned. Sadly the above situation is still in place. case. Programs and teaching methods that work are either dismantled or degraded for the purpose of not “rocking” the boat.
I believe this may be what Mr. Duncan is speaking of…and yes it is the “shame of success” and one of the reasons why education simply no longer works in many cases.