Submitted by Jon Dough, Jan 16, 2007 22:14

As a NYC middle school teacher in a low performing school on the SURR list, my question simply states: Why blame teachers? Why blame teachers who are spending hours developing lessons and other activities to 'engage' students? Why blame teachers who are constantly told by their superiors who were no better when they are teachers that we 'cannot teach' and have 'no classroom management'? This is why every five years, there is a fifty percent turnover for New York City teachers. Why not have alternative settings for the 10 percent of the students who take learning away from the well-mannered students? Why not make the parents accountable by having real consequences? Why change around teaching methods that have worked for the past 100 years? Finally, how can the city teachers be so inept and incompetent when there is so much scripted teaching these days purchased by the city? All these questions will point to is that the Bloomberg-Klein era or should I say 'error' has been a complete and utter failure.

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