let me throw my two

Let me say something right now. No one loves a pirate shooting morethan I do, and this recent one didn’t disappoint. Come on, the captainvolunteers to put himself up to be a hostage and then navy snipers pickoff all three of the captors when two of them go to take a peek out thehatch (such a bad move. Don’t those pirates watch superhero movies? Younever give the good guys a chance.)wow goldBut really, what is the big deal in the big picture? First of all, theincrease in pirate behavior has less to do with the popularity of theJohnny Depp movie series and more to do with industrialized nations’overfishing of Somali waters, so moral outrage is a little tough tomuster there. Meanwhile, even though we killed a few pirates and wesaved the life of a brave sea captain, we still have two wars going onin the Middle East where many more people on both sides are gettingkilled every day and a massive economic crisis at home, so who reallycares about this little event?wow gold I amconstantly amazed at our ability to focus on high impact stories withlittle real importance. Bill Clinton had sex with an intern and almostgot forced out of office. George Bush lied about information in Iraqwhich led to the deaths of thousands of people and he got re-elected.Why the difference? Bush’s story was too messy; it was too hard for theAmerican people to pinpoint a moment (although lying about the causefor war seemed pretty clear to me) for people to rally. Nothing likesex in the oval office or three pirates shot in the head to getpeople’s attention.wow Thiswould be just an annoying facet of human behavior like rubber neckingon the freeway if it weren’t for the fact that this tendency keeps usfrom dealing with the real problems we face. wow goldWe see this tendency all the time in the time in education, and themost recent example is the witch-hunt for bad teachers. Dan Brown had agreat piece on this issue in the Huffington Post recently, and Mr.Alden wrote some good stuff on the issue a ways back as well, but letme throw my two cents in. wow goldEverywhere you look these days there are calls to GET RID OF THE BADTEACHERS! IF ONLY WE COULD FIRE ALL OF THE BAD TEACHERS!!! MichelleRhee, featured in a recent cover article in Time Magazine and head ofDC schools, has become famous for her push to clean house.wow goldSimilarly,Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist and Gates foundation board member,argues that we shouldn’t worry so much about how teachers get prepared;we should just try out the ones who seem promising and fire the largepercentage who don’t make the grade. On some level, getting past thered tape which has allowed ineffective teachers to continue teaching isa noble goal, but the whole spirit of the campaign is negative andmisguided. Is that focus alone really the way we are going to develop asolid teaching corps and encourage teachers wow goldtowant to stay in the career? The fact is that many people who becomestrong teachers start out with significant struggles, and in fact,everyone new or not struggles. It is a tough job, and we need to domore to support people and give them the tools to be great at theirjobs before we start chasing them out the door.