A statement

I went to a party the other night where I ran into a woman who works in a local public school trying to be of assistance to the special needs kids.  It's an alternative elementary school.

We had a good talk and she wanted to know more about what works with dyslexia.  She was open to anything that could help the children in the classroom she served in.  She suggested someone coming in to the school to talk about it.

Her sincerity and desire to help the children of her class is in keeping with how I see so many public school teachers.  They didn't get into teaching to get rich,  they got into it in order to make a difference.  There is psychological evidence that suggests that people who go into education are non-competitive and that is one of the reasons they pick education as a career field. 

Pitting them against each other in a "Race to The Top" or any other such idea is not going to get the best out of these folks.

So many public school teachers are disheartened and scared right now.  It has everything to do with laws that have been recently passed.

The most vulnerable teachers are the very ones who have chosen a life in a high need situation (impoverished areas or children with special needs). They are the unfair targets of many people who want to privatize school and turn it into a competitive money making business.

This is not in the best interest of anyone who needs or works in education.  It is only in the best interest of people who want to make money and the politicians who need their money to be elected/re-elected since our election system has become so corrupt in this country.

Hopefully, this teacher and I can meet again and we can talk about what to look for and how to help the dyslexic children she serves.  In making progress for them perhaps it can lead to progress for other children with other special need issues.  This is my hope.

Sometimes all I have is hope,  today is one of those days.  Just a glimmer of hope with no idea about where it will lead in the future.

But back to the issue.  I'm still completely on board with the fact that charter schools are not going to be a valid option for children with learning challenges.  I'm preparing what I'm going to say in this regard.  I believe I will be the first to make a statement which takes a side on this in the dyslexia community that I'm a part of. 

I've thought about this a lot, turning public education into a private enterprise so that people who are mostly already rich can have slices of education tax money pie is simply not a good idea and it's really not a good idea where special needs like dyslexia are concerned.

Our public schools overall are full of trained professionals who are simply not trained enough as it is. 

If the bar is lowered any farther in regard to what training a teacher is required to have then we are going to have a lot more work to do before dyslexic children can get what they need to read.  It's already too low.  Teachers are not receiving the education in college that they need for dyslexic children. Charter schools and the 5 week Teach for America program which supposedly gets people ready to handle a classroom is a huge step backward for education.

The community of people who have children on IEP's needs to be aware of this and soon.